1955-2011
(CNET) Apple Co-founder and Chairman Steve Jobs died today. He was 56.
Steve Jobs had been suffering for many years a long hard battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Apple announced in January that he would be taking an indeterminate medical leave of absence. Jobs then stepped down as chief executive in late August, citing his inability to “meet my duties and expectations” stemming from his illness.
Jobs started Apple with a high school friend in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was forced out a decade later and returned in 1997 to rescue the company. During his second stint, it grew into the most valuable technology company in the world with a market value of $351 billion. Almost all that wealth has been created since Jobs’ return.
He was the reason many of us got into this industry, or even care about technology at all. He made the computer personal, and the smartphone fun. Bill Gates may have put a computer on every office desk, but it was Steve Jobs who put one in every dorm room and bedroom and living room. And then, years later, he repeated the trick, putting one in every bag and every pocket, thanks to the iPad and iPhone. If you use a computer or smartphone today, it is either one he created, or an imitation of his genius.
He changed the way movies are made, the way music is sold, the way stories are told, the very way we interact with the world around us. He helped us work, and gave us new ways to play. He was a myth made man.
Cultivating Apple’s countercultural sensibility and a minimalist design ethic, Jobs rolled out one sensational product after another, even in the face of the late-2000s recession and his own failing health.
He helped change computers from a geeky hobbyist’s obsession to a necessity of modern life at work and home, and in the process he upended not just personal technology but the cellphone and music industries.
One of my more favorite Steve Jobs quotes was, “We used to dream about this stuff. Now we get to build it. It’s pretty great.” taken at the Keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference (June 2004). Steve helped us believe if you can dream it, it can come true. Steve Jobs was a true invetor and a pioneer of our times.
Goodbye, Mr. Jobs. We will miss you so very much.
Photos: The life of Steve Jobs
From Apple’s site if you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com
© 2011, tsowen. All rights reserved.
It’s sad….just sad!!
wow that is a shocker i just got done watching csi and saw that ..
Although I never really cared for Apple and their hype about the hardware they put in their iDevices such as the iPhone and iPad, I’ve always respected Steve Jobs and his innovations. He helped technology period, there’s no denying that fact… his passing is a sad day even for people who don’t like Apple products… his ingenuity, vision, passion and presentations will be sorely missed…
I hope that Apple keeps his vision within sight and keeps developing only devices that Mr. Jobs would get gitty about…
My prayers go to his family and wife, whom from what I’ve read, is the one passion he cared more about than Apple…
@elephant007,
I’m with you 100% on that one.
- 2 Bunny
Sad to hear of his passing he will surely be missed by family ,friends and Fans of Apple Products worldwide. If you use a computer or smartphone today, it is either one he created, or an imitation of his genius….That might be stretching a few miles.
On a related note:
Apple is suing Generalisimo Francisco Franco in the EU for Patent Infringment!
They are trying to get courts in the EU to cease and desist in his continued burial and to bring back to life all other dead and buried people that exist in the European Union as they infringe on original inventions of Apple!
This man sold his soul to the devil and the devil collected. Nuff said.
It’s so sad. A good review about steve jobs here – http://www.techbase.info/2011/10/steve-jobs-amazing-life-of-steve.html
“In 1974, Jobs got a job as a video game designer with Atari and then left Atari several months later to find spiritual enlightenment in India experimenting with psychedelic drugs around continents. ”
“The Apple I sold for 666.66.”
Like I said, This man sold his freakin sole. He deserved everything he got and then some. Besides…his tout that he would would spend 40 billion destroying android because it was “grand theft” is outfreakinrageous!! First off, touch screen phones were released way before the iphone…android was also released before the blessed iOS. So you freakin apple fritters tell me HOW google copied them? I think apple stole from android and should be shut down like a faulty nuclear waste site.