World pays tribute to Steve Jobs

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 03:12 GMT Consumers paid tribute to ''a man of great perspective''

Apple's corporate statement announcing the death of 56-year old co-founder Steve Jobs was brief: "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

Many technology experts, industry peers and other admirers have been quick to add their own tributes.

"Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

"By building one of the planet's most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity.

"By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun.

"The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being.

"Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor.

"Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

"For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honour. I will miss Steve immensely.

"Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives."

"All of us would be touched every day by products that he was the creative genius behind, so this is very sad news and my condolences go to his family and friends."

"Tonight, America lost a genius who will be remembered with Edison and Einstein, and whose ideas will shape the world for generations to come.

"Again and again over the last four decades, Steve Jobs saw the future and brought it to life long before most people could even see the horizon.

"In New York City's government, everyone from street construction inspectors to NYPD detectives have harnessed Apple's products to do their jobs more efficiently and intuitively."

Steve Jobs is credited with revolutionising the way people listen to music

"Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.

"His legacy will extend far beyond the products he created or the businesses he built. It will be the millions of people he inspired, the lives he changed, and the culture he defined.

"Steve was such an 'original,' with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era. Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started."

"He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it."

"VISIONARIES are always called CRAZY in the beginning. A VISIONARY sees things that everybody else says is IMPOSSIBLE, sees a World that People can't invision (sic) - MAC, IPOD, IPAD, IPHONE, ITUNES and PIXAR. I have nothing but Love for Mr. Jobs and Apple, they have always given me and my films L-O-V-E."

"'Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose', as Steve Jobs said in 2005."

"Steve lived the California Dream every day of his life and he changed the world and inspired all of us."

"Thank you for revolutionising the way we listen to music. Your vision will not be forgotten."

Industry colleagues and rivals flocked to pay their compliments for and respect to Steve Jobs, including the founder of Twitter, Dick Costolo, AOL's founder, Steve Case, the chief executive of Time Warner, Jeff Bewkes, the chief executive of Dell, Michael Dell and the chairman of the New York Times, Arthur Sulzberger.

Other tributes (via Twitter) included praise for the way Steve Jobs changed the technological landscape:

"Thank you, Steve Jobs, for making technology a delight to use, instead of a necessary evil."

"The world pauses their iPods and rushes to their MacBooks and iPhones to confirm the news."

"3 Apples changed the World, 1st one seduced Eve, 2nd fell on Newton and the 3rd was offered to the World half bitten by Steve Jobs."

Apple fans were invited to share their thoughts, memories and condolences by sending messages to rememberingsteve@apple.com.

And social networking groups were calling for iPhone vigils in public parks across the United States.

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VIDEO: Steve Jobs: Apple's driving force

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 03:56 GMT Help

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After Steve Jobs, what now for Apple?

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The tributes are flowing in to commemorate the life of visionary Steve Jobs. But already, some of the focus is turning to what comes next for the company he founded, Apple.

Jobs died Wednesday at age 56. Though the cause of death has not been made public, he had been fighting a well-publicized battle against pancreatic cancer since 2004.

In the early 1990s, when Jobs returned to the company he founded after an unceremonious ouster years earlier, the company was an also-ran in the technology space. Microsoft was the most important technology firm in the world, and Google didn't even exist yet.

Today, Apple employs almost 50,000 people globally. Annual sales are expected to exceed $100 billion this year. The market capitalization of Apple stock is in excess of $350 billion — making it the second-most valuable company in the United States, after oil conglomerate Exxon.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, shown unveilling the iPhone 4S this week. When Steve Jobs stepped down on Aug. 24, he handpicked Cook as his successor. Analysts will be closely watching the company's results on Oct. 18. Robert Galbraith/Reuters "It's like the end of the innovators," said Scott Robbins, 34, who described himself as an Apple fan of 20 years and who rushed to an Apple Store in San Francisco when he heard the news on Wednesday night. He was one of the thousands of people who are mourning Jobs's passing around the world.

The company took a similar tone in a statement posted on the Apple website.

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being," the statement read. "Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

If Apple's spirit and foundation is gone, what will become of the company?

When he stepped down on August 24, Jobs handed the reins to his handpicked successor. Apple CEO Tim Cook is generally credited with being an excellent manager and savvy strategist.

On the creative front, there are concerns that Jobs's shoes are impossible to fill. While he was undoubtedly the visionary behind all of Apple's biggest successes, Jobs was not renown for his consensus building. And in retrospect, his most influential decisions had far less than unanimous support within the company.

'Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing'—Analyst Trip Chowdhry

"The best tech companies are not democracies. They are dictatorships," was how Dana Blankenhorn put it on the influential investment website Seeking Alpha Thursday. "What Apple needs is a new visionary, with a new vision. Until it finds that it will be just another tech company."

During times of uncertainty, decisive leadership is needed. Cook may possess the right stuff, but he hasn't had an opportunity to demonstrate it yet. The only significant event thus far of the Cook era has been the release of the latest iPhone iteration earlier this week.

The unveiling of what turned out to be the iPhone 4S – not the iPhone 5 people were expecting – underscores how the company is in some ways a victim of its own successes.

The product boasts a number of major upgrades of features that will no doubt be well received. But anticipation for the device were so high that in many ways the company had nowhere to go but down.

Investors had evidently been preparing themselves for news of Jobs' death. Every time Jobs had a health scare in the past, the stock would immediately tank, before recovering to trade higher than where it was within a few weeks.

But as trading opened on Thursday, Apple stock moved little. It was briefly down by less than 1 per cent, but in the afternoon the stock was relatively unchanged at $377.60 on the Nasdaq.

Jobs, who died Wednesday, saw Apple grow into a giant that employs almost 50,000 people globally. Its annual sales are expected to exceed $100 billion this year. Beck Diefenbach/Reuters

"While expectations for Jobs' involvement as chairman were likely small … he was still potentially available as an adviser and leader in the background," Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Ittai Kidron wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "This intangible is no longer available, and we expect it will weigh on the shares over the next few days."

Thus far, the early returns on the Cook era are largely positive. The stock is worth more today than it was the day he was named CEO, and that's during a six-week stretch when equities have fallen precipitously.

The company is scheduled to post its latest earnings results on Oct. 18. Analysts are expecting another record quarter. But the numbers will be even more closely scrutinized than usual, because of Jobs' departure.

"Apple is Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs is Apple, and Steve Jobs is innovation," Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said recently. "You can teach people how to be operationally efficient, you can hire consultants to tell you how to do that, but God creates innovation … Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing."

Indeed, Apple is facing challenges on all fronts.

Despite the hype, Google-powered Android devices still outsell iPhones by a significant margin.

Nokia and others still dominate the lower-end cellphone market that most of the world still operates on. And Apple is a laggard in India, the world's second-largest cellphone market, where Waterloo-based RIM has made strides.

"Apple won't fall quickly. There will be a pullback, then a recovery, and things will appear to be going well," Blankenhorn said. "But rivals will start catching up."

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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies at 56

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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has died at 56, the company announced Wednesday.

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," Apple said in a brief statement.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

He had stepped down from Apple in late August to deal with the effects of an unspecified illness.

Jobs had been treated earlier from pancreatic cancer. He was first diagnosed in 2004.

Jobs's storied career followed a remarkable series of twists and turns — from a meteoric rise in the late 1970s and '80s to a bleak nadir in the '90s followed by his ascent to the status of tech guru.

Described by some as arrogant, temperamental and brutally honest about employee performance, Jobs was known and respected for his business acumen and an almost mystical ability to predict where tech trends are headed.

Jobs was born on Feb. 24, 1955, to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah Jandali, an unwed couple who put their first-born son up for adoption. Raised by Paul and Clara Jobs, Steven Paul Jobs grew up in California and displayed a keen interest in electronics from an early age.

In high school, he met a kindred spirit in Steve Wozniak, a man who shared his passion for technology as well as practical jokes. The friendship would play a key role in the development of Apple and the career trajectory of Jobs.

The two got their feet wet in the tech world by selling so-called "Blue Boxes," devices that gave users the ability to make free long-distance calls.

After graduating from Homestead High School in Cupertino, Calif., Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Oregon in 1972. He dropped out after one semester, but remained in the area for another 18 months auditing classes like calligraphy.

In 1974, he returned to California and began working at Atari, an early video game company. He also went on a spiritual journey to India with a friend, marking the start of his interest in Eastern philosophy and religion, including Buddhism.

In 1976, Wozniak and Jobs opened Apple Computer Company. The tech giant's spectacular rise, fall and resurgence would mirror Jobs' own life.

The company's first model, Apple I, was a simple circuit board, which was sold to computer enthusiasts. Its follow-up, however, turned out to be a huge success, vaulting the company from a relative unknown into a household name. Created in 1977, the Apple II was the first-ever complete home computer, which came fully functional right out of the box. It revolutionized the emerging industry.

Many credit Apple, and also Jobs, with changing the perception of what a computer can be — from a high-tech tool used only by the business or science world to a commonplace device used by ordinary people.

Apple and the economic fortune of its co-founder continued to grow. After the company's initial public offering in 1980, Jobs was worth over $200 million US.

Following the initial success of the Apple II, the company — and Jobs — suffered a series of setbacks. The Apple III did poorly sales-wise. When IBM entered the market in 1981 with its personal computer, it put pressure on Apple, with the PC eventually grabbing a larger piece of computer sales.

Apple launched the Macintosh in 1984, the design of which was overseen by Jobs. Despite some initial success, the computer did not sell as well as expected.

During this time, many at Apple became disgruntled with Jobs's management style, especially after several of his engineers on the Macintosh project learned they were paid less than teams on other projects. Much of this came to a head in 1985, when Jobs struggled with CEO John Sculley for control of the company. Jobs attempted a boardroom coup, but it backfired. He was left with no managerial responsibility at Apple but remained chairman. He resigned from the company that same year.

Jobs's next venture was starting NeXT Computer, in which he hoped to design an advanced computer for higher education and research. Much like the computers that followed Apple II, the NeXT Cube turned out to be largely a commercial failure, despite its impressive computing power.

During this time, Jobs also came into contact with a small group of graphics experts who were keen to begin making computer-animated movies. In 1986, he bought the little-known company, Pixar, from George Lucas for $10 million US. Much like NeXT, the company was initially unsuccessful and Jobs was forced to reduce its size.

Things started to turn around for Jobs after Pixar signed a contact with Disney to create the first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story. Launched during the holiday season in 1995, the movie proved to be a blockbuster and helped propel Jobs back into economic success — and the spotlight.

Jobs found himself back at the company he helped found when NeXT was purchased by Apple in 1997 for 1.5 million shares of stock and more than $400 million US. That same year, Jobs was named interim CEO of Apple, after the company posted huge losses. He would go on to re-organize the company and once again turn it into a profit-making enterprise.

During the restructuring, many employees said they worried about meeting Apple's new boss in the elevator, for fear they would not have a job by the time the doors opened.

In 1998, Apple released the iMac, a great improvement over previous models with an aesthetically pleasing design. It was well received and helped re-establish the company's brand.

Jobs was named CEO of Apple in 2000. He jokingly referred to himself at the time as the iCEO.

Throughout the next few years, the company continued to produce a series of successful products, most notably the iPod, which would come to dominate the MP3 player market. Success and commendation would follow Apple and Jobs through the decade.

In 2007, Apple unveiled the iPhone, to great acclaim. The company followed up this success with the launch of the iPad in 2010.

In 2010, Jobs was ranked as the 42nd-richest person in the United States, with a net worth of over $6 billion US. He was also ranked 17th on a list of the world's most powerful people.

In 2004, Jobs announced that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He took a month off for treatment and recuperation.

He took another medical leave of absence between January and June of 2009, during which he underwent a liver transplant.

In an email sent to Apple employees on Jan. 17, 2011, Jobs said he was taking a third medical leave and would be putting Tim Cook in charge of day-to-day operations. In the note, Jobs said he would still be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

A month later, Jobs was part of a group of a dozen top tech CEOs invited to a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in San Francisco, as part of his effort to focus on high-tech initiatives.

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