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Ever wondered why Steve Jobs always wore turtle-necked t-shirts? It's because he hated buttons. Yes, buttons. That's also why the iPod, iPad and iPhone have the bare minimum number of buttons – one. Maybe it was the buttons, or maybe it was his love of minimalism, but that design philosophy has permeated down the years to define the design principles of Apple products.
It was Steve Jobs' obsession with perfection and minimalism that brought products like the original iPod, a music player which could store 1,000 songs in a palm-sized device, the iPod Nano that he pulled out of his pocket six years ago or the first-gen Macbook Air that he pulled out of a manila envelope. Steve Jobs' focus was clear – he wanted to create products that were innovative, path-breaking and above all, intuitive.
Even though Apple was founded way back in 1976, it was not until the first iPod was launched in 2001, that Apple really generated consumer interest. The iPod redefined digital music players – it virtually wiped out CD players, and even contributed for a whole new range of music players, known as iPod docks.
In 2007, Jobs unveiled the Apple iPhone to the world. At a time when having the best smartphone meant owning a BlackBerry, Jobs replaced the rows of his detested buttons with a complete touch interface that was responsive and did not require you to carry around a stylus.
In 2010, Jobs introduced the iPad. Despite numerous other tablet launches that followed, the iPad still continues to be a benchmark for tablet performance.
For someone who was the CEO of the company, mostly a corporate figure, Steve had more mass appeal than many celebrities. As Apple released more and more groundbreaking products in the market, Steve Jobs' keynote addresses became house-full global events, streamed live and talked about for weeks after it happened. Steve Jobs' role at Apple was to innovate and improve. He took ideas that already existed, turned them around, and made them better, year after year. Will Steve's design principles continue to define Apple products in the future? Or will Apple be Jobless in more ways than one? Only Time will tell.
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