Steve Jobs leaves a legacy like no other

MAY GOD'S SAVING POWER BE WITH YOU STEVE!


By Jon Friedman, MarketWatch


Commentary: He’s the reason Apple is the preeminent brand


The Apple story began with him.

Jobs died Wednesday at the age of 56. One of Jobs’s greatest accomplishments was his mastery with the media, which in turn produced all kinds of good will with consumers, Wall Street and the pundits who shape public opinion.

Jobs had a mystique that CEOs could learn from. He will never be replaced on the American scene. He helped create a technology that reflected quality, style and reliability. He revolutionized industries time and again — the personal computer with the Mac, music with the iPod, communications with the iPhone and personal computing again with the iPad. See Steve Jobs: A decade in pictures.

No CEO in our time will likely possess the qualities of Jobs, primarily as a visionary but also as a marketer and a brand manager. He never relied on focus groups. He trusted his instincts and intuition. He reveled in taking risks. He was a genuine maverick, renegade and trailblazer. Do you like or love Pixar movies? Thank Steve Jobs for that.

Do you admire second acts? Perhaps nobody has enjoyed a spectacular comeback like this remarkable man. After being forced out of the company he had co-founded, he retreated and regrouped. Then he roared back.

Jobs had a particular genius for persuading consumers that they couldn’t live without products that they didn’t really need. He had a gift for understanding the marketplace. He exuded confidence. He convinced people that Apple was more than a company or a brand, much more.

Apple’s success in so many ways — on Wall Street, on Main Street and in corporate America — reflects Jobs’s legacy. He was an innovator and he had a terrifying work ethic. The quality of Apple’s products reflects his attention to detail. The quality of the design of Apple’s products reflects his appreciation of beauty. The simplicity of Apple’s products showed his sensitivity for all kinds of consumers and shrewdly wooed non-techies to become loyal Apple customers over time.

Jobs gained a reputation as our generation’s Thomas Edison because of his rare ability to invent so many useful products.

He also had a reputation as a bit of a P.T. Barnum — a quasi-huckster who emptied your pocketbook on gadgets and expensive toys. He was a complex man who embodied the iconic traits of both Edison and Barnum.

Love or hate Jobs, you had to respect his accomplishments, his passion and his powerful desire to make a difference in our culture and society. He made a mark like nobody else. He will be missed.