Thursday 6 October 2011

Thank You, Steve. by Eddie Yoon

Dear Steve,

We've never met. And yet nearly everywhere I turn in my house, I see your imprint. You don't know my family, and yet each of us has had our lives made better because of your work. As I put my kids to bed, I wanted to share some belated thank yous for all you have done for me and my family.

Thank you for bringing music back into my house. I was an aspiring classical musician in my early years And yet with the busyness of life, music had fallen by the wayside until you gave us the iPod and iTunes. Thank you for the ability to instantly share the soul of James Brown with my son, Taylor Swift with my daughters (I think), and, now, letting me express my sadness with Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings — all with one device.

Thank you for the mini-MBA my 7-year-old Miya is getting via her favorite app, Bakery Story, where she is learning the joy and stress of running a business without even knowing it. Thank you for the cool factor of reading bedtime books to my 5-year-old Audrey via iPad. Thank you for Talking Tom, the cartoon cat that makes my 3 year old Luke laugh even with a skinned knee and gets him to eat his vegetables when I can't.

Thank you for turning my wife into Ansel Adams and Steven Spielberg. She was always a serious scrapbooker, but iPhoto and the iMac (plus Shutterfly) have been the equivalent of the Gutenberg printing press for her. She's used iMovie to help my parents feel closer to their grandkids and bridge the 8,000 mile gap that exists today.

And thank you for the master class in business. I recently wrote about category creation, but no one is more expert on it than you. Thank you for the cannon of case studies that Apple has created across product innovation, retail innovation and business model innovation. Thank you for the object lesson in investing and delayed gratification that I was able to share with my 17-year-old niece Emily, with whom I 'co-invested' in Apple shares 3 years ago which taught her that one dollar not spent today can be worth three dollars tomorrow.

Thank you for Pixar, which is my favorite of your creations. Thank you for creating a new category of "computer animated cartoons" for both kids and adults. Thank you for creating positive yet real father figures like Mr. Incredible, who go beyond the classic bumbling idiot father of yesterday's animated movies. Thank you for showing us the truest depiction of true love and loyalty in an amazing and dialogue-free montage at the beginning of Up that goes beyond the traditionally superficial narratives of love at first sight. I could go on and on, but thank you for being the modern day parables that have taught my kids the value of aspiration and perspiration, love and loyalty and friendship and family.

Thank you for showing us that in all of what we do in business, that the mission can be more than just margin. For showing us that creation much more fun than just conquest. For showing us that the $3 billion you have paid out to developers via the App Store is what a real job creation program looks like. For showing us that pursuing artistry brings more lasting joy than just adulation. And for showing us that fractional thinking about just market share is more likely to limit your future, while an exponential mindset around category growth will expand your horizons.

Mahalo and Aloha to you and your family.


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