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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies
By Joseph Menn in San Francisco
Apple co-founder and former chief executive Steve Jobs, regarded as one of the most important American leaders of his generation, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer.
His death was announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday.
“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives,” Apple’s board said in the statement. “The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
“His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.”
US president Barack Obama paid tribute to the man who “by building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity.”
“Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. 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,” the preisdent said in a statement.
“Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world. The world has lost a visionary.”
The Silicon Valley icon who built Apple into America’s biggest company by market capitalisation, resigned as chief executive in August, handing over to current chief executive Tim Cook.
Mr Jobs had been battling a recurrence of the pancreatic cancer for many years and took three medical leaves from the company. Mr Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 with his longtime friend Steve Wozniak. Mr Jobs leaves his wife, Laurene, and five children.
In letter to investors at the time of his resignation, Mr Jobs said: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.”
Bob Iger, chief executive of Walt Disney, where Mr Jobs was the largest individual investor, said: “Steve was such an original, with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era.”
In an unparalleled career, Mr Jobs did more than anyone else in his lifetime to bring the wonder of personal computing and digital entertainment to ordinary people.
Hailed as a technological visionary, he also represented a new phenomenon in the 1970s: the businessman as a pop culture hero, as recognisable and charismatic as a film star.
Though his name was on many Apple patents, he borrowed, bought or popularised other ideas closely associated with the company’s rollercoaster fortunes.
Among the greatest hits were the Apple II, the first practical personal computer with sales of 1m; the Apple Macintosh, which introduced screen pictures or icons to represent activities on a virtual desktop controlled by a mouse; and later the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone, and most recently the iPad.
His pioneering work wrought a revolution in almost every aspect of 21st century life. Yet his beginnings were inauspicious.
Steven Paul Jobs was born in Los Altos, California, in 1955, the illegitimate child of an Egyptian professor of political science and a US speech therapist. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs, a hard-working couple of moderate means. Though devoted to them, he always retained a sense of baffled anger that he had been rejected by his natural parents.
That resulted in a difficulties in maintaining relationships and a near-pathological need to control people, situations, and machines. His controlling nature proved to be a blessing for the consuming public. Mr Jobs insisted on the final say over the hardware and software that would go to his customers.
The journey began when he was in high school, working for the summer at the computing powerhouse Hewlett-Packard, where he met Steve Wozniak, a HP engineer who would be Apple’s other founder.
Mr Jobs later dropped out of Reed College, Oregon, and in 1974 went to India in search of spiritual enlightenment. Later he said that his rival, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, would have benefited from similar experiences. Mr Jobs retained the 1960s bohemian spirit throughout his life, usually dressing in the “artists’” uniform of black turtleneck sweater and jeans
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