http://www.media.mit.edu/research/

True. In part, it came from the unique ferment of the times he grew up in–a
mix of social and technological developments. He and I are the same age,
and have spent most of our lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was into
computers and electronics as a teenager; I don’t know if Jobs was, but if not,
he got into it not too much later, at least when he met Wozniak. For what it’s
worth, we both associated with at least one or two of the same people at the
time. My brother met Wozniak at the Home Brew Computer Club, when he
was asking if anyone was interested in this breadboarded computer he’d built
(soon to be called the Apple I). There’s a lot more to it all, but we all knew
the potential for computers to change the world if done right. He had a lot of
help, and mostly served to see the potential in other people’s technical work
(in addition to having a few of his own technical contributions, like seeing the
potential in changing the text we saw on the early computer screens, from
monospace to fullblown leading, kerning, etc.). It was a heady combination
of technology, social awareness, art, friendship, and other things. And
though that still exists now with many other people, it will still be difficult to
find someone with Jobs’ combination of all that, plus his savvy in many other
areas (dealmaking, the ability to turn a phrase, etc.), notwithstanding Jobs’
spectactular mistakes–in fact, it’s been his stick-to-it-iveness despite his
blunders (and things beyond his control) that’s been one of his primary
driving forces–whoever he chooses, if he’s good, I hope he’s not
discouraged by the inevitable mistakes and unforseseen problems that will
occur. And I hope that person has some flair, but isn’t the wrong kind of
egotist. In fact, someone who stays out of the limelight, just gets things right
more often than he gets things wrong would be preferable to someone who
tries to imitate Jobs. It would be interesting if Jobs called on someone from a
place like MIT’s Media Lab, but I think he’s already got his list of successors
picked out. There’s been speculation for a few years that close to the top of
the list is Jonathan Ives, head of Apple design (?), designer of most of Apple’s
cases since the original iMac, but I suspect he’s considering several people.
He likes options.