Steve Jobs: information industry innovator
Jinfo Blog

By Joanna Ptolomey

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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, aged 56, has died from pancreatic cancer.

What has most profoundly struck me about Steve Jobs is that he was a man on a mission. He was a man who, along with his company, pushed us to think about and do things differently. Apple stood out as an island, separate and distinct from the way most approached information, content and technology. And, although the broader market has adopted some of its approaches and ideas, we still wait with baited breath every time Apple has a new launch such as the iPhone 4S this week.

Let me state for the record that I do not describe myself as an Apple devotee – I don’t own a MacBook or an iPhone. But I don’t need to in order to appreciate what Apple and Jobs have given the world of information and knowledge.

Yes there is the hardware, and very sleek and shiny looking it is. But to me it has always been about how Apple designed for people wanting to live and get on with their lives; Apple creates technologies that reflect the way people live.

Jobs understood that people want to work, chat, play music, locate a restaurant, order Chinese food, let people know where they are, and know what the weather is like in Madrid – and all at the same time. He understood that technology could look beautiful, but that it should have more than a pretty face. It should address the ways in which people want to use information; it should be mobile and let us curate our own content.  And let us not forget the revolutionary impact on content delivery and acquisition of iTunes and the Apps Store.

iPod, iPhone and the iPad – all market leaders with the Apps store backing them up. Today, we see that the technology and content market is flooded with other vendors touting their versions of these original ideas. Of course Apple imitation does more than flatter; it shows how widespread the impact of Jobs' vision is.

The industry is unsure about Apple without Steve Jobs – and, lacking a crystal ball, we will have to wait and see. But one thing is for sure, the information sector is without a doubt a great place to be, made better for having Steve Jobs as one of our visionaries, imagining that technology and content should fit the way we want to live our lives.

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