What we have Learned from Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs has been referred to as the  ‘poet of the computer industry’ and many have likened his death to that of john Lennon.  Steve impacted billions of people across nearly every market vertical. His passion for excellence has been exemplified in every Apple product. There is so much to take away from Steve jobs, and here is what he has taught us all during his short time on Earth.

Strive for Excellence, not ‘Good Enough’

Though Apple has its share of failures it is all of the successes that the company and Steve Jobs will be remembered for. Every Apple Product reminds me of what my high school biology teacher taught us ‘Form follows Function’. The Apple OS and hardware were designed to look simple and beautiful.  This made the computers something that you could use easily and would continually recommend.
I remember seeing one of Apple’s Clam shell laptops, and I wanted one so badly simply because it just looked so different from everything on the market.  I eventually bought a G3 PowerMac that ran up until  a few years ago. Simply put, Apple designed products that were beautiful, powerful, easy-to-use, and are built to last
This is the only way you should approach product development, all too often people rush to launch a new product and something that is only 90% seems good enough to sell. This is an awful practice, releasing something that is not complete will just come back to bite you, spend the extra time to get everything working as it should. Maybe that’s why Apple didn’t release an iPhone 5 and announced the 4S.

Expand Your Influence in Peripheral Niches

Steve Jobs wasn’t content with Apple just being in the computer industry.  When Steve launched iTunes and the iPod he proved that Apple was now a digital products company.  Steve identified a market that had no clear winner, there were plenty of MP3 players that were ‘good enough’ but no MP3 player that was truly excellent.  The iPod changed it all; it brought Apple to the forefront again.
Steve then moved from the music industry into the mobile industry.  I can remember the days before the iPhone where the Motorola Razr would cost you $200.  When the iPhone was released Apple set the standard of excellence in a new industry. After the massive success of the iPhone, Steve moved into the tablet space and created the iPad. Steve identified three separate industries that didn’t have a clear winner and sought to dominate them.  Now music players, phones and tablets are all synonymous with Apple’s brand.
Find tangential areas where your company can expand.  Bring your unique approach to the table, and redefine an industry.  With our Social Page Builder tool, we saw that most Facebook page creators were boxy and either limiting or too difficult to use.  We wanted to take our unique approach to HTML editors and image editors to redefine how a Facebook page is created.

Define your brand

Apple is undoubtedly the ‘hip’ brand. People love to use their products, and love people to know they are using their products. This definitely added to Apple’s success, they created amazing brand evangelists who would not only buy the latest updates but continually encourage their friends to buy into Apple as well.
Thank you Steve for all the work you did revolutionizing an industry with amazingly useful products that had an incredible aesthetic.  Your passion for excellence will never be forgotten and forever emulated. You will be missed.