Mr Jobs isn't St Steve

An outpouring of grief and eulogies has followed Steve Jobs' passing away. And why not? After all, he was the poster child of the boomer generation, who created and nurtured an entire cult around the products he built. The grieving acolytes have adulated over his achievements so extensively that a demand for his instant beatification would not be out of place.

One cannot downplay the many achievements of Jobs in adapting technology to human needs, rather than, as is the wont, of technology companies, trying to educate people in the use of technology. Whether it is the Mac or the iPod or the iPhone, it is amazing that the two-inch-thick tomes called user manuals do not accompany these products.

But would Jobs' mastery of design have been so starkly visible if the rest of the technology industry had not been so clunky and unwieldy? Consider, for example, the ordinary desktop computer — despite a plethora of brands, they are essentially the same, not adding any significant pride in their ownership.

Would Jobs have been able to replicate the same individuality in, say, an industry like automobiles or haute couture or architecture? Unlikely. To be sure, given his aesthetics, he would have rubbed shoulders among the great designers of these industries, even perhaps achieving the status of primus inter pares , but he certainly would not have been the numero uno !

UNFULFILLED PROMISE

Leave this aside for a moment and take a look at Steve Jobs and the iPhone. Sure, Jobs and his team turned mobile telephony on its head with the iPhone. But did Jobs have a hand in its conception? Records show that the kernel of the idea for the iPhone was sown in 1993.

Writing about it then, Fortune magazine said, “… the most hyped and hotly anticipated new techie feature of the summer is Apple's Newton.” Reading the article even now, one wonders at the prescience that foreshadows Siri, synching and the many other features of iPhones and iPads that we take for granted.

The author of this development was the much reviled John Sculley, who is today neither remembered nor mentioned in Apple circles. Talking about Newton, Mr Sculley said” “…driven by people's need to communicate quickly in highly-informal, network-based organisations ….”. Strikes a chord doesn't it?

That Newton did not live to fulfil its promise was a function of the want of technology then (the Internet didn't even exist!). It is a pity that neither Jobs nor Apple has ever acknowledged the role that Newton may have played in the more contemporary ‘i' devices.

ICONIC ‘ANTI'NESS

Apple resonated with consumers also because of its ‘anti'ness, loudly proclaimed, through its iconic 1984 commercial which promised the destruction of the Big Brother.

Sadly, even this appears to have been hype and Apple follows the same path as any other multi-national corporation — secretive, arrogant and devoted solely to the pursuit of making money. In hindsight, the altruism of the 1984 commercial seems perfidious.

Sainthood is bestowed upon individuals who have sacrificed their personal pleasures for the joys of the greater mass of humanity. Very often, such individuals are said to be authors of miracles too. Jobs has given great joy to humanity. His contributions are those of a charismatic individual driven to excellence, worthy of emulation, but hardly veneration.

A 1997 article in The New Yorker magazine said, “Jobs's mastery of perception has long been known to his allies and his detractors alike as his “reality-distortion field” — an uncanny ability, through enthusiasm, charisma, and intimidation, to make people see what he wants them to see.”

It is to Jobs' credit that his acolytes venerate him. However, that is not a sufficient condition for Mr Jobs to become St Steve.

(The author is a Director at Rage Communications, an integrated Web solutions company.)

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