The Apple website summed it up this way…”Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius…his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”

Indeed, the world has lost an amazing human being. Steve Jobs has passed away at age 56, after years of suffering through pancreatic cancer, and a liver transplant in 2009. He had just resigned as Apple’s CEO in August, and turned the company’s leadership over to Tim Cook.

Some mainstream media are comparing the contributions of Steve Jobs to Thomas Edison or Leonardo da Vinci, whose inventions and innovations created a huge impact on modern culture.

Consider Steve Job’s lifetime of achievements, which brought form and function together in elegant consumer products. He made technology cool, and more importantly, he made it work.

1976: Apple Corp. founded with Stephen Wozniak
1977: Apple II personal computer
1980: Apple III
1984: Macintosh personal computer & Mac OS graphical operating system
1985: NeXT Computer Inc.
1986: Pixar Animation Studios
1998: iMac desktop computer
2001: iPod media player & iTunes software
2003: iTunes online digital media store & Safari web browser
2005: Mac mini, iPod Nano & iPod Shuffle
2006: MacBook & MacBook Pro notebooks
2007: iPhone & iPod Touch
2008: iPhone 3G & MacBook Air ultra-thin notebook
2009: iPhone 3GS
2010: iPhone 4 & iPad media tablet
2011: iPad 2 & iPhone 4S

ABC News has assembled a short video tribute to Steve Jobs’ life and legacy.

CNN has a well produced collection of video clips and MacWorld highlights
with Steve Jobs introducing some of Apple’s coolest products…

Apple has announced their new iPad, and I’m just now getting an iPhone. But isn’t that the way it is? How many of us can afford to buy every new device that hits the market? Just wait until the latest device comes out, then the prices drop on the older models and suddenly it’s affordable.

I got a 3G iPhone, which seems to be all I need at the moment. The capacity of this phone is almost overwhelming with all the thousands of apps available, plus the many ways the phone can be used.

I’m just getting into the apps, but so far I like the Hootsuite Twitter app, and the free Facebook app.

What impresses me the most is the multi-tasking capability of the iPhone; simply amazing the way you can make a phone call and surf the web at the same time; or do any number of other tasks.

I thought the iPod was great, but the iPhone is the most elegant and addictive electronic device I’ve ever used.

Apple has finally debuted their new tablet computer, the iPad. Weighing in at only 1.5 pounds, it has a 9.7 inch multi-touch screen and Wi-Fi, with optional 3G connectivity.

The iPad in only half an inch thick, and can run almost 140,000 of the available apps on the App Store. iPhone and iPod owners can use existing apps by syncing them to the iPad from Mac or PC, and run them in their original size or maximize them to full screen.

The iPad looks just as stunning as the iMac and MacBook Pro did when they were first introduced. Question is; what kind of impact will the iPad make in the market already saturated by Amazon’s Kindle?

But the price points of both devices still have somewhat of an ouch factor. Amazon’s Kindle DX has a 9.7 inch screen and can store 3,500 books, priced at $489.00. Apple’s iPad 16GB model is priced at $499, then $599 for 32GB and $699 for the 64GB model. And 3G will cost you extra, of course.

Just like the web, content is king. So after the media hype settles and the iPad is actually available, we’ll see what kind of books, magazines, newspapers and other online content will be available. That may be the real test.

Amazon Kindle DX

Apple iPad