Leaders from the worlds of technology, business and politics have been making tributes to former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died yesterday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. An official company statement said: "The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."
US president Barack Obama led tributes to the Apple co-founder, calling him "among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world and talented enough to do it. By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the Internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun."
Microsoft CEO Stave Ballmer was somewhat more prosaic in his response: "I want to express my deepest condolences at the passing of Steve Jobs, one of the founders of our industry and a true visionary. My heart goes out to his family, everyone at Apple and everyone who has been touched by his work."
Ballmer’s predecessor, Bill Gates was somewhat more effusive, saying he was "truly saddened" to hear of Jobs’ death and they had been friends "of more than half our lives. He went on to say JObs’ impact on technology would "be felt for many years to come."
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen also issued a statement calling Jobs a "unique pioneer" and an "auteur".
Somewhat appropriately, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted the following statement on his profile page "Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you."
Across the Web users have been adding their own tributes. Social media news website Mashable has a slideshow of their favourite tweets and Facebook posts.
The Guardian has put together a short video celebrating Jobs’ career.
A long time Apple proponent, Wall Street Journal technology writer Walter Mossberg left this touching memoir.
Wired magazine’s website has been taken over completely by Jobs’ passing.
All things D compiled a list of Jobs quotes.
At home, journalists from all sectors have been writing on the impact of Apple and Jobs so far. Jim Carroll in the Irish Times wrote on the contribution of iTunes, while the Irish Independent reported that tweets were being posted at a rate of over 10,000 a second.
Netizens can share their messages of support with Apple directly at rememberingsteve@apple.com.
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