By now I'm sure that everyone has heard about Apple's (and the rest of the tech world's) rollercoaster week. For one, the newest iPhone model was finally unveiled, and Apple gave the world the "most amazing iPhone yet." However, things did a complete 180, as this event was immediately followed by the sad news of Steve Jobs' passing. Talk about taking the concept of "good news, bad news" to the extreme.

Let's start with the good news. Instead of rehashing the company's press event on October 4, allow me to give you a glimpse of where the iPhone 4S stands right now. Sure, after their big announcement, Apple's stock dropped 5%, and there were a bunch of whinny users asking where the hell the iPhone 5 was, and what happened to the bigger screen and the sleek new design, and whatnot. (That's what you get for taking in every little thing that the rumor mill gives out.) Yes, while at first glance, it looked like the public was slightly disappointed with Apple's announcement, the actual numbers on paper indicate otherwise. Lo and behold, Apple revealed today that the pre-orders for the iPhone 4S topped one million in the first 24 hours. This number is nearly twice as large the iPhone 4's preorders of 600,000 last year.

So what exactly will these 1 million+ individuals get? The iPhone 4S, which will be hitting the shelves on October 14, physically looks exactly like its predecessor, but with completely revamped insides. Soon-to-be iPhone 4S owners can expect a faster iPhone, as the new model will be running on an A5 chip which delivers twice more power for the phone. Moreover, the iPhone 4S will also have Siri, a voice-control capability the acts like an assistant that doesn't just text or call people for its boss, but can also answer questions such as "Do I need an umbrella?" or "Any great burgers around here?" As Apple said, "All you have to do is ask." Oh, and did I mention that Siri can recognize accents too? Additionally, the new iPhone has an improved camera, cloud storage, and the iOs 5.

Now let's move on to the bad news. A lot of tributes, kind words, and long eloquent articles have already been published in light of Steve Job's passing. I'll steer clear from that, and try to keep this as brief as I can. Of course I too, was stunned into silence when I learned of Jobs' death. And it looked like the rest of the tech world felt the same way. Bloggers, Mac and iPhone owners, hipsters, techies, even my great aunt posted about his passing. His 2005 Stanford commencement speech was viewed 8 million times in one day. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and even President Barack Obama expressed their grief. I was truly amazed that the world gave Steve Jobs' death the kind of tribute and homage that was usually reserved for religious figures and rock stars. The question is, why? To that, I believe that MG Siegler of TechCrunch best sheds light on this matter. He said:

Many artists and geniuses aren't appreciated in their day. It's only after they've died that their legend is established. But Jobs was appreciated and given proper respect well before his death. This also plays into the outpouring of emotion we're seeing. Most people realize that the world has just lost a genius.

Image credit: Viktor Hertz on Flickr