Award winning entrepreneur and inventor, Steve Jobs, passed away on Wednesday, October 5, 2011. He was the co-founder of Apple along his longtime friend, Steve Wozniak. In the formal announcement made to Apple employees, no specific cause of death was given. Jobs had suffered with a few health issues beginning with pancreatic cancer from a cancerous tumor in his pancreas discovered in 2004. He also had a liver transplant in 2009. Due to his health issues he resigned from Apple in August, though he still made important appearances to assist with the unveiling of new products and remained on the board as a chairman.
Over the course of his career that began in 1976, Steve Jobs was a visionary who continued to develop newer, sleeker, more contemporary ways to meet the technical needs of the masses. Beginning with the development of the Apple I, a personal computer, his career took him in a few different directions. The Apple 1 went on sale in July of 1976 and led to the Apple II, the Lisa and the Macintosh. Jobs resigned from Apple in 1985 and then founded NeXT. NeXT which was initially founded for the business and higher-education markets. The company was later purchased by Apple in 1996 and Jobs became the Chief Executive Officer of Apple among his return.
In 1986, Jobs purchased The Graphic Group later to be known as Pixar. Pixar Animation Studios which started out as a high-end hardware developer progressed into a computer animation studio. After partnering with Disney, Pixar began to develop several children favorites like Toy Story, A Bug’s Life and UP. In 2006 he was placed on the Board of Directors as the Walt Disney Company.
The death of Steve Jobs has shaken the globe as he had several followers fore he made a big difference in the world. His impact on the world of technology was very innovative as his vision lead directly to creation of the ever so popular IPods, IPhones and IPads. Several fans of the inventor has been gathering outside of Apple stores to show their respect and grieve this terrible loss. A memorial is being set up outside the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California for the public to stop by and leave flowers, candles, etc. A store located in Tokyo has a candlelight vigil planned for Thursday evening.