Less than 2 months after the Apple founder’s death (5th October 2011) In icons a Chinese toy maker has released the Steve Jobs action figure. Thats pretty rapid product development to get a quality figure ready for distribution. It’s 12 inches tall and comes with two apples (one with a bite out of it). Due for release in February and retailing at 99 bucks it created quite a stir online. Apple has moved swiftly to shut it all down. Apple says that Steve Jobs is one of their trademarks and In icons are infringing their copyright. They have sent a letter to In icons stating “any toy that resembles the technology company’s logo, person’s name, appearance or likeness of its products is a criminal offence.” The toy maker on the other hand says that Jobs was a celebrity figurehead and not a product. If they do manage to ship they could well be collectors items. The toy maker states that it’s a homage to Jobs and the quality of sculpt on the figure does look pretty good. But we wonder whether this is just an opportunist move looking to cash in on an icon just 2 months after his death? It would be great to see the profits going to cancer research as Jonathan Mak offered to do after the attention he received due to his iconic apple/Jobs homage graphic (see post here)
Update – Immense pressure from Apple and Jobs’ family lawyers sees the action figure withdrawn. Read more here.
With the very sad news of Steve Jobs’ death Twitter went into overdrive and created the most tweeted about event ever. We’ve picked out a few of the best Urgent Genius reactions. Inevitably there were some in poor taste but for once they were in the minority. This together with the sheer amount of reactions, just goes to show the respect and admiration the world feels for Steve Jobs.
The most iconic has to be this graphic of Job’s profile as the bite out of the famous Apple logo. Designed by Jonathan Mak, a 19 year old Hong Kong Polytechnic student, back in August when Jobs originally resigned it lay unnoticed until the announcement of Job’s passing away on 5th October. Mak received over 180,000 messages via his Twitter account in response to the illustration. He has stated that any money he makes from it will be donated to Cancer charities. Good on you Jonathan.
Facebook CEO and Tony Hawk were amongst the many celebrities that paid their respects in a very public manner. Social networks really helped people air their feelings in an outpouring of grief for one person never really seen before. Considering that Job’s is not a celebrity in the traditional sense it demonstrates the power of our now connected world. It’s amazing to note that at least 50% of the condolence messages were sent from Apple products.
There were many parodies of familiar apple desktop icons and dialogue boxes. These three examples were all rendered in various places or retweeted many times. The last one was probably created by a PC user.
And one of the iconic images from Apple’s greatest campaign. Steve Job’s didn’t just talk about thinking different he did different.
NMA are quick off the mark again with this montage of the life and times of Steve Jobs. Check it our below:
