Tributes to the late Steve Jobs have poured in from around the globe from political leaders, business chiefs and the millions of consumer fans of Apple, the company he built into the world’s second biggest by market capitalisation.
Investors reacted calmly to the news of Jobs’ death at 56 on Wednesday, with Apple shares slipping only slightly on Thursday in New York, giving the company a market value of $350bn.
The death of Steve Jobs, announced tonight by Apple, was expected but still comes as a shock. There are very few business people who are truly irreplaceable but Mr Jobs was undoubtedly so.
Like many other people, I heard the news via his products – in my case through Twitter on an iPod Touch — and am writing this on a MacBook Air. Mr Jobs’ original vision of a world of personal computers came truer than even he imagined.
Remembering Steve – the world’s ‘one more thing’
Apple’s brief announcement on Wednesday evening of the death of Steve Jobs marked the beginning of a flood of tributes from business leaders and politicians, along with mass outpourings on social networks.
As Apple replaced the new iPhone 4S with a picture of its 56-years-old co-founder and chairman on the front page of its website, its board said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.”
Tim Cook, Apple chief executive, sent a message to staff and the Jobs family issued a statement. These and further reactions from President Obama to Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s co-founders, Twitter’s CEO, and Bill Gates are after the jump. Read more
iPhone 5, minus the master
How important has Steve Jobs’ famous reality distortion field been to Apple’s ability to shape perceptions of its new products – and persuade avid buyers to line up round the block to get their hands on them?
With next week’s unveiling of the iPhone 5, which has just been confirmed, we will get the first chance to see what a big Apple product launch feels like without the company’s guiding spirit. Read more
Tech news from around the web:
Michael Arrington, the man behind the influential TechCrunch blog, has started a venture capital fund to invest in start-ups, the New York Times reports. Mr Arrington’s $20m CrunchFund throws up concerns over a conflict of interests, the NYT adds, saying that it is one of journalism’s cardinal rules that reporters should maintain a distance from the people, organisations and issues they cover. Read more
From Vic Gundotra, the man behind Google+, to NPR’s All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen and Allen Paltrow, who met Steve Jobs as a young boy, the web was filled with stories of personal reminiscences about the Apple co-founder and expressions of gratitude for his visionary work.
Late on Wednesday, Mr Jobs announced he was stepping down as chief executive of Apple. Many in the tech world reflected on his influential leadership. Others pondered whether the company will continue its success with Tim Cook taking over. Read more
Tim Cook reassures Apple employees
This internal email was sent by Tim Cook to all Apple employees early on Thursday morning, reassuring them that the company “is not going to change”.
Below is the full text of the e-mail:
Team:
I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.
Today’s tech news from around the web is devoted to reaction and comment on Steve Jobs’ decision to step down as Apple chief executive:
Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple along with Steve Jobs, says that Jobs will be remembered as one of the most successful company chiefs, TNW reports.
He’s probably going to be remembered for the next 100 years as the best business leader of our time. He will watch the company for a while, hope its on such a good track. For a company as large as Apple, corporate culture doesn’t change overnight. The quality of the people doesn’t change.
There will be plenty of time for analysis of what now happens at Apple and whether the company can retain is extraordinary leadership of the world of technology, but my first reaction to the resignation of Steve Jobs as its chief executive is sadness.
Mr Jobs, at the age of only 56, stands as one of the great business leaders – arguably the greatest – of the postwar era. For the past 30 years, he has not only led the wave of technological change emanating from Silicon Valley – the personal computer, the internet, the tablet – but stamped his aesthetic on the world.
Every year, Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference turns into “Apple week”. The tech world holds its collective breath for the company’s latest list of announcements.
But this year had an extra twist: a spaceship spotted in Cupertino.
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Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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