Jobs had been for the last several years. In 2004 he underwent surgery to treat a rare form of pancreatic cancer. He returned to work soon after, but in early 2009 took six months off to treat what he called a "hormone imbalance" that made him appear gaunt and pale. During that leave he underwent a liver transplant. Early this year he took another, to "focus on my health," as he put it, and on Aug. 24 he announced his resignation as CEO, with Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook taking over and Jobs elected board chairman, a position he held until his death

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," Apple's Board of Directors said Wednesday in a 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."

Jobs will be remembered as a computer visionary but also as a maverick -- a sometimes cantankerous one -- who pursued a doggedly independent path for Apple that could make it frustrating for partners to work with but allowed it to produce unique products. Jobs also ran the hugely successful Pixar Animation Studios for almost 20 years, before selling it to Disney in 2006 for US$7.4 billion.

After his return to Apple in 1996, working with the designer Jonathan Ive, Jobs launched a that were admired and emulated for their elegant, sometimes daring design. His brightly colored iMac computers were a sharp break from the two decades of beige PCs that had gone before them. The iPod was a breakthrough in portable music players which, coupled with the iTunes store, changed the music business forever. And the touchscreen iPhone and iPad created whole new categories of products.