Steve Jobs

The encomiums have been coming in fast and furious for Steve Jobs over the past two days. Yes, he was a great businessman, and an innovator, and a genius. But some have gone so far as to compare him to Thomas Edison, which is ridiculous.

There was nothing Jobs did which remotely compares to bringing electric power to American households. Edison's invention paved the way for light bulbs (which he invented), televisions, laundry machines, refrigerators, and even iMacs.

A more apt comparison for Jobs might be Akio Morita, the founder of Sony Corporation. Few Americans have heard of Morita, since he was Japanese, but Sony was the Apple of its day. They were the first to come out with magnetic recording tape. They made the first transistor radio, and the first transistor television. In 1975 they launched the Betamax home video recorder (which was surpassed the next year by the VHS version). In 1979, they came out with the Sony Walkman, the world's first portable music system. And in 1984, they came out with the Discman, which extended portability to CDs.

There is no denying Jobs' greatness. But to liken him to someone whose shadow he stands in just cheapens his legacy.