2011: Media Deaths and Births
Amazon released four new low-priced Kindles, Google changed its C.E.O., LinkedIn went public, and a contentious and momentous copyright battle brewed in Congress. Ken writes:
Forget, for a moment, the amazing products Jobs fashioned. Acknowledge that he borrowed liberally from Xerox parc and others. He was not an inventor like Thomas Edison, but his impact over so many industries was Edison-like. The retail industry is going to school on Apple stores. The music industry discovered a way to combat piracy and generate income and again sell singles on iTunes. Because of the iPad, book publishers regained leverage over Amazon and got to set e-book prices. Movie and television studios got religion about portable devices, which could open a new revenue spigot for their products. The iPhone pioneered a new generation of smart phones and portable tablets that will supplant the P.C. Companies that believed hardware and software were separate enterprises now want to copy the integrated Apple model. An app industry was forged by Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Magazines and newspapers got access to new platforms and hope that their app will generate meaningful income. After Apple, what hardware company doesn’t place a premium on design? The list goes on and on—which is why Steve Jobs lives on.