I associate Steve Jobs, as most people do, with Apple. As such, my earliest memories of Steve was not Steve, but of the Apple IIe that was the first family computer. I played games to learn how to type on it and do math. I wrote. I did that a lot. Later I played games. Games like North Atlantic 87, Wizardy, Zork... That green screen was pretty cool. Even 5 1/4 floppies were cool. What wasn’t cool compared to the clunky TS80’s at school?
I remember going to Computerland and my brother would look at the Lisa. I thought it was a weird name for a computer. Lisa. He wanted one. That black and white screen looked so odd to me. Not too long enough was the first Super Bowl that I actually remember. Oh don’t get me wrong, I watched other Super Bowls. I just never REMEMBERED them. It wasn’t even the game that I remembered. It was THE commercial. The commercial that changed COMMERCIALS. The 1984 commercial that introduced the Macintosh. That’s when I learned about Steve Jobs. That’s when I saw the Mac for the first time. A few years later, I would own one. It was a Mac SE. It didn’t have any clunky 5 1/4 floppy drives. It had 3.5 inch drives. Two of them! Yeah baby.
After that it was all Mac for me. I took that SE to college. It was loaded with a Mercury accelerator board with a 68030 processor. Yeah baby. Over clocked too. It didn’t compare to the IIcx that we had at home, but it was one cool package. It eventually died though and I got myself a Centris 610. Steve was already gone from the company then. But Apple dominated my life with things I coveted. I wanted a Newton, an eMate and yes, even the Apple “Laptop”. Then the Blackbird line of PowerBooks came out. PowerBook. Blackbird. How could you NOT want those? My girlfriend got a Blackbird and I was jealous. But I had her so it was OK.
Then I switched to laptops. I got a Lombard. I was in love with that computer. Even bought a special bag for it. I was using PCs by then too. I just never liked the experience. And I liked being different. I liked what I could do. Never mind that I couldn’t play the games that I wanted to. What did that really matter?
Then Steve came back. I got a Titanium PowerBook. That computer choice was driven by a camera, of all things. I got the original iPod too. That was a source of ridicule for some. They didn’t get it. But I did. Not just pay the money because I love Apple, but I got it. I could Think DIfferent. I could see where it was headed. Very first model. And it was love.
The iPod, oddly enough, was what made my love for Apple dwindle. And Steve. It became too popular. It wasn’t just for Apple freaks any more. I LIKED that. I liked the club of exclusivity of Apple. Then there were Apple Stores. Apple Stores are Mecca for people like me.
After the Titanium, I made the switch to a Macbook Pro. I hated the name. PowerBook sounded cooler, but I could see the logic, a PowerBook without a PowerPC chip isn’t quite right. This computer didn’t last too long. It’s half life was the shortest of any Apple product I owned, but I was asking a lot of out if. I was using to drive an external monitor and processing pictures like crazy.
I got the iPhone, no surprise there. The very first model and I stood in line to get it too. Again, people questioned the purchase, but less so and again, it was because the cult of the Mac had evolved and changed. It wasn’t a cult any more. It was too popular.
When my MacBook Pro died, I was on a cusp. I was waiting for the rumored tablet. Did I get a new laptop or get an iMac? Ultimately, I went back to a desktop for the first time since that old Centris. It worked fine although using a PC laptop for my travels was painful.
When the iPad was announced, I got two. One for my mom and one for me. She had the iPad first (it was sans 3G which was what I was waiting for). Mom had always wanted a computer, but I was always hesitant. The iPad was perfect for her. She understands it, not enough, but it meets her needs. She uses it every day. Yeah, my mom is a good example of a new market segment, someone who has no understanding of computers can use an iPad.
Eventually, I decided I wanted a laptop and when the 3rd gen Airs came out, I picked it up. It’s the best laptop I ever owned. I love it. No DVD drive? Who needs one? Small storage? Well, I take what I need. It’s light and guess what, even with the slower processor speed, that SSD drive makes it fly; what I wanted though was a combo in my next iMac. Guess what? You can build it now.
As I write this, I now have an iPhone 4S, a 1st gen iPad, an Air, and an iMac. I still hate how popular the iPod and iPhone are. But I won’t switch. I see where the future is, and even without Steve, Apple is there.