At work today, I saw a friend change her Gtalk status to something about Steve Jobs being gone. My initial thought was not of surprise (we all knew he was not well), nor of sadness (I don’t know the man personally), but more of dismay. Yes, dismay. Selfishly, I was dismayed because Steve will no longer be around to give us more life-changing gadgets to enjoy. (Yes, I do realise that Apple has enough technical talents to keep our iLives going. But you know what I mean, I think.)
As I continued working, I reflected on all the good things this visionary created. No other man has made gadgets into “objects of desire” as Steve has. Think about it. The Walkman and Discman gave us music on the go. But did it change our lifestyle the way the iPod did? Sony was at the forefront of the music player sector but Apple overtook it by a mile. No, by thousands of miles. Nokia, which dominated the mobile phone industry probably since the advent of GSM in the mid-90s, never saw the iPhone coming. Apple went further than giving us an ordinary mobile phone. The iPhone became a PDA, a music player, a phone, a calendar, an organiser, a GPS, and a handheld computer. Suddenly, a phone became sexy. If you say “There’s an app for that” five years ago, no one will understand what an app was. Yes, Apple coined a few words here and there in the meantime. The Macbook? I thought that Windows was indestructible. But Apple proved that we can escape from the shackles of Windows. HP, Dell, Toshiba – just naming a few PC manufacturers that Apple left behind in the dust. Apologies to my hubby who works for Toshiba. He too is a Mac user. Why am I not surprised?
I should also mention that mobile operators such as Optus (my employer) remained financially sound during the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) because people kept buying iPhones. Apple’s multitude of fans line up for days outside stores during new releases of its gadgets. An unthinkable sight in the pre-Apple days. Presently, queues are a norm, even expected. Eventually, other smartphones came into the market. Users gobbled up chunks of data from the internet via their mobile devices; the mobile infrastructure can hardly cope. With more sales, majority of our jobs were safe. Apple also produced a new breed of developers – the app makers. App prices were cheaper than Nintendo DS games. Therefore, more accessible. Gab, my youngest son, virtually abandoned his NDS when introduced to the iPod.
But really everything I have written so far diminish in significance compared to how the iPad changed the lives of a lot of young people. This is the real reason why I felt compelled to write my thoughts down. In early August, two months before my autistic son’s birthday, I was in the market for a present. I stumbled into a community of parents (A4cwsn) whose main purpose was to give an iPad to every special needs child in the world. Well, the founder is really obsessed and his vision is huge. At this stage, my son Miguel had an iPod which he barely uses. How can an iPad be any different, I thought. The more I followed A4cwsn, the more intrigued I was. Then A4cwsn Australia‘s page was created and I thought – “Surely a bunch of Aussie mums could not be wrong”. It became evident that there were educational apps that were successful in engaging autistic kids into quickly learning concepts that teachers and therapists struggle with. Autistic kids have social impairment, hence it is difficult for them to learn from adults (teachers, therapists and parents alike) with their limited attention span. They love videos, music, computer games, toys, and other inanimate objects. So I recognised how our kids can take to the iPad like a duck to the water. I suppose if I was honest about it, I also wanted an iPad for myself. After all, I love my iGadgets. Our iGadgets changed the way we lived. You know what I mean, I hope.
Miguel received an iPad for his birthday. I started downloading apps. Lo and behold. It was wonderful to see Miguel playing games, solving puzzles with Injini, playing drums, poking Grover with a smile on his face. Priceless. Now, I can teach him things like – “telling time”, addition and other abstract concepts that are very hard to teach.
So thank you, Mr. Jobs. We parents are grateful for the touch technology. Not just for the iPods and iPhones, nor for the Macbooks, not even for the iPads. We thank you for giving us hope. You and your team at Apple have given our children a tool for learning so that their lives can and will improve. It is not a miracle device nor a cure. But hey, anything that makes our children laugh (when poking Grover) makes our hearts sing.