He was 56.
After been diagnosed with a kind of pancreatic cancer in 2004, he had been struggling with health issues for quite a while, and was absent from Apple thrice for brief intervals recently.
He had finally resigned on August 25 this year since the CEO, paving way for his long-time deputy Tim Cook to consider over.
His demise has saddened a generation of Apple company users and admirers, many of whom claim that Work was an iconic figure, a true visionary and an inspirational leader for them and many more like them.
Kartikeya Pathak, a first year student associated with architecture at IIT Kharagpur feels: "Jobs was the innovator of innovation in his field and an inspiration with regard to students. "
His fellow classmate Abhishek Banerjee agreed as well as said: "He was a great visionary. Technology is a life line for everyone today, and he was a pioneer in his area. I feel Apple products are incomparable to anything on the market today. "
A famed entrepreneur, Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 alongside together with his friend Steve Wozniak. A decade later he founded Following computer.
Apple later bought NeXT in 1996, and through 1997 to August, 2011, Jobs reigned as the BOSS of Apple.
It is then hardly surprising that most entrepreneurs discuss Jobs rather fondly. Ray Newal, co-founder and CEO associated with Jigsee, and an entrepreneur himself, says: "The word is that if you wish to become an entrepreneur, you should be something like Work. He was huge inspiration for so many entrepreneurs. inch
There was something about Jobs and his keynote presentations each time Apple launched a new product, and how clad in plain t-shirts and denims he held the interest of millions of users in captivity, revealed a definitive awe that existed around him and everything he did since the CEO of Apple.
People around the globe and across countries craved for new Apple launches and long queues in front of an Apple launch were a common sight.
Ray Newal provides an explanation: "Jobs understood his customers extremely well and he wanted them to achieve the right user experience. One could see how passionate he was through the extent to which he delved into the details of every product"
"A lot of vested interests generally influence a company, but Steve Jobs was able to detach all such extrinsic factors and focused only about the best experience for customers. "
Truly, Apple did not offer a variety of products that a majority of the other companies usually wind up doing.
They focused on one product, and directed almost all their efforts on it.
Chief Editor at Cyber Media along with a technology expert Prasanto K Roy says: "I have often felt that Apple is the most courageous organisation since they never came up with variants of a particular item, they stood focused on one and gave it everything they had.
"And now, when Jobs is gone, it is more so important to allow them to stay focused and not be tempted to introduce variants of the products. "
In his years as the CEO associated with Apple, Jobs had almost become synonymous with Apple, and huge numbers of people would find it hard to accept one separate through another. Even though his demise is extremely sad, it's not unexpected.
And now the question how it will impact Apple over time is grappling industry experts.
"I think it a question nobody knows, " says Neuual. "Jobs had put a large amount of effort in putting his DNA in the company and Apple itself is extremely aware of that. I don't know how successful they'll be in replicating his philosophies long after he is eliminated. "
Prasanto Roy agreed and said: "Many of Jobs philosophies happen to be internalised in Apple, and they had been working going back 1-2 years on a transitional plan.
"Now, it is essential for Apple to stick to his legacies, which means they must develop outstanding innovation and they must keep their focus both on the products and customers. "
Many in the industry are already beginning to feel losing Jobs and are becoming skeptical about Apple's future without having his patronage. It is ironical that Apple's new CEO Tim Cook launched a more recent version of iPhone 4 on Wednesday, which wasn't appreciated greatly by industry experts.
"The product launch yesterday was very disappointing, we were expecting iPhone 5, but it merely had several hardware add-ons, " said Soham Raninga, editor, for Thinkdigit, 9dot9 press.
"The general perception is that since Jobs is eliminated, Apple might also go down. Hence, it is much more important for Apple to come up innovative ideas as well as products. "
However, only time will tell how Apple copes using the sad demise of Jobs who had single handedly used Apple to its world-leaders position today.
It would also be interesting to witness how Apple treasures the legacy of among the truly remarkable leaders of our times.
Source : Rediff