SteveJobs.doc

(Reuters) - Steve Jobs, the transcendent Silicon Valley entrepreneur who reinvented the worlds computing, music and mobile phone industries and changed the daily habits of millions around the globe, died on Wednesday at the age of 56.His death after a years-long battle with pancreatic cancer sparked an immediate outpouring of tributes as world leaders, business rivals and fans alike lamented the tragedy of his premature passing and celebrated his monumental achievements.The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steves success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented, President Barack Obama said in a statement.Fans paid homage to Jobs outside Apple stores around the world, from Los Angeles to Sydney. Outside one store in New York City, mourners laid candles, bouquets of flowers, an apple and an iPod Touch in a makeshift memorial. In San Francisco, they held up black-and-white portraits of Jobs on their iPads.Many websites, including Apples own, were transformed into online memorials, a testament to the digital creativity that Jobs inspired.For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, its been an insanely great honor, said Microsofts Bill Gates, who once triumphed over Jobs but has seen his legendary status overtaken by the Apple co-founder in recent years.Jobs was surrounded by his wife and immediate family when he died in Palo Alto, California, Apple said late on Wednesday. Other details were not immediately available.Jobs stepped down as CEO in August and handed the reins to long-time operations chief Tim Cook. With a passion for minimalist design and a genius for marketing, Jobs laid the groundwork for the company to continue to flourish after his death, most analysts and investors say.But Apple still faces challenges in the absence of the man who was its chief product designer, marketing guru and salesman nonpareil. Phones running Googles Android software are gaining share in the smartphone market, and there are questions over what the next big thing is in Apples product line.LEGENDARY ENTREPRENEURA college drop-out and the son of adoptive parents, Jobs changed the technology world in the late 1970s, when the Apple II became the first personal computer to gain a wide following. He did it again in 1984 with the Macintosh, which built on the breakthrough technologies developed at Xerox Parc and elsewhere to create the personal computing experience as we know it today.The rebel streak thats central to his persona got him tossed out of the company in 1985, but he returned in 1997 and after a few years began the rollout of a troika of products - the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad - that again upended the established order in major industries.A diagnosis of a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004 initially cast only a mild shadow over Jobs and Apple, with the CEO asserting that the disease was treatable. But his health deteriorated rapidly over the past several years, and after two temporary leaves of absence he stepped down as chief executive and became Apples chairman in August.Jobs death came just one day after Cook presented a new iPhone at the kind of gala event that became Jobs trademark. Perhaps coincidentally, the new device got lukewarm reviews, with many saying that it wasnt a big enough improvement over the existing version of one of the most successful consumer products in history.Apple on Wednesday paid homage to its visionary leader by changing its website to a big black-and-white photograph of him with the caption Steve Jobs: 1955-2011.The flags outside the companys headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop flew at half mast. Employees left flowers on a bench and a mourner played music on bagpipes in an impromptu tribute.Cook said in a statement that Apple planned to hold a celebration of Jobs life for employees soon.Steves 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, Apple said in a statement.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.The announcement of Jobs death came after almost all trading in U.S. stocks had finished for the day. Apples stock was last quoted at $377.22, a tad lower than its Nasdaq close of $378.25.Outside Jobs house in Palo Alto, neighbors and friends left flowers and drew messages with markers on the sidewalk. Thanks for changing the world, read one.A low fence surrounded a lawn filled with apple trees.He was special for the area, like part of the family, said Robert Blum, who brought flowers with his eight-year-old son, Daniel.NET WORTH $7 BLNJobs, in his trademark uniform of black mock-turtleneck and blue jeans, was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.Forbes estimates Jobs net worth at $7 billion. It was not immediately known how his estate would be handled.His health had been a controversial topic for years and a deep concern to Apple fans and investors. Even board members have in past years confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, was not being forthcoming enough with directors about the true condition of his health.Born in San Francisco, the Buddhist and son of adoptive parents started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in his parents garage 1976.Six years ago, Jobs had talked about how a sense of his mortality was a major driver behind that vision.Remembering that Ill be dead soon is the most important tool Ive ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, Jobs said during a Stanford commencement ceremony in 2005.Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.(CNN)- Steve Jobs, the visionary in the black turtleneck whoco-founded Applein a Silicon Valley garage, built it into the worlds leading tech company and led a mobile-computing revolution with wildly popular devices such as the iPhone, died Wednesday. He was 56.The hard-driving executive pioneered the concept of the personal computer and of navigating them by clicking onscreen images with a mouse. In more recent years, he introduced the iPod portable music player, the iPhone and the iPad tablet - all of which changed how we consume content in the digital age.Fortune: Ten ways Steve Jobs changed the worldHis friends and Apple fans on Wednesday night mourned the passing of a tech titan.Steves brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives, Apple said in a statement. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.See reactions from Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and many othersMore than one pundit, praising Jobs ability to transform entire industries with his inventions, called him a modern-day Leonardo Da Vinci.Steve Jobs is one of the great innovators in the history of modern capitalism, New York Times columnist Joe Nocera said in August. His intuition has been phenomenal over the years.Jobs death, while dreaded by Apples legions of fans, was not unexpected. He had battled cancer for years, took a medical leave from Apple in January and stepped down as chief executive in August because he could no longer meet (his) duties and expectations.Born February 24, 1955, and then adopted, Jobs grew up in Cupertino, California - which would become home to Apples headquarters - and showed an early interest in electronics. As a teenager, he phoned William Hewlett, president of Hewlett-Packard, to request parts for a school project. He got them, along with an offer of a summer job at HP.Jobs dropped out of Oregons Reed College after one semester, although he returned to audit a class in calligraphy, which he says influenced Apples graceful, minimalist aesthetic. He quit one of his first jobs, designing video games for Atari, to backpack across India and take psychedelic drugs. Those experiences, Jobs said later, shaped his creative vision.You cant connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future, he told Stanford University graduates during a commencement speech in 2005. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.View a time line of Steve Jobs workWhile at HP, Jobs befriended Steve Wozniak, who impressed him with his skill at assembling electronic components. The two later joined a Silicon Valley computer hobbyists club, and when he was 21, Jobs teamed with Wozniak and two other men to launch Apple Computer Inc.Its long been Silicon Valley legend: Jobs and Wozniak built their first commercial product, the Apple 1, in Jobs parents garage in 1976. Jobs sold his Volkswagen van to help finance the venture. The primitive computer, priced at $666.66, had no keyboard or display, and customers had to assemble it themselves.The following year, Apple unveiled the Apple II computer at the inaugural West Coast Computer Faire. The machine was a hit, and the personal computing revolution was under way.Jobs was among the first computer engineers to recognize the appeal of the mouse and the graphical interface, which let users operate computers by clicking on images instead of writing text.Apples pioneering Macintosh computer launched in early 1984 with a now-iconic, Orwellian-themed Super Bowl ad. The boxy beige Macintosh sold well, but the demanding Jobs clashed frequently with colleagues, and in 1986, he was ousted from Apple after a power struggle.Then came a 10-year hiatus during which he founded NeXT Computer, whose pricey, cube-shaped computer workstations never caught on with consumers.Jobs had more success when he bought Pixar Animation Studios from George Lucas before the company made it big with Toy Story. Jobs brought the same marketing skill to Pixar that he became known for at Apple. His brief but emotional pitch for Finding Nemo, for example, was a masterful bit of succinct storytelling.Share your memories and images of Steve JobsIn 1996, Apple bought NeXT, returning Jobs to the then-struggling company he had co-founded. Within a year, he was running Apple again - older and perhaps wiser but no less of a perfectionist. And in 2001, he took the stage to introduce the original iPod, the little white device that transformed portable music and kick-started Apples furious comeback.Thus began one of the most remarkable second acts in the history of business. Over the next decade, Jobs wowed launch-event audiences, and consumers, with one game-changing hit after another: iTunes (2003), the iPhone (2007), the App Store (2008), and the iPad (2010).Review Jobs top moments as a showmanObservers marveled at Jobs skills as a pitchman, his ability to inspire godlike devotion among Apple fanboys (and scorn from PC fans) and his one more thing surprise announcements. Time after time, he sold people on a product they didnt know they needed until he invented it. And all this on an official annual salary of $1.He also built a reputation as a hard-driving, mercurial and sometimes difficult boss who oversaw almost every detail of Apples products and rejected prototypes that didnt meet his exacting standards.By the late 2000s, his once-renegade tech company, the David to Microsofts Goliath, was entrenched at the uppermost tier of American business. Apple now operates more than 300 retail stores in 11 countries. The company has sold more than 275 million iPods, 100 million iPhones and 25 million iPads worldwide.Jobs climb to the top was complete in summer 2011, when Apple listed more cash reserves than the U.S. Treasury and even briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil as the worlds most valuable company.