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2011-10-08 14:30:16
6 October 2011 Last updated at 23:07 GMT Share this pageEmailPrint
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The cult of Steve Jobs
By Kate Dailey
BBC News Magazine
In life, as in death, Steve Jobs commanded love and respect
Continue reading the main story
In today's Magazine
A bumpy road
Quiz of the week's news
'We are the 99%'
Stargazing at an 'Aboriginal Stonehenge'
Steve Jobs's combination of success and secrecy endeared him to people across
the world, who mourned his death in public.
Even before Steve Jobs passed away, his cult of personality loomed large over
Apple.
When it was announced that he'd be stepping down, analysts worried that the
company would flounder without him.
But his death crystallised both his status as a cult figure and his legacy to a
company in transition.
Within minutes of his passing, Twitter was overcome with hashtags and posts in
memoriam. On Facebook, people posted and reposted a series of photos, quotes,
and videos about Jobs, creating a digital echo chamber.
People flocked to Apple stores across the globe to leave flowers. Groups used
the candle apps on their iPads to create a vigil.
Secretive and private
The mass reaction to news of his death made it seem as though Jobs was a friend
to the millions of people who owned his product.
In reality, they knew very little about him.
Continue reading the main story
Start Quote
Non-conforming was exactly what Steve Jobs is about. It's incredibly
attractive, especially today
Jonathan Gabay
Brand consultant, JonathanGabay.com
"He was incredibly secretive and private. You'd be hard-pressed to find a
picture of him and his kids, hard-pressed to hear him talk about anything but
Apple products," says Leander Kahney, author of Inside Steve's Brain, a
biography of Jobs.
That Jobs never revealed much about his politics or his personal life also
meant that he could never disappoint fans' preconceived notions.
"Because he was mysterious, people could project their own ideas on to him, and
he could be a lot of things for a lot of people," says Mr Kahney, who runs the
website Cult of Mac and wrote a book of the same name.
Man of mystique
Jobs's carefully constructed web of secrecy, peppered with some hints of
vulnerability and accessibility - he was famous for answering customer emails -
only added to the looming legend that grew with each Apple innovation.
"The more you saw him as having mystique, the more it went hand in hand as him
being a visionary," says Maia Young, an associate professor at the UCLA
Anderson School of Management.
When mysterious people are successful, she says, we perceive them "as if they
have a special something endowed to them that most of us don't have access to."
She conducted a study in which subjects were asked to assess Jobs's potential
at predicting government spending, trends in the stock market, and the future
of interest rates.
"The more people saw him as having mystique, the more they ascribed to him the
ability to predict those things," she said. "It's a testament to how much
people saw in him."
It's also a testament to how closely he guarded his personal image.
Thinking differently
From the beginning, there has been a cult around Apple, says Mr Kahney. But
that had less to do with personality and had more to do with the products,
which engendered tremendous loyalty. That so few people used them created both
an air of exclusivity and a fierce protectiveness from enthusiasts constantly
worried that behemoths like Microsoft would run their beloved company out of
business.
Jobs added something different to the mix.
Continue reading the main story
In pictures: The Internet mourns
Photos of online reactions to Jobs' death. Plus: BBC's technology correspondent
discusses Jobs' successor
World Wide Wake
Tim Cook and Steve Jobs
"One of the things that Mr Jobs did, which was very unlike anyone else, was he
did it his way," says Jonathan Gabay, a branding consultant and founder of
JonathanGabay.com.
Before Jobs, computers were grey boxes used for maths and science; business
machines for men in suits and ties. Jobs, clad in jeans and pioneering the
casual-Friday dotcom lifestyle, changed all that.
"It liberated people to express a different way of doing things, hence his
brilliant slogan 'think different'," says Mr Gabay.
Mainstream blues
By thinking differently, Jobs placed himself squarely in the mainstream. With
the invention of the iPod and iPhone, Apple went from a quirky underdog to a
global powerhouse. Its ubiquitous white earbuds were worn by both hipster
artists and Wall Street suits.
When it came to business, Mr Jobs was anything but a revolutionary. "It seems
like a cool, liberal, creative company, but the reality is it's a very
locked-down place. It's not a happy place to work," says Mr Kahney.
"It's one of the tightest-controlled corporations in the world."
The mystery surrounding Jobs was always just a few notes away from menace. As
the company became more successful and less outwardly innovative - after all,
how many times can one company be expected to create the next big thing that
revolutionises our lives? - the chance that Jobs might prove himself to be
fallible increased.
Selling a solution
Now the company that Jobs pioneered must navigate a new path without its
storied leader. But the legacy that Jobs left provides some direction.
As consumers around the world went online to memorialise Jobs, no-one was
crowing about his innovations in processor speed or even Apple's innovative
design.
The majority of posts cemented Jobs's status as a dreamer and visionary:
quoting him when he said: "Have the courage to follow your heart and
intuition,"; linking to Apple adverts that begin 'Here's to the crazy ones';
posting articles that promise to explain 'What Steve Jobs understands that our
politicians don't'.
Jobs died at a time when people trust authority less than ever. The technology
he created and the image he projected sold consumers a possible solution.
"People are desperately craving the idea that they can do things in a different
way because they don't trust the way it was done before," says Mr Gabay. "This
sense of non-conforming was exactly what Steve Jobs is about. It's incredibly
attractive, especially today."
Above all, Jobs promised a lifestyle - you can be cool, you can go against the
grain, and you can succeed with those ideas.
"Everyone who buys a Mac says, 'I'm going to write my novel, I'm going to edit
my movie, I'm going to cut that single'," says Mr Kahney. "It speaks to that
creative streak. In reality all they do is sit around and watch Netflix on it."
When his legion of fans went online to mark his passing, they were saying, "I
want to believe." They were letting the world know that they too, are capable
of thinking differently.
Even if they themselves sometimes forgot, Steve Jobs never did.