Fellow computer pioneer Bill Gates said it had been "an insanely great honour" to work with Jobs. "I will miss Steve immensely." New York mayor Michael Bloomberg ranked him alongside Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.
But it was also the ordinary users of the iWorld that Jobs created who were profoundly moved, with messages tagged "iSad" and "RIP Steve Jobs".
Thousands signed up at the stevejobsday2011.com website to take part in an unofficial Steve Jobs Day on October 14. People are invited to dress up as Jobs or talk about him, at real-world gatherings or at online venues.
On theage.com.au, tributes from Australians flowed. "RIP Steve – your collective genius in creating and developing products that took the leap from 'Geek' to 'Cool' will surely be missed," commented Tim H from Melbourne. It was that leap from geek to cool that defined not only his products but Jobs himself, combining an unrivalled tech savviness with business nous to, according to one obituarist, "give consumers what they wanted before consumers knew what they wanted".