Steve Jobs Can't Make It after Eight-year Battle with Pancreatic Cancer

 Outgoing Apple CEO Steve Jobs (right) appears on stage with his anointed successor, Tim Cook, at news conference at the companys Cupertino headquarters. 

Apple founder Steve Jobs died today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Tributes began pouring in within minutes of the company confirming the death of the mastermind behind the iPhone, iPad and the iPod at the age of 56.

'We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,' read a statement by Apple's board of directors.

'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.

'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 homepage of Apple's website this evening switched to a full-page image of Jobs with the text, 'Steve Jobs 1955-2011.'

Clicking on the image revealed the additional text: '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.'

From its earliest beginnings as a personal computer also-ran in a scrappy garage in northern California to its all-conquering development of life-changing gadgets the rise of Apple has been intrinsically linked to its quirky CEO.

When he left for eleven years after a row over the company’s direction, Apple’s fortunes dipped. His return, after a successful stint as head of animation innovators Pixar, marked the start of the company’s relentless drive to become one of America’s biggest and most successful companies.

His death comes just six weeks after his poor health led him to stand down as the company's CEO and his successor Tim Cook, presented the new generation iPhone yesterday. The fact that Apple stayed cool as it grew is credited to Jobs’ innovative marketing techniques almost as much as his visionary wizardry.

Even when he announced in January that he was taking two years off on medical leave, Jobs still kept hold of his CEO title, just as he did on two previous occasions in the past seven years when he needed to take leave from the day-to-day running of the company for health reasons.

At the time, the billionaire could barely walk and photographs of him looking gaunt and frail led to reports that he just had weeks to live. But he fought back and appeared to be relishing proving the doubters wrong by introducing the second-generation iPad and meeting up with President Obama to discuss the future of the tech industry.

Other than his well-rehearsed stage appearances to launch the latest Apple innovation, Jobs always treasured his privacy. He survived surgery to remove a cancerous pancreatic tumour in 2004 and a liver transplant in 2009.

As CEO he earned only $1 a year, but he held 5,426 million Apple shares as well as 138 million shares in Disney. His wealth is estimated at more than $5billion.

With his trademark jeans and casual jumper, he became synonymous with the company’s every innovation in recent years, from the iPod through to the iPhone and iPad.

Born in San Francisco, Mr Jobs, who was adopted, dropped out of university after one term and only took his first computer job to raise money to go on a spiritual retreat to India.

He returned a Buddhist with his head shaved and admitted experimenting with LSD, calling his drug-induced experiences ‘one of the two or three most important things’ he had done in his life.

He returned to northern California to work for computer firm Atari before founding Apple in his garage in 1976 with friends Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne and Mike Makkula.

After a power struggle in 1985, he left the company, only to return eleven years later to launch the company’s extraordinary growth over the past fourteen years. He leaves a wife, a son and two daughters.

Steve Jobs: It's NOT to be The Richest Man in The Cemetery

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has had an impact on the world which will last for generations, Microsoft boss Bill Gates said Wednesday, adding that it had been “an insanely great honor” to know him.

“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,” he said, adding that he was “truly saddened” to learn of his death.
“The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come,” he said in statement received by AFP.

“For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely,” he added.

Jobs and Gates had famously testy relations over the years, as Microsoft went from strength to strength, while Jobs’ Apple fortunes faltered before he came back to take crown with iconic products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

In a 1994 Rolling Stone interview, Jobs said: “If you say, well, how do you feel about Bill Gates getting rich off some of the ideas that we had ... well, you know, the goal is not to be the richest man in the cemetery.
“It’s not my goal anyway,” he said.

[Source :daily mail]