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NEW YORK: In front of the Apple store in Soho, Gregory Littley places two roses and a candle on the sidewalk — next to his iPhone with “We will miss you Steve Jobs” typed on its screen.
It's a sentiment many ordinary users of his iconic gadgets will share, and not only in New York.
“I really have reverence for Steve Jobs,” said the 30-something employee of a start-up in the hip district of Manhattan, after making the ad hoc tribute to the Apple founder.
Like many people, he first heard of Jobs's death via Twitter — although after a recent false alarm about his demise he waited until the news was confirmed by mainstream outlets like CNN.
“So many of my peer group and my friends have created a livelihood on the shoulders of his creations. So that's why I felt it was important to come down and do a show of reverence to him,” he told AFP.
Across town at Apple's flagship store on the tourist-packed Fifth Avenue south of Central Park, someone had placed two big bouquets of flowers out front following the news that Jobs, just 56 years old, had died.
Keenan Thompson, 21, recalled buying his first Apple device at the age of 14.
“He was the definition of innovation to me. Every product he made just had — it was just that much more than the next person's product.
“That's what did it for me,” he told CNN.
He first heard the news via Twitter. “At first I didn't believe it because of the rumours a few weeks ago that he died. That turned out to be false. So I said no way. I looked deeper into Twitter and I found out it was in fact true.”
The story was similar on the other side of the country in Los Angeles — and around the world, as Apple fans woke up to the news in different time zones.
Jobs had been ill, so his passing was not a surprise — but it was still a shock to many.
“I expected it, I knew it was happening but still it is so sad,” Priana Baldwin, 23, a graphic designer who worked in an Apple store last year, told AFP at the trendy Grove shopping mall.
“I've been a fan of his products my whole life, he is in my whole life, he created all the gadgets I have... you know he changed the technology world,” she added, taking pictures of the Apple logo outside the store.
Emerging from the store, Penelope Juniper, 21, added: “I knew from Twitter. It's all over Twitter right now. Of course he changed my life. Everything that I need is in my iPhone!
“It's really sad he's gone,” she added.
