Het was gisteren precies vier jaar geleden dat Steve Jobs overleed, en natuurlijk is dat voor Apple nog steeds een moment om bij stil te staan. Want Steve Jobs was niet alleen charismatisch en visionair, maar hij zorgde er ook voor dat Apple succesvol bleef na zijn dood, iets waar grote leiders zelden toe in staat zijn.

Ter ere van deze dag heeft Apple's huidige CEO Tim Cook een mail gestuurd aan alle Apple medewerkers, hieronder kan je de complete tekst van die mail lezen.

Team,

Today marks four years since Steve passed away. On that day, the world lost a visionary. We at Apple lost a leader, a mentor, and many of us lost a dear friend.

Steve was a brilliant person, and his priorities were very simple. He loved his family above all, he loved Apple, and he loved the people with whom he worked so closely and achieved so much.

Each year since his passing, I have reminded everyone in the Apple community that we share the privilege and responsibility of continuing the work Steve loved so much.

What is his legacy? I see it all around us: An incredible team that embodies his spirit of innovation and creativity. The greatest products on earth, beloved by customers and empowering hundreds of millions of people around the world. Soaring achievements in technology and architecture. Experiences of surprise and delight. A company that only he could have built. A company with an intense determination to change the world for the better.
And, of course, the joy he brought his loved ones.

He told me several times in his final years that he hoped to live long enough to see some of the milestones in his children’s lives. I was in his office over the summer with Laurene and their youngest daughter. Messages and drawings from his kids to their father are still there on Steve’s whiteboard.

If you never knew Steve, you probably work with someone who did or who was here when he led Apple. Please stop one of us today and ask what he was really like. Several of us have posted our personal remembrances on AppleWeb, and I encourage you to read them.

Thank you for honoring Steve by continuing the work he started, and for remembering both who he was and what he stood for.

Tim

Ik zou het leuk vinden om die "personal remembrances on AppleWeb" te lezen. Maar waarschijnlijk zullen die nooit naar buiten komen, Apple zal vast te bang zijn dat die misbruikt zouden worden (en ik denk ook dat dat zou gebeuren).