A life of inspiration

The highlights of Jobs's career trajectory are well-known: a prodigy who dropped out of Reed College in Oregon and, at 21, started Apple with Wozniak in his parents' garage. He was a multimillionaire by 25, appeared on the cover of Time magazine at 26, and was ousted at Apple at age 30, in 1984.
In the years that followed, he went into other businesses, founding NeXT computers and, in 1986, buying the computer graphics arm of Lucasfilm, Ltd., which became Pixar Animation Studios.

He was described as an exacting and sometimes fearsome leader, ordering up and rejecting multiple versions of new products until the final version was just right. He said the design and aesthetics of a device were as important as the hardware and software inside.

In 1996, Apple, which had struggled without Jobs, brought him back by buying NeXT. He became CEO in 1997 and put the company on a remarkable upward path.

By 2001 the commercial music industry was on its knees because digital recordings, copied and shared online for free, made it unnecessary for millions of people to buy compact discs.

Jobs took advantage with the iPod -- essentially a pocket-sized computer hard drive with elegantly simple controls and a set of white earbuds so that one could listen to the hours of music one saved on it. He set up the iTunes online music store, and persuaded major recording labels to sell songs for 99 cents each. No longer did people have to go out and buy a CD if they liked one song from it. They bought a digital file and stored it in their iPod.

In 2007, he transformed the cell phone. Apple's iPhone, with its iconic touch screen, was a handheld computer, music player, messaging device, digital wallet and -- almost incidentally -- cell phone. Major competitors, such as BlackBerry, Nokia and Motorola, struggled after it appeared.

By 2010, Apple's new iPad began to cannibalize its original business, the personal computer. The iPad was a sleek tablet computer with a touch screen and almost no physical buttons. It could be used for almost anything software designers could conceive, from watching movies to taking pictures to leafing through a virtual book.   - By NED POTTER and COLLEEN CURRY | ABC News

He dropped out but still made his way up and started a company of his own. Who said only degree holders and academic achievers has the authority to get big?

He got ousted but went back to the track, starting a new business and even making his past company struggling. Ever heard of the cliche, “It’s their loss, not mine”?

I got shivers first time I heard the news earlier in the radio. First thing I did was to open twitter and to confirm from  the tech world. And so it was really true. I don’t stalk Apple events or Steve Jobs like other avid Apple enthusiasts. I even have this love-hate feeling with Apple for updating their products in a blink that next thing you'll know, the gadget you're holding is already a thing in the past. diba? But I don’t know. He just simply made so much contributions in the tech world, so many innovations that made a lot things easier and connected. He added definition to the word “apple”, one of the first words you'll learn in school. One of the greatest innovators in time. From him, and his friend Wozniak, started what Apple is now. He introduced me/us to the world of touchscreens and Facetime and all sorts of things you never knew can exist. But of course, all this talent came up from above. God has given him so much great ideas and he made sure that a lot of people would benefit from it. And so maybe he already had done his part in the world and our Almighty God decided it’s time. He already made a mark of his own to a lot of us and it will surely be remembered forever.

He’s a truly innovative man. A person who I consider one of my greatest inspirations in my life. He would always be a reminder of what “no giving up” and “having faith” means. I already had a fair share of failures in my life, but after hearing his story back then, I had always been the one who would rather get back up at once than sulking down for a long time. He made me realize that there’s no sad ending unless you quit trying.

Thank God for Steve Jobs. Rest in peace, and continue doing wonders up there. =]

Ok, so I don’t even have the slightest intention of blogging for this entire week because I super really have to study for our final exams. But then I can’t concentrate here, and Steve Jobs + blog post is running in my mind constantly. Haha! Affected nga kasi ako. XD But infairness, ambilis ko lang na-type ito. hehe. So anyway, I finally got my sentiments out. Signing off to get back to my books! I'll just leave with some of his quotes to get us all inspired.  =]

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” - Steve Jobs [The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1993]

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” - Steve Jobs
[Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true."
[Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.Life is brief, and then you die, you know?
And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”