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Tributes are paid to Apple computer visionary Steve Jobs

Tributes are paid to Apple computer visionary Steve Jobs

TRIBUTES have been paid to Steve Jobs, the co-founder of the Apple computer company, who has passed away aged 56.

Mr. Jobs had been battling pancreatic cancer for eight years. 

He was the mastermind behind Apple’s many devices, including the iPhone, iPod and iMac which have sold in their millions across the world.

At his death the Apple company was one of the most valuable in the world, but it all began in 1976 with Mr. Jobs and his friend and business partner Steve Wozniak building their first computers by hand at Steve’s family home near San Francisco.

In the early 1980s he left the company following a boardroom struggle. During his time away from Apple, Mr. Jobs established another successful technology company, NeXT, and bought what would become the Pixar animation studio which went on to produce blockbusters such as Toy Story and Monsters.

He returned to Apple in 1996 at a time when the company’s future appeared to be in doubt. But Mr. Jobs brought on board new talent, including the British-born design genius Jonathan Ive, and turned the company around.

Mr. Jobs was said to be a control freak. He was known to return prototypes of gadgets back to the designers, time and time again, until he was satisfied that they were ready for market — ignoring the fact that such an approach would probably cost millions of dollars.

In a statement the Apple company said: “Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”

President Ombama also paid tribute. He said: “Steve was among the greatest of American innovators — brave enough to think differently, bold enough to beleve he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.”

In a speech at Stanford University in 2005 (see below), Mr. Jobs spoke of his attitude to death.

He told students: “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

To view Steve Jobs speaking at Stanford University click here.

 

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