My first iPhone photo - July 2007
It was fun today to wake up to the news that this was the anniversary of the day that Steve jobs announced the coming production of the iPhone. Everyone viewed the latest production by Steve, and thought this is interesting, but I don’t see it going anywhere.
Boy, were we wrong. In just a few months the 1st iPhones were launched in the relatively new Apple stores. Like many others I waited in line, on day 2, of the launch to be one of the 1st to own this great new tool.
Many of the people that I was working with at a company in Oakland thought that I was totally crazy. I had only been there for a short time as the new President, helping to turn around a direct mail brokerage. My staff was still trying to figure out what kind of leader I was going to be. In this new assignment I was trying to figure out what the future of direct marketing was going to be.
It seems that the future of direct marketing, direct mail, was starting on a decline. It was going to take a while to see that the introduction of the iPhone was going to be a prime mover in launching the mobile marketplace. I love my tools and gadgets. I’ve always been a bit of a propeller head, but I certainly did not see what was going to come of the new mobile market.
It is fascinating to sit here today and see just how far we have come in 5 short years. The communications field has been dramatically transformed, and yet so many, are still learning that our old methods of marketing and communication will never be the same.
I look forward to the future that all of these wondrous tools and devices will make our lives more fulfilling. For now, we will all muddle through while we learn to adapt to this new digital age. I’ve certainly adapted, and Apple has profited, by the fact that I have totally converted all of my personal computers devices, and soon, within Apple TV.
The biggest challenge is now to find how we can live with these tools without losing our human contact. By that I mean, I how do we ensure that our lives are fuller, but not diminished. All of the changes while bringing numerous benefits have also caused great disruption from those fields like direct marketing, print publishing, and other businesses that have been transformed through digital technology.
The challenge for the future is to learn how to have this technology empower all humans without causing major disruption. I’m not certain that we can have our cake and eat it too, but that is the real challenge. Happy 5th anniversary Steve! We are all thinking of you today, and miss those marvelous product launches.
I am 
