Steve Jobs Dies, Ushered in PC and Mobile Eras

The death of Steve Jobs reverberated through technology, media, and marketing circles on Wednesday night.

The Apple founder and, until recently, CEO died today at the age of 56 after a battle with cancer. In a career that spanned four decades, he helped usher in the PC and mobile eras with products that were intensely focused on the user experience and changed the way people interacted with technology. The wide adoption of his devices -including the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers - sent media companies and marketers scrambling to develop new ways to interact with consumers.

Jobs was also a great marketer in his own right, a rock star CEO and futurist who maintained an extreme standard of quality and inspired legions of fans to tune into live streams of his famous keynote addresses.

Immediately after Apple issued a statement about his death, tributes began to flow on Twitter, Facebook, and other sites - many of them created with the very products he built.

Here's a sample of comments from marketers and technology leaders about Jobs influence and legacy:

"His focus on the user experience above all else has always been an inspiration to me. He was very kind to reach out to me as I became CEO of Google and spend time offering his advice and knowledge even though he was not at all well." -Larry Page, Google CEO, on Google+

"Steve Jobs will live on thru the billions of daily interactions with the products that he helped bring to life. That's immortality." -Lars Bastholm, former chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather, on Twitter

"By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun." -President Barack Obama

"He insisted on the highest product quality and on building things to delight and empower actual users, not intermediaries like corporate IT directors or wireless carriers. And he could sell. Man, he could sell." -Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal columnist, writing on AllThingsD

"Once in a rare while, somebody comes along who doesn't just raise the bar, they create an entirely new standard of measurement." -Dick Costolo, Twitter CEO, on Twitter

"Apple under Jobs was my canonical example of the value of a user-centered design business. Deep influence." -Todd Drake, VP of Technology at Organic, on Twitter.