Tech Trend 247

In the waning days of September, just before the five-year anniversary of the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, a man in France walked into an Apple Store and began methodically smashing iPhones with a metal ball. 

The casual destruction of the pricey devices — displayed as art, as Jobs, who died on Oct. 5, 2011, intended — into unrecognizable pieces of tech ephemera is a kind of metaphor for Apple's trajectory since his passing. As Apple has achieved the mainstream acceptance that it fought so long for, now, without Jobs around to curate the experience as "culture over mundane functionality," the shine on Apple's "tech couture" is, for some, beginning to dull. 

No, Apple is not primed for a fall. Sales are still strong and the iPhone remains the standard-bearer as rivals work to literally put out fires. But the notion that Apple has some intangible, special quality above other tech companies, as Jobs often framed its efforts, simply isn't holding up now that Jobs is no longer with us. 

Sure, Tim Cook has, by all accounts, done a stellar job running Apple. And no one expects him to replace his former boss. 

But as Apple moves forward into the next phase of its place in tech history, it's time to look outside of the company for the next bold visionary who will capture the imagination of the public using the same kind of "reality distortion fields" Jobs became famous for. 

And yet, even while innovation continues to emerge all around us, we still haven't found our "next Steve Jobs." Why is that? The reasons may not be immediately obvious as we continue to live in the still looming shadow of Jobs, so here are few possible answers. 

1. The big players are dominating the field 

The startup community in Silicon Valley and cities around the world is still vibrant and full of new hits, but the big players are regularly flooding our collective consciousness with new products and innovations that are dazzling, but not necessarily industry-changing. Among the establishment innovators are likes of Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook, Oculus) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon, Blue Origin), both dutifully shepherding us into the future. But the kind of fiery trailblazing we came to expect from Jobs is absent in their well-produced and shareholder-sensitive advances. 

Yes, there's always Mars-obsessed Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX), but his self-driving, robotic spacecraft ambitions are decades-long bets, rather than the more immediate disruptions Jobs often delivered. 

2. Cynicism is clogging the wheels of tech optimism

For a sense of where our pop culture sensibilities are regarding the tech world, we need only look to the popularity of HBO's Silicon Valley, a celebration of the ineptitude present in the real Silicon Valley, versus the relatively tepid reception enjoyed by AMC's Halt and Catch Fire, a series that captures the early optimism of Jobs' rise to fame. For some, talking blue sky tech futures as Kim Kardashian banks millions on apps and venture capitalists target esports franchises simply doesn't resonate in the same way it did before. 

3. We haven't found him or her yet 

Despite being inured to never-ending cycle of the next big tech thing, the truth is that many still do want to see the rise of a new Steve Jobs-style innovator. Such figures are intrinsic to the spirit of tech entrepreneurialism. 

So while institutional players push forward and the public settles into a state of tech-cynicism, somewhere, perhaps in an incubator in Los Angeles, or in a warehouse in Berlin, the next Steve Jobs already exists, and just hasn't had the spotlight directed her way yet. But that person is coming, sooner or later. 

4. Some have tried, but they haven't measured up 

The last time I heard the name Steve Jobs attached to a new, supposed innovator it was in reference to Elizabeth Holmes, the embattled founder of biotech startup Theranos who is now fighting for her business life in the wake of controversy. Similarly, Time magazine featured 24-year-old Palmer Luckey on a now infamous cover photo indicating that he would lead us to our VR future. But that was before the recent Reddit/Trump dustup that has some developers swearing off Oculus and led to Luckey taking to Facebook to explain himself.  

5. We're still mourning 

But even in the face of the aforementioned elements that impact the rise of a new Steve Jobs, the fact is that we're still trying to get over the loss of the original. 

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Cook marked the anniversary of the passing of his friend and colleague with a heartfelt post, which included a quote from Jobs: 

"Most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." Remembering Steve and the many ways he changed our world.

And just this past weekend, during an interview in Utah, Cook reminded the audience that Jobs' office at Apple remains untouched, and is still in the state it was when he was alive. That gesture serves as ongoing tribute to preserving the memory of one of the most important individuals in modern tech history. 

Next year, when Apple celebrates the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, the company is sure to launch a major effort to hail the memory of its iconic leader. Until then, many will, on social media and in their hearts, take a moment to consider the impact of Jobs, and how five years seems so long ago.