THE world yesterday woke up to the rude shock of the death of Apple's co-founder, Steve Jobs, one of the famous global Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), who revolutionised the world of personal computers, smartphones, tablets, music and digital animation. He was aged 56.Jobs died a few months after he resigned as chief executive officer (CEO) of the company due to health complications.Though he had been ill for some years, the exact reasons for the recent health problems have never been explained. He, however, said that he was undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer in 2004. He also had a liver transplant in 2009. He died late Wednesday night.Earlier, the deceased took an extended leave of absence from the company, but never returned to the firm he co-founded. He formally handed over control of the company to Tim Cook as the new CEO in August.Jobs wrote the following in his resignation letter: 'I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.'Meanwhile, comments from eminent personalities across the world have started trailing Jobs' death. Also, fans of the late businessman yesterday began to pay tributes and depositing flowers at the company's head office in the United States (U.S.)Reacting, Barack Obama said: '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.'Also, Microsoft's co-founder, Bill Gates, said: 'For those of us lucky enough to get work with Steve, it's been an insanely great honour. I will miss Steve immensely.'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. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honour.'From Nigeria, the Managing Director/CEO, Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs. Florence Seriki, described Jobs death as a painful one, which will create a vacuum in the Information Technology (IT) market.Seriki said: 'Jobs death'Loss of a great legend. He has left a legacy for the industry to follow. We mourn his passing, and wish his family the very best. He made the computer personal, and the smartphone fun.'The President, Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN), Dr. Jimson Olufuye, asserted: 'What a colossal loss of one of the foremost innovators, visionaries and astute business man of our time. The Nigeria I.T. industry mourned him greatly. Prior to Steve Jobs, computers were alien to most people. They were accessible to few people without an engineering degree. Not merely because of their complex operating procedures, but also because they were so cold and so inhuman.To chairman, Zinox Group of Companies, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh: 'Steve Jobs to me is a rare breed, an Information Communications Technology (ICT) phenomenon because his works were beyond the computers. He was able to revolutionalise the IT world with his creativity and ingenuity.'He challenged the norm from the scratch and today the world is better for it. Am sure you know he was the one that created User interface.'He was also known to be stubbornly private about his personal life, refusing interviews and shielding his wife and their children from public view.It would be recalled that Jobs was a prodigy, who dropped out of Reed College in Oregon and, at 21, started Apple with Steve Wozniak in his parents' garage. He was already a multimillionaire by 25 and appeared on the cover of Time magazine at 26, and was ousted at Apple at age 30, in 1984.He thereafter went into other businesses, founding NeXT computers and, in 1986, buying the computer graphics arm of Lucasfilm, Ltd., which became Pixar Animation Studios.He was described as an exacting and sometimes fearsome leader, ordering up and rejecting multiple versions of new products until the final version was just right. He said the design and aesthetics of a device were as important as the hardware and software inside.In 1996, Apple, which had struggled without Jobs, brought him back by buying NeXT. He became CEO in 1997 and put the company on a remarkable upward path.By 2001, the commercial music industry was on its knees because digital recordings, copied and shared online for free, made it unnecessary for millions of people to buy compact discs.Jobs took advantage with the iPod ' essentially a pocket-sized computer hard drive with elegantly simple controls and a set of white earbuds so that one could listen to the hours of music one saved on it. He set up the iTunes online music store, and persuaded major recording labels to sell songs for 99 cents each. No longer did people have to go out and buy a CD if they liked one song from it. They bought a digital file and stored it in their iPod.In 2007, he transformed the cell phone. Apple's iPhone, with its iconic touch screen, was a handheld computer, music player, messaging device, digital wallet and ' almost incidentally ' cell phone. Major competitors, such as BlackBerry, Nokia and Motorola, struggled after it appeared.By 2010, Apple's new iPad began to cannibalise its original business, the personal computer.Meanwhile, in a statement announcing Jobs' death posted on its website, Apple said that it had '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.'According to the statement, 'Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
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