Apple Inc. co-founder and technology wizard Steve Jobs is dead. The 56-year-old genius behind the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and iTunes succumbed to pancreatic cancer on Wednesday, according to his company.

No further details were given about his death but the Apple board of directors confirmed his passing by issuing this statement:
"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. 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. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

The Apple homepage also contains a simple message of condolence together with the photo of a bearded Jobs. The message reads: "Steve Jobs 1955-2011."

Clicking on the image directs to this message:

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative 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."

The website is accepting message of condolence by email at rememberingsteve@apple.com.

Jobs' passing came just a day after the newest iPhone was launched by his successor and new Apple CEO Tim Cook in Cupertino, California.

Jobs resigned as CEO and relinquished his post to Cook on Aug. 24 because of his failing health. He had been battling the cancer since 2004 and even had a liver transplant in 2009.

The Reed College dropout's rise fame started when he, at 21, and childhood friend Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer in his parent's garage in 1976. The two built the first personal computer called Apple II.

Wozniak said Thursday he was shocked by the news of his friend's death, according to ABCNews.go.com.

The Apple II computer made Jobs a multimillionaire at age 25. He earned Time "Person of the Year" honors at age 26.
In 1984, a power struggle ousted him from Apple. He put up his own computer company NeXT, which bought the computer graphics arm of Lucasfilm, Ltd. renaming it to Pixar Animation Studios, creator of the highly successful animation movies Toy Story and Finding Nemo.

Apple bought NeXT in 1996 to bring back Jobs to the company. He was CEO again the following year and the i-devices revolution followed.

The success of Apple's innovative products made the company the biggest in the world, even eclipsing Exxon albeit temporarily, and reportedly having more cash than the U.S. Treasury.

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