Steven P. Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple who helped shape the era of personal computers and left an indelible mark on the way music, movies, television and mobile communications are experienced in the digital age, died October 5, 2011. He was 56.
Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004 and had experienced health challenges ever since, including a 2009 liver transplant after taking a leave of absence for unspecified reasons.
Upon his passing, Apple released this statement: "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. 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. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."
Apple began in 1976, when Jobs and his high school friend Stephen Wozniak started the company in Jobs' parents' northern California garage.
Eight years after founding Apple, Jobs led the team that designed the Macintosh computer, a breakthrough in making personal computers easier to use.
In 1985, spurred by a falling-out with John Sculley, the executive Jobs had recruited from PepsiCo to serve as Apple's CEO, Jobs left the company, a decision by the board of directors. Twelve years later, he returned to oversee the creation of digital devices embraced throughout the world — including the iPod, iPhone and iPad. These transformed product categories like music players and cellphones as well as entire industries, particularly music and mobile communications.
In August of this year, Jobs stepped down as the company's CEO iand was succeeded by colleague Timothy D. Cook, the chief operating officer.
During his years away from Apple, he built Pixar Animation Studios, which began as a small company acquired from filmmaker George Lucas. Starting with Toy Story, in 1995, Pixar went on to produce a string of hit movies, including Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, Cars and Up.
He influenced the television industry through the introduction of the iTunes store, which began as a music seller and later expanded to include many television series for sale and rental, creating a new revenue stream for programming suppliers.
In 2007, Apple introduced Apple TV, a digital media receiver that allows users to play content from the iTunes Store, Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, MobileMe, MLB.tv, NBA League Pass or any Mac OS X or Windows computer running iTunes on television.
Comprehensive obituaries of Jobs may be found at the following media outlets: