Death of Desire

Steve Jobs has died.

My last post was about one of his last innovations, the iPad 2, and how it has recently become a part of my daughter's life. It had been the object of her desire for some time now, and only just fulfilled. My wife's iPhone 4 was a gift that I bought her last year, for our anniversary. My mother has the iPad 1. She uses it for her Sudoku and to keep her connected with her friends, not to mention her Korean drama fixes. On top of that, she has an iTouch, which she uses to carry her music around, and to record her karaoke sessions.

Me? I use my trusty iPad 1 for meetings, for surfing the net, for games, for mail and facebook. And for updating this blog (which I don't do often enough). Like everyone else, I have come to enjoy the snazzy style of the i-range of Apple products, and love the man-machine-interface that has become so much a part of life. I confess to have been disappointed by the latest item, the iPhone 4S, put on offer, and could not help wondering what dear Mr Jobs would have thought of it. Or how he might have made the presentation (in a more snazzy, stylish manner, I was certain!)

Steve Jobs took technology and made it desireable.

Here is a man who took a practical item, and made it personal. And made it desireable.

Not the iPhone, not the iPad. I am talking about the Mackintosh computer. It was the first one to ever use a mouse as a pointing device. I gawked at it when I first saw it at the Computer Room at the University, and reveled in its ease of use. I desired one, but like other lowly students, could not afford one.

Then came the upheaval at Apple and Steve Jobs was out.

Then he was in again, and the iMac hit the stores. Again, I was caught up with the desire to possess one: so sexily colourful!

The hits just kept coming: iBook, iPod, MacBook, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, iPad and iPhone.

The personal computer, as my friend Trebuchet mentions in his own ode to Jobs, become truly personal. It was a fashion statement, a lifestyle choice, a necessary piece of technology, a means to an ends and an end in itself, in some extreme cases. It is hard to conceive of life without these items.

Steve Jobs is dead.

Suddenly, there is an empty place. An empty space. Who shall step into his shoes? Who will envision the next Big Thing? Who will make it happen?

Whoever it is, let us hope that the object remains one of desire.

RIP Steven Paul Jobs. You will be missed.