Steve Jobs 1955-2011. For those of you that didn’t know, Steve Jobs passed away yesterday. Jobs, who was the CEO of Apple was a visionary for the world. He truly created things that we didn’t know that we wanted. I became and Apple fanatic in 2002 when I got my first MacBook Pro, a laptop that changed my world. I had always been a PC user and was very good at navigating my way through complex things. I still like to go on my PC and do a little programming. But, I have gotten a new laptop on average every two years. I purchased the first iPhone when it came out. I waited in line for 20 hours to get it, I even skipped work to get it. Yup, I paid over $600 for the first phone. In early 2009 I got a MacMini and hooked it up to my TV so that I could have internet on my phone. I had heard that Jobs himself had done this in his home so I figured I had to have it.
My lessons learned from Steve Jobs includes one of visions. Back in 1984 when the first apple computer came out no one knew about them. So what did Apple do? They went and donated them to every elementary school on in the United States. Guess what, when it came time for me to go to College and I could afford my own computer what type of computer did I buy? I bought a Mac computer. I was used to it. Steve Jobs was a visionary creating things and putting into our minds early so that we’d purchase them later. They were creating a need for something that we didn’t know we needed. They created a space.
When the iPhone came out I waited in line for it for hours. I needed it, it was something that I never knew until then that I needed. Now I can’t imagine life before my iPhone. Going back to the days of the flip Razor phone…no way.
We need to create innovation that creates a need in people that they never had before. Create products and become companies that inspire greatness. Jobs did that and we at Maple North love working with companies that do this and inspire goodness. If you want to grow your business, create something like Apple does everyday!
