An Apple a day

As an unabashed LOVER of all things Apple, I am incredibly saddened by Steve Job's passing today. <---- This is the very first Apple product I ever had. Mom and Howie bought me a Macintosh Classic for my freshman year of college. I had the only computer in the dorm room, and every one of us had their own floppy disk for their work on the machine. I remember the day I got it, and the completely random class I had to take to learn how to use it. It amazes me how far the computers themselves have come, as I sit here typing this out on my MacBook, connected to the Internet via wi-fi. Technology is pretty fantastic.
And that's just the computer. Don't even get me started on how fuckin' fantastic iPods, iPhones and iPads are. Of course, I have one of each, and you couldn't pay me enough to take all my Apple stuff (unless I can buy all new versions of everything). It isn't lost on anyone, I'm sure, that most of us learned about Jobs's passing on a device that he created.
Just for funsies, let's count the Apple products Mom and Howie, and Brian, have bought me. First, I preface this by saying, I AM, AND HAVE BEEN, VERY WELL SPOILED IN MY LIFE!! Admitting that makes this exercise more fun than irritating. Computers: 4 (two desktops, two laptops); iPods: 2 (one classic with a black and white screen, and one about six months later, because it was the next generation model available in color and with 60 GB of space); iPhones: 2 (every other generation is mine); and iPad: 1 (for now. We don't like sharing with Sydney, and she won't let us use it. I see an iPad 3 in my future).
Of course, an entity as huge as Apple won't fall because of this, but one does wonder about the future of the innovation in the company. Jobs was the driving force behind the products from Apple. I'm not so much concerned for the improvement and growth of the computers, phones, iPods and iPads. They're just a matter of making the cooler and better. I'm more curious about what won't be invented now. There was no market for iPods until Jobs created one. There was no market for smart phones. No market for iPads. No market for iTunes and the app store. All these things were created by Jobs for a culture that didn't realize how badly we all needed them until we had them. What will we miss out on? Sadly, what we don't know, won't benefit us.