But I just don't like his control freaky attitude (hence my use of technofascist). I prefer some flexibility for a lack of better words. Like being able to change the batteries of a phone for an example.
On one hand, I can see why Jobs was so controlling of his product, although I still admire the open-source mentality prevalent on PCs and Linux.
The Apple products were Jobs's babies, and he likely couldn't stand the thought of having their image be compromised because someone hacked into them using a nonapproved program. There also might have been physical specs that Jobs was not about to give up to put in a replaceable battery.
I'm not sure if calling him a technofascist is quite accurate, though. There's still the fact that the iPhone allows third-party apps, albeit they all had to be reviewed by Apple. I think that's what a lot of people were attracted to when it was first released. Hell, it's how I wanted an iPod Touch - I wanted to get the cool apps I'd been hearing about.
Now there are ENTIRE BUSINESSES revolving around making iPhone apps, and making lots of dough around the platform. Just ask Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds.

And my bf, who learned how to make iPhone apps in his spare time and recently got a well-paying fulltime job to continue doing it. In this down economy, mobile development is still red-hot.
Doesn't sound like the machinations of a technofascist to me. A control freak, sure, but if he really was a fascist, third-party apps would not have been allowed at all.
No, it is very, very far off. Jobs didn't invent the computer, laptop, MP3 player, or tablet. Edison was very influential in the early days of motion pictures, how successful has that industry been? His work on circuitry is profound, we've become dependent upon electricity for our survival. The day we become dependent upon iPads and iPhones is a very sad day for humanity.
Dox hit it on the head. He took existing ideas, simplified (ie made them less powerful and more expensive) them, and marketed them in a way that made people think not only did they need that type of product, but they needed Apple's product. And he did it brilliantly.
I roll with designers online and it has been a nonstop eulogy since yesterday. And for good reason - Steve Jobs spread the idea that it was necessary for a piece of technology to be functional, intuitive, AND beautiful.
So while he may not have invented things practically out of thin air like Edison did, he certainly had a huge impact on how we
approach technology today.