APPLE FOUNDER STEVE JOBS, SUCCUMBS!

Icheoku says the man who put some powerful tools of modern technology in the hands of millions world-wide has finally succumbed to his debilitating, terminal illness; which saw a fully grown adult man depreciate in weight to less than seventy pounds.

He was 56 years old and if to live is to live your footprint in the sand of time, then Apple's departed alter-ego, Steve Jobs, left one heck of a giant's footprint and by doing so, has forever transformed himself into legend. He lived. He underwent surgery for killer pancreatic cancer in 2004, he received a liver transplant in 2009 and survived for seven years against his doctors' odds. 

Steve Jobs helped develop so many products which has become both iconic and status symbols; and heavens owe it to him to welcome him with trumpets for putting smiles on so many faces and making humanity connect with one another more conveniently. He put unquantifiable catalogue of music, libraries and the Internet in hand-held devices and/or in our pockets, among his numerous accomplishments. According to one obituary, "Rarely has a major company and industry been so dominated by a single individual, and so successful. His influence went far beyond the iconic personal computers that were Apple’s principal product for its first 20 years. In the last decade, Apple has redefined the music business through the iPod, the cellphone business through the iPhone and the entertainment and media world through the iPad. Again and again, Mr. Jobs gambled that he knew what the customer would want, and again and again he was right." Icheoku says thankfully for men of letters, no better eulogy so succinctly spoke of the genius for whom the world mourns. Steve Jobs was indeed very effectual and his life very effective. 

Admitted his exit will initially shake Apple group but Icheoku strongly believes that just like Ford, Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and other great inventors and innovators of the past, whose inventions and products became better with time following their exits, Apple would only become better; as capable hands and visionary egg-heads abound therein to take it to the next level. Even Christianity became stronger with the passing of Jesus Christ as the Apostles, now bereft of their mother-hen, became more brave to do whatever it took both to survive and thrive following the visit of the Holy spirit during Pentecost according to the Bible. The Apple group and its products will not be an exception as Steve was to a large extent just the alter-ego and necessarily the only tinkerer therein; so they will be fine in his absence and will continue to innovate and churn out products that are both eye poppers and head-turners. 

His was the story of another college dropout like Bill Gates, who succeeded in life. Steve was a Buddhist and an adopted son of an American father and a Syrian mother. Although he died at quite an early age of 56 but like most trailblazers in history, he was old - Jesus died at 33, Martin Luther King died at 38, etc; but he entered immortality with his products and will now live forever. And as Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said and Icheoku agrees, Steve 'uniquely combined an artists touch and an engineers vision to build an extraordinary company' which made products that are both art and functional known as I-this, I-that; admitted no one really knows what those "I" stands for? Adieu Steve!