I have been trying to think of a topic for a post since I have posted nothing for a long time, and I had a couple of ideas, but since I heard the news, the only thing I could think of was a tribute to the man who changed the way I used technology in my life.

Steve Jobs really was a creative genius, not to mention his ability to convince anyone to believe in his idea. This is what made the man great, while he was influential in all of Apple’s products, I don’t think they would have sold as well as they did if it hadn’t been him who launched them. He had this unshakable belief in the products he was selling, not just that they were good, but that if you bought one, your life would be better off for it.

My Apple adventure began with an IPod, I bought what is now known as the IPod Classic back in 2004. I haven’t gone anywhere without it since. My whole music library is on there, including the albums I have on vinyl that’s how much a part of my life this IPod is. My IPod has kept me company on long flights and train trips to clients in the UK, riding around Johannesburg in traffic to and from work, to clients or just on a road trip around the country. My IPod has given my fiancée and I songs for so many memories it is scary!

I have an IPhone 3G, which I bought the minute it was available in South Africa, I haven’t used another phone since apart from when it has broken down, but I have always gotten it fixed cause of my love of the device, I am still using it, and it is the longest I have used any one device. My next phone will be an IPhone too, the IPhone turned me into an Apple advocate.

My most recent Apple purchase was the IPad II. If the IPod and IPhone changed my day to day life, the IPad revolutionised it. I no longer have to start my desktop or laptop up at home just to see what movies are playing at my local cinema, checking email is breeze, not to mention the ability to take movies and TV series with me when I get on a plane, which is a good thing cause I have a nasty fear of flying.

Ironically, I work with Microsoft software, I am a SharePoint consultant but Apple has made it so much easier for me, I have apps on my IPad to connect and administer SharePoint, connect to CRM to do my timesheets, view cases, projects etc. I no longer have to take a laptop to meetings to take notes, I just take my IPad and use a handwriting app. To be honest, if I had the money, I would be writing this blog post on a MacBook Pro not a Dell, I love my Dell, but would almost kill for a MacBook Pro.

I think if you spoke to any Apple fan, you would get similar stories. That is what made Jobs great, his ability to convince you that his product is the right choice, to tell you that will enhance your life, and when you did buy it, you were not disappointed. I have never had a bad Apple experience.

I could wax lyrical for hours on his influence on the world, but I think the best indication of it is the amount of emotion that his passing has brought about from people who have never met the man. Even his most fiercest rivals, Bill Gates and Samsung have admitted that his death came too early, and that he was a great man.

He has touched the world, and it is richer because of it.

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs, Speech made at Stanford, 12 June 2005.

The New York times has setup a “readers memories of Steve Jobs” tribute, it is worth the visit to read how Apple and Steve Jobs changed people’s lives: Readers Memories of Steve Jobs.