Yesterday, the world lost a visionary. Yesterday, Apple lost its heart.
After a long battle with pancreatic cancer, former Apple CEO and turtleneck aficionado Steve Jobs passed away. He was 56.
Jobs took medical leave from the company multiple times during his career until he officially stepped down as CEO not even two months ago. As an Apple hater for the past five years and an outspoken critic of Jobs and his business practices, I can do nothing but tip my hat to Steve and his memory.
After forming Apple in 1976, he eventually left his own company to form a new one — Next Computer. Jobs and Next acquired Pixar Animation Studio, and after selling it to Disney, Apple acquired Next in 1997 — promoting Jobs back to CEO.
Steve Jobs single-handedly made Apple what it is today. The company’s stock rose from $10 to more than $400 per share during his time as CEO.
He revolutionized the music industry with the introduction of the iPod in 2001 and the phone market in 2007 with the iPhone. He was a brilliant marketer, and now everyone wants to own an Apple product — it’s become a symbol of status.
Jobs truly loved his job, and he was damn good at it too. He literally worked until the end.
Watching Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event Tuesday, it was obvious Jobs’ successor Tim Cook just couldn’t electrify the crowd as well as Jobs. I was secretly hoping Jobs would appear at the end with his famous “one more thing” line, but unfortunately the line and Jobs never appeared.
After losing the love and trust of some Apple faithful by not revealing the rumored iPhone 5, the company quickly gains its support back — and much more — with the passing of Jobs. Apple was nothing without The Turtleneck and, unfortunately, will soon be nothing again.
I’m sure Jobs had the next five years of the company planned out, but after the next few iterations of iPhones and iPads, Apple won’t have the same vision.
I thought the time for the competition to strike was six weeks ago, after Jobs’ resignation. However, with his death, there will be some big power shifts in the industry.
Google is constantly growing and improving its Android OS and its integration with the entire Internet. Amazon recently released an entire new line of Kindles, including the full-color screen Kindle Fire, to directly compete with the iPad.
Apple is set for now — and maybe the next five years — but without Jobs, things aren’t looking good.
If I owned a turtleneck, I would wear it with my favorite pair of jeans for the rest of the week. I’ll proudly rock my iPod and smile in memory at every glowing apple I see on the back of each MacBook Pro on campus.
May you rest in peace, Steve — you truly were a Genius.
 
Adam Arinder is a 22-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder. 
 
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]