Apple co-founder and chairman Steve Jobs has died at age 56.
Jobs resigned from his role as CEO of Apple in late August 2011, following years of medical issues after surgery to treat pancreatic cancer in 2004.
In August, when announcing his move from CEO, Jobs told Apple employees that he could “no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO…that day has come.”
Jobs has been a polarising and legendary technology leader, playing key roles in shifting the paradigms of personal computers (Apple II), personal music players (iPod), the digital music economy (iTunes), smart phones (iPhone), and tablet computing (iPad).
Changes in the technology landscape as a result of waves started by Jobs and Apple have trickled down to the industrial sector — today, tablet computers and mobile applications are used in a number of process and control industries.
Born in San Francisco in 1955, Jobs partnered with Steve Wozniak to found Apple Computer in 1976, which started with the pair building small computers in a garage.
In 1985, Jobs left Apple after the machinations of CEO John Sculley and founded NeXT. He played a part in the early success of Pixar, and pioneered object-oriented software development.
In 1996, Jobs returned to an ailing Apple, and turned the company around with the introduction of the iMac in 1998. The rest, as they say, is history.