Apple Inc. has confirmed that Apple Chairman, co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs–the man who gave the world the iPhone and the iPad–died Wednesday at the age of 56, after a long battle with cancer.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” the company said in a brief statement. “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.”
On August 24, 2011, Jobs resigned as Apple’s CEO, and was appointed chairman of Apple’s board of directors, at his request. He had been diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2003.
In 2009, Jobs underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems. He took another leave of absence in January — his third since his health problems began — before resigning as CEO six weeks ago.
The news Apple fans and shareholders had been dreading came the day after Apple unveiled its latest version of the iPhone, just one in a procession of devices that shaped technology and society while Jobs was running the company.
With AP