In his own image

Death cast a shadow over much of Steve Jobs life,concentrating and energising him. As he put it: Death is lifes change agent. Years ago,distressed at the 30-second start-up time for the early Mac,he asked the systems programmer: Even if it took you three days to make it a single second faster,it would be worth it. As it happened,a full three seconds were skimmed off.

And what did Steve Jobs do,with his own singular life? He shaped the technology industry,now so intimate to our lives. He helped create the first real personal computer,the Macintosh,and he also inaugurated the post-PC world. He was famously forced by the board to leave Apple the foundation of his entire adult life and returned only in 1997 to save the drifting corporation. But in that decade out,his company created OS X and iOS,the operating systems Apple still uses. Along the way,he also created the animation company Pixar. iTunes blocked the music industrys free-fall and created a whole new system of distribution and remuneration. Though digital music players and smartphones were familiar things,the iPod and iPhone were rich and novel creations,and changed what we expect of the industry. Apple coaxed folks into making room for the iPad,though the idea of a tablet had long been consigned to the directory of useless things.

From the graphical user interface and the mouse,to the touchscreens and apps we take for granted today,it seems insane that a single person could have played the decisive role in all of these developments. Apples most successful products did not spring from between his brows they are all results of talented theft and bricolage. His personality seeped into his products in many ways like the aloof sheen of his appliances,fully controlled by Apple. But the reason why so many people around the world are so affected by his death is not just love for Apples thoughtful devices,but the inspiration of his story. He tried again,failed again,failed better,and succeeded spectacularly. He had the capacity to grapple with the world and remake it.