The Impact of Apple

Let me make 3 things clear before I start:

1) This is a tribute to Steve Jobs

2) Apple has had a profound impact on my life.

3) I've never owned a single Apple product.

Before you get angry and start yelling at me for point 3, let me tell you my story.


My first interaction with Apple was in my teens. Computers were new at that point - I didn't even own a computer and the only thing I was previously allowed to do on my old school's PCs was to play word games. Somehow or other, I ended up in the computer multimedia design club.

By some serendipity, the multimedia design club teacher was an Apple fan with sufficient clout. So the first thing that greeted me when I joined the multimedia design club was an entire computer lab of Apple computers.

Since then, Apple has been synonymous with creativity in my head. When I think Apple, I recall large clunky monitors with superior graphics. I think about the funny mouse with no right click that I did magic with. I think about the drop down menus at the top of the window that let me flip through my creations.

In the same year I joined the multimedia design club, the iMac was introduced. The teacher-in-charge wasted no time in adding some iMacs in the shades of the rainbow to her flock of Apple computers. Even though the iMac was a creative leap from its predecessors, it did the same things in a pretty package. But packaging apparently did the trick - everyone was raving about the computers, and even people who didn't need to use the lab would sneak in to use the computer. I'm not sure whether they sneaked back out after discovering that it didn't run on Windows, but it was still amusing to see.

Out of all the iMacs, I had a personal favourite - the purple iMac. I would always come early to make sure that I was able to sit at that iMac. I remember the position of that iMac clearly, because it was just in front of the door - as I sat there, I would be able to watch people going in and out of the lab. This has shaped me too; I still love people watching.

With a personal iMac at school, you could say I got lazy as an Apple fan. When my parents expressed doubts about getting a Mac, I gave in. Besides, they already found Windows difficult - what more a Mac?  After resisting that initial push, it's been easier to resist the others.

But I was already an Apple fan and I watched the roll out of all their products eagerly, even if I could only dream about getting them. But I was sure that there were creative things still being done on all those Macs out there, even if I wasn't the one doing those creative things. I resigned myself to living vicariously through others.


Being in Singapore, I had the unique opportunity of seeing the initial Zen ads. Zen music players had been created by a Singaporean company, Creative, and released before Apple's attempts. Creative tried to play up the music experience. Their ad, however, was either too "creative" or not enough - it featured a panda flying through the clouds, and then, at the end of the ad it had a forgettable slogan, but the general gist was something like "Panda Symphony (the name of the music), brought to you by Creative Zen."

"I don't want to be a panda, thanks," I told my friends, and that was the end of that ad.

Then Apple came along, and they had a product with the same basic idea - music experience. But Apple, being the creative force they were, knew exactly how to push that experience.

I still remember the ad on my tv - watching the sillouhettes with white ear buds dancing against backdrops of bright colours. I said to my friends, "I don't know what that is, but I want it."

And then I saw that the company was Apple, and it all seemed so obvious to me. Of course it was Apple - they were the company that signified creativity after all. Of course they could come up with an innovative product like the iPod. It didn't matter that I loved my Sony Walkman, the Apple product was still amazing.

I nearly broke down and bought an iPod, but Sony let me have a huge discount on their version of an "mp3 player", so I relented and stayed with Sony. But it didn't stop me from eyeing the iPods with a whole bunch of envy. If I were someone who cared about what people thought of me, I would have bought an iPod already. After all, it was what everyone wanted.


And then came the iPhone. And the iPad

I'm still thinking on those. I haven't bought an iPhone or an iPad yet because in all my years of following Apple from the sidelines, I know what it is Apple does. Apple gives you things you want until you need them. It creates: products; desires; trends. I'm not quite ready to want something so badly.

Still, looking back on how Apple has impacted my life, I have to say this: Thank you, Steve Jobs and Apple, for bringing me products I never imagined. Thank you, Steve and Apple, for giving me the option to indulge my wants. Thank you for being a part of my growing up process.


RIP, Steve Jobs. You will be missed.