Two weeks after his death, tributes continue to pour in for late Apple co-founder and visionary Steve Jobs. The latest and, perhaps most poignant, came from the tech giant itself.
Apple set up a dedicated memorial site for Jobs and shops closed temporarily as workers celebrated his life.
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At Apple stores across the globe, doors were locked and curtains drawn to allow employees to tune into a private memorial being held in an amphitheatre at the company’s headquarters in the northern California town of Cupertino.
Employees from Apple satellite offices reportedly streamed to the main campus honour the man who revolutionised modern life with iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers.
Messages, evidently fired off on Twitter by people at the memorial. claimed that music stars Coldplay and Norah Jones performed in honour of Jobs.
“Memorial for Steve Jobs is magnificent!” said a tweet from a Silicon Valley man claiming to work as a recruiter for the team handling software that runs Apple mobile devices.
“Cold Play & Norah Jones @InfiniteLoop,” the brief message concluded, the tag an apparent reference to Apple headquarters’ street address of One Infinite Loop.
Jobs’ projects outside Apple were not, however, neglected in the memorial. The service supposedly ended with a rendition of the Randy Newman song “You’ve got a friend in me”, from the Pixar film Toy Story. Jobs played a major role in the film studio’s creation, which is now the second-biggest animation studio on Earth, second only to Disney.
Jobs usually composed successor, Tim Cook, reportedly led a heartfelt remembrance of the visionary, who became renowned for his trademark turtleneck sweaters and “one more thing” catchphrase.
Ordinary members of the public, meanwhile were given an online space, dubbed “Remembering Steve” in which they could express their grief.
“Over a million people from all over the world have shared their memories, thoughts, and feelings about Steve,” a message said on the website.
“One thing they all have in common — from personal friends to colleagues to owners of Apple products — is how they’ve been touched by his passion and creativity.”
The tributes are presented in the form of a rolling stream.
Renowned US TV news magazine show 60 Minutes says that it will be broadcasting an interview with Walter Isaacson, the author of a biography sanctioned by Jobs himself.
“Isaacson says that Jobs wanted the book to be wholly, if not brutally, honest,” according to 60 Minutes, which said that Jobs told the author nothing was off-limits.
