There has been quite a bit of sadness around the Revelation office since the news of Steve Jobs’ passing. We are a company of Apple fan boys and girls, and our office is a veritable showroom of Apple stuff – iMacs, iPhones, and iPads. And yet, the rows of sleek, immaculately designed devices on our desks represent only the most superficial impact that Steve Jobs has had on Revelation.

In fact, it could be argued that Revelation may very well not be here today without Steve Jobs’ influence. When I founded Revelation, my goal was for us to be the Apple of the market research business. I wanted to create a business that not only helped researchers understand consumers, but also offered a new kind of research experience.

I looked to Apple as our model. Beyond shiny surfaces and elegant interfaces, Apple embraced the notion that the whole experience had to be considered. The iPod had iTunes and access to the music and content and it all worked together seamlessly. The iPhone had apps and the App Store so you could make your phone do all kinds of useful things. (And of course, if you desired, useless but entertaining things.)

For Revelation, the idea was to not just create a piece of software, but to look at the whole process of going from business questions, to insight, to understanding. At Revelation, we looked not just at technology, but we also developed an activity-based approach that would get the most out of the technology and the online medium. The confluence of the two became Immersive Research.

Steve Jobs said that Apple lived at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts. I believe that qualitative market research lives at the intersection of the liberal arts and business. And we’ve always thought of Revelation living at the intersection of technology and market research.

When we started Revelation, we had no idea how immensely challenging it is to become ‘the Apple’ of anything. While we are proud of what Revelation has accomplished, we know we are still only at the very beginning, striving to that elusive ideal.

Beyond all the shiny devices, that’s the biggest impact Steve Jobs has had on Revelation -- the idea that having ideals in our work is important, and there is nothing more worthy of effort in our lives than working vigorously towards them.

And for that we thank you, Steve. You will be missed.