The Secret Life of Bebe

It’s been almost three weeks now since Steve Jobs died. He’s been memorialised in a thousand different ways by the media and by his family, friends, colleagues and fans. Until now I haven’t had the words to express how I feel. His death has felt very personal to me. If you know me well (or really, at all), you know what a huge Apple fan I am.

Apple is written indelibly on my life (and on my body). I spend most of my day using Apple products and I love them. Some people think its weird to declare love for overpriced inanimate technology. It doesn’t love me back, but I don’t care.

My iPhone, my iPad, my Mac Mini, AppleTV, iPod Nano ease me through my everyday. They keep me entertained, allow me to connect with the people I like and love, let me do my job on the run. And, as Steve says, they just work. They feel right and they look good. So yes, I’m an Apple fan.

And Steve Jobs was Apple. He was clearly a driven, visionary man. He made amazing things happen in the world of technology. Most people probably don’t even really think about how much he and Apple changed the computing landscape. Just in my lifetime, I saw it move forward in fits and starts, then leaps and bounds. I admire Steve greatly as an inventor and businessman.

Steve’s death is sad for other reasons too. He died of cancer, like Simon did. Well before his time. When I heard how sick Steve was, and then of his passing, the only think I could think was, “what a waste”. He had so much more to offer the world. He wasn’t done! I thought the same about Simon. What a waste of an incredibly clever man.

I can image what his wife and kids have been through the past few months. Cancer wears a person away slowly and it’s really hard to watch. So it feels really personal for me.

Apple will go on. It will make more insanely great products, and I’ll probably buy most of them. But I’ll always be sad that Steve isn’t there to give us “one more thing”.