It's clear that Apple today, from the executive team on down, was shaped and molded to Jobs's vision of how Apple should operate. The first time Jobs left Apple, the company without him was wildly different--to its detriment. That didn't happen this time around. Apple without Jobs now is an awful lot like the company with him; while popular culture may have exulted Jobs as the visionary leader who directly influenced every product that left Cupertino, his seeming focus was on the company's culture itself. Apple, more than any individual product it released, is surely Jobs's most significant legacy.

As Tim Cook, remembering Jobs on the first anniversary of his death, wrote on Apple's website: "One of the greatest gifts Steve gave to the world is Apple... We share the great privilege and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future."