Dear Friends,

The world lost one of the true giants of modern technology and business leadership with the death of Steve Jobs last week. An innovator in the true sense of the word, Steve Jobs paved the way for countless technologies that, at their core, had one overriding goal: to delight the consumer. In that regard he raised the bar for every technology that will ever follow him.

He was the first to understand that technology, in and of itself, has no intrinsic value. Its only purpose is in the way it can be used to make the lives of everyday people that much better and more rewarding. A simple concept. Entirely transformative. A true mantra for business innovation and one that I often quote and strive to always remember.

The real benefit that we offer our customers and the thread that runs through every one of my business endeavors is the promise of lifestyle enhancement. If you look back over the last few entries you’ll see that it’s a philosophy I live by and tout often. It’s a simple yet powerful idea and it originated with Steve Jobs.
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From the Macintosh to the iMac, the iPod to the iPhone and the iPad it’s safe to say you’d be hard pressed to find a single consumer in the world who hasn’t been affected by Steve Jobs commitment to ‘ease of use’ technology. For those of us old enough to remember the days when DOS computing required 50 lines of code to manifest a single sentence, Steve Jobs intuitive consumer interface was nothing short of miraculous.

I could go on about his contributions to so many areas of our lives including movies…he bought and served as CEO what is currently known as Pixar and reinvigorated it to produce such modern classics as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Monsters, Inc., Music…he created the iTunes Store and its innovative 99-cent song downloads in 2003.

Steve Jobs is also listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 338 US patents or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages.
With all of that, I believe that the greatest part of his legacy will always be in his commitment to delighting the consumer.

Regards,
Ran