Following the death Apple founder and visionary Steve Jobs, Apple products are selling in their droves, with opening sales of the iPhone 4S ranking in the millions. Fans have been camping out and stores have been mobbed as eager buyers lined up to purchase Jobs’ last iPhone.
In Silicon Valley, meanwhile, tech gurus, celebrities and politicians alike arrived on Sunday to pay tribute to the late Steve Jobs at a private memorial service in Stanford University.
No ad to show here.
Security was tight as coordinated teams alongside local police officers ushered invited guests into the main campus hall. Guests who walked the candle-lined path from the church to the museum included Google founder Larry Page, Bill Clinton and Al Gore who is also a member of the Apple board.
Fortune-500 business leaders also made an appearance such as the founder of Adobe. Celebrities included the voice of Toy Story‘s Buzz Lightyear, Tim Allen.
Guests who confirmed but could not make it included Jay Y. Lee, son of Samsung Chairman and heir to its electronic throne. Sources said that Lee was close to Jobs and Tim Cook despite the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Samsung. Samsung declined to comment on Lee’s absence at the funeral.
Jobs died at the age of 56 after battling cancer for a number of years. Shortly afterwards Jobs was buried in a nondenominational ceremony in Palo Alto.
Governor of California, Jerry Brown declared Sunday 16 as “Steve Jobs Day”, saying that Jobs was the embodiment of the Californian dream.
Brown’s official statement said, “To call him influential would be an understatement…. His innovations transformed an industry, and the products he conceived and shepherded to market have changed the way the entire world communicates. Steve Jobs had a uniquely Californian visionary. He epitomised the spirit of a state that an eager world watches to see what will come next.”
Apple is yet to announce a public ceremony for Steve Jobs. This has not, however, held back Apple fans worldwide from holding their own private and public vigils. At Apple stores across the world, wreaths and photos have been laid down in memoriam of the late Jobs.
