Steve Jobs – co-founder of Apple and the man behind the iPhone, iPod, and iPad – has died at 56.
The media is covering the death of Jobs in a manner normally reserved for heads of state or religious icons, but it’s fair to say that he may be of equal importance.
Links are here to obits from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, BBC,TechCrunch, and Mashable.
Whether you liked him or not, whether you owned an Apple product or not, there is no doubt that Jobs has profoundly changed the world. To those who are already over the Jobs death hullabaloo and those who demean his influence (there seem to be quite a bit on social media), this writer would respectfully remind you that in August Apple briefly passed Exxon to become the largest company in the world with a market capitalization of USD336 billion on the sales of 25 million iPads (as of June 2011), 108 million iPhones (as of March 2011), and 297 million million iPods (as of December 2010). That is INSANE. Oh, and as a side project while he was ousted from Apple he financed and started the animation studio Pixar, which created worldwide box office hits and franchises Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, the Cars franchise, and the Toy Story franchise.
Sure, cult-like Apple worshippers can be annoying and the condescending air that some Apple product owners exude – especially in Thailand where they are so much more expensive than comparable devices – is irritating. But that really has nothing to do with the strength of the products.
The messianic worship of Jobs got a little weird sometimes, but let’s face it: Apple products are far better than their competition and that is mainly because of Jobs’s vision. People like to buy what’s cool, but you don’t build a USD336 billion dollar company on trendiness alone.
With that in mind, Coconuts Bangkok hit the streets in some of the most Apple-saturated areas in Bangkok – Thong Lor and Phrom Pong – to talk to Apple product owners about Jobs’s passing. Even though we were just looking for local comments, many didn’t feel qualified to speak with authority about Jobs and Apple.But a few went on record, and here’s what they said. All photos were taken with an iPhone and edited with Instagram.
Amphan was working at the iStudio in Emporium Mall, selling Apple devices: “Apple is Steve Jobs. When I see an Apple product I think Steve Jobs. But I think that the company will continue to perform OK because it’s very big and there are many smart people working there.”
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Tiparat Promburee was typing on a white iPhone4 and drinking coffee at Nybbles outside Emporium on Sukhumvit: “I’m so sad. When I logged onto Facebook this morning everyone was posting about Steve Jobs’s death. I think it’s a big loss for the world, the world has lost a very innovative person. I have an iPhone because it’s in trend and it’s super and serves my needs. I can use the internet any time, access Facebook anytime, take photos with my friends and upload immediately.”
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Yutthaphon Ittisermboon was sat in front of the Starbucks at Thong Lor town center smoking a cigarette with an iPad and iPhone4 on his table. He found out the news of Jobs’s death from us: “I didn’t know, I just found out now. I know that he had cancer. I don’t think I will buy the iPhone4S though.”
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