6 Oct 2011

Apple founder Steve Jobs dies, aged 56

Computer visionary Steve Jobs, who co-founded Apple in 1976 and went on to transform it into one of the world’s biggest and most iconic brands, has died.

The Apple website announced today: “Apple has lost a visionary and create 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.

“Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”

In 2004 it emerged that Jobs, who founded Apple in in the mid-1970s, was suffering from pancreatic cancer. In 2009 her underwent a liver transplant operation, and he announced his resignation as Apple CEO in late August of this year.

Jobs established Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak. The company produced several personal computers models over the next eight years, including the Apple 1, the Apple II and the Lisa.

Apple’s breakthrough came in 1984 with the launch of the Macintosh, whose revolutionary “what you see is what you get” interface – involving a desktop simulation and a mouse to control movement across the screen – established a template that has become the personal computing standard.

A power struggle with John Sculley, who had been lured to Apple from Pepsi-Cola to become the computer corporation’s CEO, resulted in Jobs’s dismissal in 1985. He went on to found another company, NeXT Computer, and to acquire The Graphics Group, subsequently renamed Pixar.

Elegant design, ease of use

By the mid-1990s, Apple’s fortunes were on the wane, in part as a result of the success of Microsoft’s Windows operating system – whose interface appeared to mimic that of the Macintosh. Jobs was persuaded to return to the company he founded, and two years later presided over the launch of the iMac.

The iMac’s coloured perspex body and subsequently updated operating system introduced a new generation of computer users to Apple’s trademark philosophy of simple, elegant design, coupled with ease of use.

Apple’s reputation was further enhanced when, in 2001, Jobs announced the launch of the iPod personal music system, complemented by iTunes software that allowed users easily to save their own music and to purchase music online.

Six years later saw the release of the iPhone, the original “smartphone”, whose success has redefined the mobile telephony. Apple had become the largest mobile handset vendor in the world in revenue terms by the first quarter of 2011. The latest version of the iPhone was released two days ago.

Under Jobs’s stewardship, Apple launched the first iPad – a portable computer without a separate keyboard – in early 2010.

Although Apple’s recent share price fluctuations have reflected ongoing fears about Jobs’s health, the company has nonetheless overtaken Exxon on occasions to become the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalisation.