Steve Jobs, the iconic Apple co-founder who reshaped the world’s digital landscape, died on Wednesday, ending an illustrious career. He was 56.
Jobs, who stepped down as CEO in August for health-related reasons, suffered for years from pancreatic cancer and related illnesses.
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,” said the board of directors of Apple said in a statement.
Jobs was the greatest corporate leader of the last half century. Industry people rank him alongside Ford, Disney and Edison as a giant of American business.
At Apple and for the entire digital world, he was a taskmaster who demanded the most from his employees.
Consumers benefited from his perfectionism, which resulted in beautiful and intuitive products. The digital world will wait for the first product from Apple without the supervision of Jobs. Apple will deliver since Jobs has prepared a strong background for Apple to stay in the competitive world.
However, iPhone 4S, the last product unveiled during his time, did not meet customer expectation. Industry commentators noted Jobs’ absence at the event. They speculated whether his presence would have aided in what turned out to be a rather anticlimactic presentation of the iPhone 4S. Many are disappointed that the iPhone 5 was not unveiled, as the 4S is being considered just an upgrade of the iPhone 4.
Under Jobs, Apple devices helped to change the way consumers buy music, read books and enjoy movies. Jobs assisted many companies to strengthen their digital future. The king of electronic gadgets will not address us any more. But Apple is here to stay.
