By Traci Dauphin (12:50 pm, Oct. 06, 2011)
I went to the downtown Apple store this morning.
It was raining. Sort of fitting for the mood at the store.
Several
people braved the downpour to pay tribute to Steve. Messages on Post-it
notes were covering the front window. It was quite moving actually.
Candles were lit and flowers were scattered on the ground.
When it
started to hail briefly, I went inside. The mood was somber. The usual
high-fiving employees were quiet. One of the employees told me that when
they arrived at the store this morning the notes were covering the
door. They carefully removed them one by one and placed the notes in
rows at the bottom of the window.
While in the store, the David Bowie song
Changes started playing. It was sad to hear but fitting. Apple has changed, at least how we know it.
Please
check out the rest of the pictures and their captions below. This isn’t
a sight exclusive to the San Francisco Apple Store. Similar tributes
are happening at Apple Stores all around the world. If Steve was the
heart and soul of Apple, even Apple’s fingertips are in mourning today.
A small crowd gathered outside in the rain to pay their respects.
view from inside the store looking out.
An impressive makeshift shrine with notes, flowers, candles and a single teddy.
The
notes were on both sides of the door. I’m sure by the end of today
there will be even more goodbyes. A couple of employees on the far right
had just finished a hug.
Post-it notes waiting to be written on.
A wonderful one of a kind Steve Jobs graphic made by Slustr Design.
This print of Steve Jobs was made on a Mac, within two hours after it
was announced that he had died. Too bad I couldn’t get the link to work,
Slustr Design.
These four young men are graduates of the
San Francisco Art Institute.
The guy that designed the print is in the picture but didn’t want to be
acknowledged. Sort of like a Banksy. They used part of their rent money
to print the Steve Jobs graphic at Kinkos.
The rain dripping down the window made it seem like the apple really was crying.
Time Magazine had their issue for this week
all ready to go, and then they heard the terrible news of
Steve Jobs’ passing.
They cancelled the current issue, and went to work immediately on a
retrospective issue all about Steve Jobs. From the special issue,
via Fortune,
is an excerpt from the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaccson, which
details the day Steve pitched the idea for the biography.
In the early summer of 2004, I got a phone call from him.
He had been scattershot friendly to me over the years, with occasional
bursts of intensity, especially when he was launching a new product that
he wanted on the cover of Time or featured on CNN, places where I’d
worked. But now that I was no longer at either of those places, I hadn’t
heard from him much. We talked a bit about the Aspen Institute, which I
had recently joined, and I invited him to speak at our summer campus in
Colorado. He’d be happy to come, he said, but not to be onstage. He
wanted, instead, to take a walk so we could talk.
That seemed a bit odd. I didn’t yet know that taking a long walk was
his preferred way to have a serious conversation. It turned out that he
wanted me to write a biography of him. I had recently published one on
Benjamin Franklin and was writing one about Albert Einstein, and my
initial reaction was to wonder, half jokingly, whether he saw himself as
the natural successor in that sequence. Because I assumed that he was
still in the middle of an oscillating career that had many more ups and
downs left, I demurred. Not now, I said. Maybe in a decade or two, when
you retire.
But I later realized that he had called me just before he was going
to be operated on for cancer for the first time. As I watched him battle
that disease, with an awesome intensity combined with an astonishing
emotional romanticism, I came to find him deeply compelling, and I
realized how much his personality was ingrained in the products he
created. His passions, demons, desires, artistry, devilry and obsession
for control were integrally connected to his approach to business, so I
decided to try to write his tale as a case study in creativity.
The will be the 7th time that Steve Jobs has been on the cover of Time Magazine, and here’s
a slideshow of all of them. The issue will be hitting newsstands and iPads tomorrow, and
Time’s site later today.
To produce this special issue, TIME stopped the presses
on its previously planned issue in order to devote its cover and 21
pages of the full issue to Jobs’ life and career. The issue includes a
six-page essay by Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson, a historical report
on Jobs career by TIME technology reporters Harry McCracken and Lev
Grossman and a photo essay by Diana Walker, who has been shooting Jobs
for TIME since 1982.
The biography has been moved up twice, and is now
set for October 24th. There’s another excerpt detailing Isaacson’s last encounter with Steve, about four weeks ago. The
WSJ reports,
“Jobs indicated at that time that he knew he was going to die soon”.
The excerpt below is very touching, and shows Steve’s appreciation for
his family above all else in the end.
A few weeks ago, I visited Jobs for the last time in his
Palo Alto, Calif., home. He had moved to a downstairs bedroom because he
was too weak to go up and down stairs. He was curled up in some pain,
but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant. We talked about his
childhood, and he gave me some pictures of his father and family to use
in my biography. As a writer, I was used to being detached, but I was
hit by a wave of sadness as I tried to say goodbye. In order to mask my
emotion, I asked the one question that was still puzzling me: Why had he
been so eager, during close to 50 interviews and conversations over the
course of two years, to open up so much for a book when he was usually
so private? “I wanted my kids to know me,” he said. “I wasn’t always
there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I
did.”
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson is available to pre-order in the
iBookstore,
Amazon, and else where.
Wall Street: Spirit & vision of Steve Jobs will live on at Apple
Published: 03:44 PM EST (12:44 PM PST)
Steve Jobs changed the world
with his ideas, and those same principles make up the backbone of Apple,
which is why Wall Street watchers believe the company will continue to
innovate and succeed even after the passing of its iconic co-founder.
Reacting to the news that Jobs
has died
at the age of 56, analysts on Wall Street praised him as an inspiring
leader who changed the world. But they also remain confident in the
future of Apple as a company, even without Jobs around to guide his
creation.
The optimism expressed by analysts has been shared so far by investors,
as AAPL stock was down less than 1 percent on Thursday afternoon
following the news that Jobs had passed.
Piper Jaffray
"Jobs inspired not only the many Apple products that created new
categories and changed the way people live, work and play, but he
inspired other technology leaders to do the same," analyst Gene Munster
said. "All the while, Jobs was developing perhaps his greatest
accomplishment, Apple itself.
"We believe that Jobs' legacy includes his many great inventions as well
as those people who know lead Apple and will carry on his way of
creating the future."
He believes that Jobs's final great act as CEO was grooming Tim Cook to
be his successor. Munster said Cook is more than capable with what he
called a "rare combination" of humility and motivation.
"While there may be concerns among investors as to whether or not Cook
can continue Jobs' streak of innovation, we believe there is no better
candidate to lead the company Jobs co-founded," he said. "And in many
ways, it will be Jobs and his deeply rooted vision that will always
guide Apple and its leaders."
Munster said he believes Cook will carry out a long-term roadmap that he
and Jobs likely jointly established. He thinks that Apple's course for
the next five years is probably already plotted internally.
Ticonderoga Securities
Analyst Brian White shared a similar sentiment, calling Apple itself a
creation of Jobs that is built to "stand the test of time." He said that
Jobs's presence will always be felt at the company and will inspire
employees to innovate for many years to come.
"Steve Jobs' acceptance of nothing but the highest quality work has been
thoroughly ingrained in the Apple culture during his tenure, creating a
team that we believe will continue to thrive," White wrote in a note to
investors.
He referenced the letter Jobs
sent to the Apple board
when he announced he was stepping down as CEO in August. In that
letter, Jobs said that "Apple's brightest and most innovative days are
ahead of it," and White said he agrees with that assessment.
"Clearly, there is no one like Steve Jobs in the tech world and Apple
will never have another Steve Jobs at he helm, however, we believe he
has created an incredibly talented team with Tim Cook as CEO that can
lead Apple to continued success for many years to come," White said.
Sterne Agee
"Apple is his legacy just like Disney is Walt Disney's and GE for Thomas
Edison," analyst Shaw Wu said of Jobs in a note filed on Thursday. "It
is the culture of innovation, thinking different, risk taking, and
execution that will live on."
Going forward, Wu believes that the greatest challenge for Apple will be
maintaining the culture that Jobs instilled. But he believes that Cook,
along with designer Jonathan Ive, iTunes and iAds chief Eddy Cue, iOS
software leader Scott Forstall, marketing head Phil Schiller, Chief
Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, and Mac hardware executive Bob
Mansfield represent a strong lineup at the company.
"We are buyers on potential weakness in AAPL shares as we believe the
company has transformed itself into one of the key platforms of the
future with iCloud and the App Store poised to benefit in the coming
decade from a company that produced hot products," he said. "In the
near-term, the stock may remain volatile as Tim Cook gains confidence
from investors."
Apple's Fifth Ave store becomes memorial site for Steve Jobs
Published: 09:52 AM EST (06:52 AM PST)
Mourning the loss of Steve Jobs, many
who admired the man and appreciate his contributions to the world have
shown their respects by placing flowers, candles, notes and apples
outside of the Apple Store on New York City's Fifth Avenue.
Though the glass cube that serves as the store's entrance remains
under wraps
as construction continues, Apple fans have taken to paying their
respects at the front steps of the retail location. The Fifth Avenue
store is an East Coast hub for Apple, serving as one of the most heavily
trafficked stores in the world with its instantly recognizable grand
entrance.
People began to gather outside the store
Wednesday night
as news of Jobs's passing spread. Thursday morning, the site remained
active, with members of the media present to cover the story, and
admirers of Jobs coming by to pay their respects.
Laid at the entrance were flowers, candles, balloons and apples, along
with letters dedicated to the Apple co-founder reiterating that he will
be missed. Placed at the center of the makeshift memorial, a sign read
"Keep Thinking Different," referencing Apple's memorable ad campaign.
Construction at the Fifth Ave cube has been underway
since June. The $6.7 million project will replace the previous design of 90 glass panes with
15 larger ones, giving it a cleaner and simpler look.
The original cube was personally designed by Jobs, and is one of the most photographed landmarks in New York City. Jobs even
paid for the project himself and owned the structure.
Below are photos of the Fifth Ave store as seen Thursday morning, courtesy of
AppleInsider reader Ryan.
Mourners began to memorialize Steve Jobs at the Apple Fifth Avenue store Wednesday night.
A customer exits the Fifth Avenue Apple Store on Thursday morning.
Media and crowds remained at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York Thursday morning.
Newspapers across the world have hailed Steve Jobs as 'visionary' in covering his death.