You are on page 1of 3

Steve Jobs: I wanted my kids to know me

Agence France-Presse, Associated Press


2:18 am | Saturday, October 8th, 2011
10 share215 199
APPLES CORE GONE. Tribute from Hong Kong to Manila to Sao Paulo in salute to Apple legendary
founder Steve Jobs who inspired creative expressions in this composite photo of an iPad
displaying an Apple with a lighted candle where a Filipino fan wrote this message that says it all
for us. AFP/AP/INQUIRER PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY LYNETT VILLARIBA
SAN FRANCISCOSteve Jobs, in pain and too weak to climb stairs a few weeks before his death,
wanted his children to understand why he wasnt always there for them, according to the author
of his highly anticipated biography.
I wanted my kids to know me, Jobs was quoted as saying by Pulitzer Prize nominee Walter
Isaacson, when he asked the Apple Inc. cofounder why he authorized a tell-all biography after
living a private, almost ascetic life.
I wasnt always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did,
Jobs told Isaacson in their final interview at Jobs home in Palo Alto, California.
Isaacson said he visited Jobs for the last time a few weeks ago and found him curled up in some
pain in a downstairs bedroom.
Jobs had moved there because he was too weak to go up and down stairs, but his mind was still
sharp and his humor vibrant, Isaacson wrote in an essay on Time.com that will be published in
the magazines Oct. 17 edition.
Jobs died on Wednesday at the age of 56 after a long battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer.
Outpourings of sympathy swept across the globe as state leaders, business rivals and fans paid
respect to the man who touched the daily lives of countless millions through the Macintosh
computer, iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Jobs had struggled with health issues but said very little about his battle with cancer since an
operation in 2004. When he stepped down in August, handing the CEO reins to longtime
operations chief Tim Cook, Jobs said simply that he could no longer fulfill his duties as chief
executive.
Apple has been similarly guarded about the circumstances of his death, saying only that their
chair was surrounded by his wife Laurene and immediate family. Jobs had four children from two
relationships.
Funeral arrangements have not been disclosed and it is uncertain when the company will hold a
planned celebration of Jobs life. Officials in Sacramento said there will be no state or public
funeral.
From Tokyo and Paris to San Francisco and New York, mourners created impromptu memorials
outside Apple stores, from flowers and candles to a dozen green and red apples on Manhattans
Fifth Avenue.
Beyond death
With his passion for minimalist design and a genius for marketing, Jobs laid the groundwork for
Apple to continue to flourish after his death, most analysts and investors say.

But Apple still faces challenges in the absence of the man who was its chief product designer,
marketing guru and salesman nonpareil. Phones running Googles Android software are gaining
share in the smartphone market, and there are questions about what Apples next big product
will be.
But Wall Street analysts said Cooks new team-based approach and operational savvy will keep
the company on trackat least for now.
Jobs estate
Jobs, in his trademark uniform of black mock-turtleneck and blue jeans, was deemed the heart
and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.
With an estimated net worth of $7 billionincluding a 7-percent stake in Walt Disney Co.it was
not known how Jobs estate would be handled.
His death revived speculation that some of his estate might be donated to cancer research
groups or hospitals. California law requires a will to be filed in probate court within 30 days of
death.
Rebel streak
Jobs was given up for adoption soon after his birth in San Francisco to an American mother,
Joanne Carole Schieble, and a Syrian-born father, Abdulfattah John Jandali.
A college dropout, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in his parents garage
in 1976.
Jobs changed the technology world in the late 1970s, when the Apple II became the first personal
computer to gain a wide following. He did it again in 1984 with the Macintosh, which built on
breakthrough technologies developed at Xerox Parc and elsewhere to create the personal
computing experience as we know it today.
The rebel streak that was central to his persona got him tossed out of Apple in 1985, but he
returned in 1997 and, after a few years, began the roll-out of a troika of productsthe iPod, the
iPhone and the iPadthat again upended the established order in major industries.
Awe for a wizard
Jobs was a conjurer, a modern magician who reached into tomorrow and came up with things
that changed millions of lives.
As people gathered at Apple Stores from Sydney to San Francisco to mourn him, the feeling was
more than grief for an executive or even an inventor. It was something closer to awe for a wizard.
Apple has sold 129 million iPhones and 29 million iPads. And in the decade since it revolutionized
the music industry by offering 1,000 songs in your pocket, it has sold 300 million iPods, or
roughly enough to outfit every person in the United States.
Venerated by rivals
In a measure of his impact on personal technology, Jobs was venerated by his fiercest
competitors in the hours after his death.
Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, a company that Apple once treated as Goliath to its David
and then blew past in market value, said it was an insanely great honor to have known Jobs.

A statement of grief came from Sony, whose Walkman and Discman were buried by the iPod.
Heads of state around the world added their thoughts. President Barack Obama said Jobs
exemplified American ingenuity. Mexicos President Felipe Calderon bemoaned the loss of one of
the most visionary minds of our times. Indias Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was
deeply saddened.
Former US President Bill Clinton said: His passion for his work and his courage in fighting his
cancer were an inspiration to us all.
Apple in tears
In the Ginza shopping district of Tokyo, people held up iPhones and iPads, their screens facing
outward and displaying sharply defined, touchable graphics of flickering candles.
At an Apple Store in Hong Kong, old and new means of grief came together: People scribbled
RIP and We miss Steve and longer notes of condolence on Post-It notes, and stuck them to an
iPad display.
And at the 24-hour Apple Store in midtown Manhattan, passersby left flowers and candles, actual
ones.
Even in Syria, seven months into an uprising, people paused to take pride in Jobs, whose father
was born in Homs, the third-largest city.
This shows that this country can produce geniuses, if only we had freedoms instead of a
suffocating dictatorship, said Sara, a 23-year-old Syrian student who refused to give her full
name for fear of Syrian government reprisal.
On Facebook, people posted revisions of the Apple logo, a stylized apple with a detached leaf and
a half-moon bite taken out. One added a frown and tears to the apple. Another replaced the bite
with a silhouette of Jobs himself. With a report from Reuters
Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones.
Subscribe and get several chances to win tickets to the Black Eyed Peas concert in Manila as well
as tickets to Stomp. Promo details. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone.
Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines.

You might also like