company, but he we'ove it into e fabric of a generation. he created products that seemed inevitable. let's turn it over to "piers morgan tonight" hosted by wolf blitzer. we'll be live again at 10:00 p.m. with more coverage. wolf. >> good evening, i'm wolf blitzer, sitting in for piers. a live picture of apple headquarters in cupertino, california. steve jobs, the man who put the world in the palm of your hand, has died. the 56-year-old apple co-founder was the father of the iphone, the ipad and the ipod. the man who started apple in a silicon valley garage and built it into the world's leading tech company. he started a worldwide computer revolution. he died peacefully today, surrounded by his loved ones. apple announced jobs passing on its website. those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with steve have lost a dear

friend and an inspiring mentor. steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built and his spirit will forever be the foundation of apple. dan simon has the story of steve jobs' incredible live. >> today apple is going to reinvent the phone. >> reporter: steve jobs was a modern day thomas edison. >> you can do multifinger gestures on it and, boy, have we patented it. >> reporter: he didn't have a patent on his own look but he was rarely seen without tennis shoes, levi's and a black shirt. he was legendary for his flair and showmanship. >> amazing. and the screen literally floats in midair. >> reporter: steve jobs was born in san francisco. his mother, an unwed college student, put him up for adoption. he developed an early interest in computers. going to after school lectures at hewlett-packard. after high school, he attended reed college but only for one semester.

at just 20 years old, he started apple computer in his garage with friend steve wozniak. >> we worked hard and in ten years apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company. with over 4,000 employees. >> reporter: that was jobs in 2005 giving the commencement address at stanford university. >> you have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever, because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path. and that will make all the difference. >> reporter: in 1984, apple introduced the machine that changed our lives forever, the macintosh. revolutionary because it made computers easier to use. it had a funny little thing called a mouse. and allowed users to change fonlts. the mac was expensive and sales were sluggish. in 1985, steve jobs was forced out of apple. but it turned out he was just warming up. >> i'm buzz lightyear, space ranger.

>> reporter: in 1986, he bought pixar animation studios which later produced hits like "toy story." he also started a computer company called next. >> it's the most beautiful circuit board. >> reporter: the technology was so innovative that in a twist of fate, apple bought next and steve jobs went back to work for the company he started. his second act considered one of the greatest ceo tenures of all time. >> it's called the ipod touch. >> reporter: who knew that a computer company would change how we listened to music? the iconic ipod, the iphone, and, later, what some believe would be his grandest achievement, the ipad. >> that's what it looks like. very thin. >> reporter: apple dropped the computer from its name to reflect the company's expansion into consumer electronics. >> i'm going to take this

morning and talk about the iphone. >> reporter: in recent years, jobs no longer appeared his usual self. he was thin and frail. investors in apple faithful grew alarm because of jobs' past struggle with pancreatic cancer. in 2009, jobs revealed he had a liver transplant after taking a six-month leave of absence. but he returned with his usual vigor. >> it is the new mac book air and we think it's the future of notebooks. >> reporter: eventually his ill health led him to step down as ceo. in a letter to the apple board of directors, jobs wrote, i have always said if there ever came a day when i could no longer meet my duties, i would be the first to let you know. unfortunately, that day has come. i have made some of the best friends of my life at apple. i thank you for all the many years of being able to work alongside you. steve jobs legacy can be found in his devices. long on aesthetics and attention

to detail, he followed his heart, and with his technology -- >> we are calling it iphone. >> reporter: -- changed the world. >> he changed the world indeed. dan simon is joining us now from san francisco. earlier in the day, there were these reports, you probably saw some on twitter, that a lot of cars were outside the home. so this obviously does not come as a huge surprise. we know how ill he's been over the many months. what's the reaction where you are? as you're speaking, i want to show our viewers the live picture of the apple store in new york. go ahead, dan. >> well, exactly, wolf. we knew this day was going to come. unfortunately. i was actually in cupertino in the apple's headquarters yesterday for the unveiling of the new iphone. i can only imagine how difficult it must have been for his fellow employees, for his fellow senior executives, to go up on the stage and introduce that new

product while probably knowing that the end was near for steve jobs. in terms of the reaction, you know, this is a personal who will never be replaced. he is the single most important figure in silicon valley. what he did over the last 30 years is incredible. i said in my piece, he was a modern day thomas edison. that's not an exaggeration. he was able to produce hit after hit. bears that to be true. the fact he invented the personal computer with the apple 2. then some years later with the ipod, the iphone and the ipad. that truly is what set jobs apart from anybody else. over his career, he was able to produce these new technologies that had never been replicated, had never been seen before. he just produced hit after hit, wolf. >> he was amazing in every aspect of his life. dan, standby.

our own medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. talk a little bit about the pancreatic cancer. it's been a battle he's had for, what, eight years. it's a very, very difficult type of cancer to deal with. >> there's no question about it. pancreatic cancer is one of those cancers that we don't have great treatments for, let alone a cure. i will tell you though, he tells a very poignant story about when he got diagnosed, steve jobs does. they found a lesion on his pancreas. they were pretty convinced it was pancreatic cancer. he ended up having a biopsy. he talked about this in the speech he gave at stanford. during the biopsy, the doctors literally started to cry because they saw the type of tumor it was and realized it wasn't the most aggressive form of pancreatic cancer but, rather, what's known as a neuro endocrine tumor, a rare form of pancreatic cancer. the pancreatic -- the aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, the numbers are abysmal. 20% one-year survival rate.

just think about that. even with this variant of pancreatic cancer, the five year survival rates aren't terrific, around 40% to 50%. but to your point, wolf, he fought like crazy. i mean, he had an operation. he got to therapy for this. he had a liver transplant in 2009. people didn't even know about this till two months after the transplant was done. he traveled to switzerland to try other unconventional treatments, stepping down a couple of times. he really did fight quite hard. his appearance even, wolf, losing all that weight, very characteristic of these pancreatic tumors. people become gaunt. they sort of develop this wasting phenomenon in part because the tumors make so many hormones. you're absolutely right, wolf, eight years and functioning at a pretty high level for most of that time, wolf. >> sanjay, he didn't only do the traditional treatment, the chemotherapy, the surgery, the radiation treatment. he did, as you point out, some

unconventional treatment as well, indeed, involving herbs. >> that was quite striking. his story dates back even before that. he travelled the world. he learned about different therapies in different countries. when he was first diagnosed, prior to the operation, he said this is something i think maybe can be treated with unconventional therapies. a lot of herbal-type medications. he tried this for about a year. a little less than that. it didn't work for him. the tumor was still there. that's when he ended up having the surgery. you're right, even in switzerland, he was going there for some therapies that were not peer reviewed therapies, things that had been written up. the theme to it was he really -- he was fighting all along. no point i think did he really ever give up. and this is, again, a difficult cancer. it can be a painful cancer. obviously tough to treat. up till august of this year, when he officially stepped down

and said he was not coming back, he was really fighting this. >> standby, sanjay, our chief business correspondent ali velshi is with us as well. there's no doubt, ali, the enormous impact he's had on the business world out there. he's such a visionary. creative genius at the same time. >> i'll tell you a few things. when the world first learned he was sick, there was a lot of conversations in the investing world about what he should do about it. in other companies when you hear a ceo is sick, you assume there's some kind of a succession plan in place and things will go on. i remember thinking how many company, how many major important companies, are so associated with one person creatively? you could probably say at one point microsoft was associated with bill gates. in terms of companies that really matter, this was the real one. there was a real question as to what does apple look like without steve jobs.

"fortune" magazine did a cover on tim cook, the new ceo, calling him the creative genius at apple. that was hard for the public to believe. these product launches, as we keep seeing, were steve jobs coming out there and introducing something to you that was so new, as it was to be beyond most people's comprehension. wolf, to be fair, there were some misses. in steve jobs career, there were several misses. the lisa computer didn't sell well. the newton didn't sell well. they'd expect a big announcement of a new iphone or ipod and they'd get something else, some other device. but steve jobs always bounced back. everybody wanted steve jobs to win. when there was some sense that steve jobs might be leaving the scene, it upset creative types and it upset investors at the same time. >> you know, ali, stand by, erin burnett is with us. erin, his theory was, if you're going to introduce a new

product, it's got to be something amazing. it's got to be a breakthrough. and he had all of those breakthroughs. a lot of people are wondering right now, can apple continue that without him. >> it's interesting, because as ali was referring to, this was always the discussion on wall street. you look at apple, which has become the second most valuable company in america. has become more valuable than exxon mobil. the reason for that was his ingenuity. his imagination. creating something we all ended up wanting before we knew we wanted it. a few years ago, the word app meant nothing. now apps really are essential to a lot of people's lives. that ability to see what you want before you want it, that's something that no one's sure whether they're going to have. tim cook, who is running apple, is a person who steve jobs admired and respected. the whole concept of apple and american conceptualism is a big

question. six stores in china. i was in shanghai recently. the apple store is mobbed. when i asked children what they asked about america, because we spent some time with kids, it was iphone, and they would all yell it. that is, really, a synonym for america. at a time when our country is taking a hit financially, it was apr apple that stood for what's wonderful about america around the world. this something that will matter to a lot of people far away from here. >> his impact, not only the united states, as you point out, around the world. everyone stand by. we're following the very sad breaking news tonight, the death of steve jobs. we'll talk to more people who knew him well when we come back. where do you go to find a business backed by the superguarantee®? only& suonline.s®. on your phone. or in the book. go to superpages®. and let the good guys save the day.

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no one wants to die. even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. and yet death is the destination we all share. no one has ever escaped it. that is as it should be. because death is very likely the single best invention of life. its life change agent. it clears out the old to make way for the new. >> very chilling words indeed. that was steve jobs in 2005, giving the commencement address in california. very sad breaking news we're following. steve jobs dead today at the age of 56.

jack welch ran general electric. he's now joining us on the phone to talk about steve jobs. his impact on the business world. did you ever have a chance to sit down, talk with him at lengthth? >> yes, i talked to him several times. he was a real different guy. i first met him in the early '80s, mid-'80s. he was different. he had a vision of changing the world then. you know, everybody's talking about him in terms of apple, disney. most of all, you think about his family tonight. what a loss. we have two kids in college. and within minutes of hearing about it, they both called, devastated. you wouldn't believe their reaction to it. and these are kids that aren't normally touched by this sort of thing. this guy touched everybody in

this country and perhaps the world in some way or another. remarkable. >> it's really amazing when you think about once in a generation kind of ceo, technology genius. but i don't know if we can compare anyone in our generation with steve jobs for the impact he's had on the world. >> people young and old. we all walk around with an ipad. and the kids live with one. so, i mean, it doesn't matter, young or old, he touched you in every way. all of his innovations and music were fantastic. you can't think of a ceo who has 300 patents, for example, wolf. i mean, think of that. the guy was -- he was able to inspire, energize his people. to get people to reach far beyond what they ever thought they could do. and that's one of the great aspects of a leader.

making people feel ten feet tall, willing and able to reach for anything. the last time i was on with you guys, when they announced it, i said he defined what cool was. and it's very rare that in business you get a definition of cool. >> would it be too far, mr. welch, to go out and say he was the greatest ceo of our time, maybe ever? >> well, i -- somebody might argue with that, but i'd have trouble finding anyone better. >> it was really amazing. mr. welch, thanks very much for sharing a few thoughts with us. >> thanks, wolf. >> the tech world is entirely different because of what steve jobs did. people are using his products right now.

many of you are probably watching on something steve jobs was directly responsible for. let's talk a little bit about the technology impact. joining us is the "new york times" technology reporter, nick built bilton. give us your thoughts on what this means. >> i think, you know, we're not really going to see the effects as far as apple the company for a couple of years. steve was a genius at looking out into the future. and a lot of the products we'll see come out in the next couple of years were things that had his hands on it. but it's going to be difficult for the company to continue, to keep this -- one of the things i've heard from a lot of the reporters i work with is steve had this -- what they call the distortion feel, where he could make you feel your t-shirt was the most amazing thing in the world. people would share at the conferences he would speak at. he was a really amazing marketing genius. >> i -- a lot of people were sort of disappointed these past few days in this new ipad that

just came out, really wasn't all that spectacular. wasn't as -- the iphone that just came out. and people are wondering, do you think steve jobs was directly involved in giving the authorization to release it? because it doesn't necessarily have his feel to it, given the fact that it didn't necessarily break through the technology. >> absolutely. if you -- in the next couple of year, any product that comes out of apple will have steve jobs finger on it. it will have his design sense. everything that is tied to jobs on it. and so the iphone for us that came out yesterday, he was definitely involved in that. there's no way this was something that was dreamed up a couple weeks ago. i think where the difference comes in is when you look at the presentation that took place yesterday at apple, it was different people that were on stage. it was usually steve jobs that was out there and he was invigorating the audience and he was getting people excited. that's when apple is going to have a hard time to do now. >> tim cook, the new leader,

he's known as a sole id leader. everyone suggests he doesn't have that innovative spark steve jobs has. how will this affect apple products down the road? >> that is the big question. i think one of the things steve did when he found out he was sick is he went through the and said, okay, we're going to figure out a way to set up the company to operate when i'm no longer here. he's done that. tim cook is an amazing genius at creating the products. you've got people like phil schiller who's the marketing genius. this long list of people. johnny ae is the design guy, working on products we won't see for a couple of years. i don't know who has taken over the role of the meticulous little design that jobs was really known for. there's a great story that he -- you know, he called up google one day before the iphone launched. it was a sunday afternoon. he was upset because google logo was one pixel off. it's something no one else would really see.

>> he was really into those details. people were amazed at the extent he would go. watching even the most remote little detail emerge. in a word or two, what do you think his legacy is going to be? >> i think he's just -- you know, he was a marketing genius. help knew how to make people -- i mean, yesterday i went to the event, right, in cupertino. there were trucks there with the cameramen and reporters and everything ready to report on this new iphone that was coming out. most other companies have to pay millions of dollars in advertising fees. the fact he was able to create this -- almost this magic around these products is definitely going to be his legacy. >> nick bilton of "the new york times," thanks very much. let's continue this discussion. the veteran media investor steve ratner. he recently wrote an article about great leaders and he certainly put jobs right at the top of his list. how great of a leader, steve, was he? >> i really wrote that piece because when steve jobs got sick

there was a discussion about how great of a leader he was. he was a great leader in the sense of having revolutionized all these industries and sectors we've just been talking about. he was a great leader in terms of his self-confidence and his conviction about his own case, his own judgment. and so that was the way he expressed his leadership. you had jack welch on a minute ago who was a different kind of a great leader. jack was a great corporate ceo who knew how to delegate. steve jobs was famous for his hands on nature, for his almost -- not almost, for his micromanagerial nature. the only thing i would say slightly in disagreement with what nick just said, he was a great marketer but he wasn't marketing air, he was marketing substance. he was marketing truly extraordinary innovative products. doing things nobody had ever done before. he managed to do it. >> it's always amazing to me that that company was broke,

what, 15 years ago, and he managed to turn it around into this incredible success. how did he do that? >> f. scott fitzgerald said there are no second acts in american lives and steve jobs proved fitzgerald wrong. of course he founded the company. he was pushed out in the early '80s by his handpicked successor. he went into kind of isolation. although he did do pixar and a few other things while he was there. and then in about 1997, when the company was almost broke but certainly way diminished, nobody would have bet anything on his chances for success, he came back. and as erin said, he took it from almost nothing to the second or first, depending on what day you looked at it, most valuable company on the planet. that's something nobody has ever done in history. not thomas edison, not jack welch, a great ceo. >> it's an amazing story. steve ratner, thanks very much. we're continuing the breaking news. steve jobs, dead at 56. the breaking news. we'll continue on "piers morgan tonight" right after this. [ male announcer ] what if we told you that cadillac

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we're following the breaking news. you're looking at apple headquarters in cupertino, california, a lot of sad people there, a lot of sad people all over the world. also, the apple store on fifth avenue in new york city. that store under renovation. look at this next picture. live pictures from the apple store in washington, d.c. this picture, by the way, brought to you by an ipad itself. the d.c. apple store. being shot on an ipad. we're watching all of this unfold. the president of the united states is watching it as well. the president, president obama, announcing just a little while

ago that he has a statement he'd like to read, he'd like us to read. let me read the statement from the president of the united states. michelle and i are saddened to learn of the passing of steve jobs. steve was among the greatest of american innovators. brave enough to think different differently. bold enough to believe he could change the world. and talented enough to do it. by building one of the planet's most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of american ingenuity. by making computers personal, he made the information not only accessible but intuitive and fun. he has brought joy to millions of children and grown-ups alike. steve was fond of saying he lived every day like it was his last. because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industry, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history. he changed the way each of us sees the world. finally, the president added, the world has lost a visionary and there may be no greater

tribute to steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. michelle and i send our thoughts and prayers to steve's wife lauren, his family and all those who loaf loved him. the statement from the president of the united states just released. our own piers morgan recently spoke to steve wozniak, the co-founder of apple computers. listen to what he said about his old friend, steve jobs. >> what was he like in those days? >> he was -- you know what, he was always interested -- every technical, electronic gadget there was in the world. he didn't exactly have the focus to actually sit down and design and build them himself. but he did build projects. like counted the number of cycles on a guitar screen so you could tune it right, a frequency counter. >> you were the guy who knew the tech stuff. >> after steve met me, and he compared ours what pranks we

pulled and what we'd done in electronics and i had just somewhat come up with this very strange genius computer design and i didn't think i'd ever have a job doing it. after steve met me, never tried to be the designer of the pair. he went more global. he always thought in terms of products. how are they going to affect people? it's not how do you connect a few chips together. what's are they going to do that's useful. like, that's sort of a selling point. it's sort of a marketing point. think of the end user. that really should always be number one. >> who would have been more successful if you hadn't met each other? >> steve jobs, definitely. i actually don't want any credit for starting the whole personal computer revolution. he's had products that i've had absolutely no involvement with. ipads and itune stores and retail story stores. and pixar. who could have so many successes, one after another, and really no failures? i think that echoes what jack was saying about him being the

most prominent business leader, especially in technology, of our time, probably century-type thinking. it's just too unbelievable. >> you're still an apple employee, aerren't you? >> i am still an apple employee. i receive a small paycheck. >> how much do you get? >> i think the check -- i don't even see it but i think it's a couple hundred bucks every few weeks. it really is small. it should be one dollar. i just want to be the person who can say he was on the payroll of the computer -- of apple's payroll computer for every day since the very start. >> do you have a snake take at n the company these days? >> my wife and i aren't big stock traders but we keep two stocks and it's apple and fuse io, where i work. >> in terms of what you know of him, what do you think he'd like the legacy to be? >> giving mankind the most useful helpful tools we've ever had in our history. the ones we would enjoy the

most. the ones we not only use but we love, come to love, like a human being. important step to getting those computers closer to human beings. >> was the computer, is that going to be the greatest invention of, you know, the last millennium? >> it's hard to say. a computer used to be a device on its own and we've gone so far beyond that. to make devices that actually do what we want to do. download a song. play a song. well, yeah, every device in the world has a computer inside. a small computer. tons of programming. tons of hardware. billions more parts than we had when we started apple. so it's -- you could call it a computer. things that -- i could call my iphone a computer. it is. it's the greatest computer ever. but it's not in the same sense a computer was when we started the company. i think we've gone beyond that and it's just computerized tech foly really. it's just today's modern devices for making mankind more -- making the individual more powerful. they can do more things with their life they want to do. >> i've got three sons who are

all computer crazy. they spend -- even the 10-year-old's on world of war craft days at a time. there is a slight negative. you guys, you and steve and bill gates and other, you basically taken the world's children, you've stuck them into little darkened rooms and they should be out playing soccer and stuff like that, shouldn't they? >> i don't think we could stop the effect of the future, the future we created. giving them devices. a lot of kid, yes, seem to get addicted like you get addicted to drugs. there's a lot of different types of learning in this world. you can go to school and be educated or you can go out on the street and talk to people. you can ask questions. when steve went to college -- i drove him up to his first day on college. they gave him a sheet telling him what classes. he didn't want to take their classes. he just wanted to go and attend fanciful classes on shakespeare, quantum physics. he didn't go to the classes they

gave him. he didn't necessarily drop out -- >> his independence -- >> there are different ways of learning. even video games can be types of learning. logical approaches. people would say computer logic, what does that ever teach you in life? it really leads you to a lot of the decisions you'll make. >> was knunfortunately, we have report the breaking news, in case you're just tuning in, steve job, 56 years old, passed away today. he changed technology, maybe the technology you're using right now. much more on steve jobs when we come back. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. your core competency is...competency. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm getting an upgrade. [ male announcer ] as you wish, business pro. as you wish. go national. go like a pro.

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on the left of your screen, cupertino, california, the headquarters of apple. on the right, washington, d.c., an apple store, picture of the washington, d.c. apple store being shot by an ipad itself. people all over the world, not just in california or washington, all over the world, are mourning the death of steve jobs. 56 years old. he changed the way so many of us live right now, including the leader of the free world. let's talk a little about it, what's going on. gloria borger is joining us. also, our cnn contributor hillary rozen who used to run the recording industry association of america. she knows a lot about steve jobs and his impact on music. the president just issued a beautiful statement, expressing his deepest regrets on the loss of steve jobs. but his life has been influenced directly by steve jobs. >> it sure has, wolf. you know, just on monday, george stephanopoulos of abc interviewed the president and

asked the president about which websites he surfs. take a listen to what the president said. >> i read a lot of newspapers that i used to read in print i now read on the web. >> ipad or just -- >> i've got an ipad. and steve jobs actually gave it to me a little bit early. >> well, that's pretty cool. >> yeah, it was cool. i got it directly from him. >> there's -- wolf, there's a little story behind that, because the president hosted a dinner for silicon valley big wigs sometime in mid-february and steve schmidt of google was there steve jobs was there. and the president we think may have been given his ipad 2 a little bit early, before it was officially introduced in march. and so the president is someone who's talked an awful lot about how he likes his blackberry and he does have an ipod and so it was pretty clear that steve jobs thought, you know, this was a moment to give the president an

ipad which, as you can hear, he seemed to like pretty well. >> hilary rosen is with us as well. talk a little bit about how steve jobs changed the way all of us listened to music. >> well, you know, steve was a huge music fan. that really drove so much of what he did. he created the ipod actually several years before he created the itunes music store. but we, you know, he came to me at some point in 2002 and said that he was going to create the best online music experience ever and that was a time, as you recall, when the music industry was suffering, you know, overwhelming amounts of file sharing and illegal downloads. but steve really cared about artists. he cares about us moo music. he cared about consumers getting a great experience. he spent a long time working with record companies, with

artists, getting people to buy into this vision that he had. and, you know, nobody but the charismatic steve jobs could have achieved that. >> yeah, music video, telecommunications, everything, he seemed to have a powerful impact. >> he was -- >> go ahead. >> he wasn't just kind of the big things. i remember i was driving into the studio today recalling a meeting, sitting with him where he was kind of showing me the latest version of the itunes music store. this was before its launch. there was just like this little bit of lettering underneath some section and he said to the designer would was sitting with us, you know, i think i want that to be green instead of black. you know, he was just the most involved in every single little design detail of virtually every product. and, you know, itunes and the ipod was no exception.

it was unbelievably impressive. >> let me just point out what the president himself said tonight. i'll just read that one line. president obama saying the world has lost a visionary and there may be no greater tribute to steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. there you see the president and the vice president looking at one of those devices. all right, we're going to have much more on the incredible life of steve jobs. i'll speak with one of his top executives of apple.

apple headquarters in california. people are mourning there. also here in the nation's capital at the apple store. people all over the world are mourning the loss of steve jobs. leo lee port is the host of tech guy radio show on premier radio networks. he's the founder of his own internet-based technology network, this week in tech. he's interviewed steve jobs many times. what goes through your mind on

this sad day? >> you know, we were so prepared for this. we knew it was coming. yet, it's still such a shock and it's so sad. i'm really trying to focus on celebrating his life. this is a guy wouldive ivlived life exactly as he wanted to. woz said that steve exceeded every goal he set for himself. he's a guy who lived his dreams and changed our life as a result. >> what made him so amazing? was it his education? was it his family? was it his background? growing up in california? there must have been some spark there that created this genius. >> what are the ingredients that makes somebody like that? he was a college dropout. it wasn't his education. i think there was something inside him that drove him to exceed. he didn't care what other people thought. he cared about making great stuff. and he succeeded. every step of the way. he stumbled occasionally. made mistakes. he wandered in the wilderness

after being fired at apple. yet he kept coming back. i think it was his extraordinary drive that really made him the man he is or was. >> in your interviews, what was he like as a person? was he easy to get along with? did he like to chat? was he simply focused on technology? >> steve was very focused. famous story of him coming into a conference room and somebody starting to chat about the weekend and him saying, can we raise the tone of conversation here? he was a get to work guy. when steve walked into the room, it was really apparent immediately he knew he was the smartest guy in the room. usually he was absolutely right. he was down to earth. later, in the last few year, he really didn't do very many interviews. he didn't trust the press. he didn't like the press. he wanted to control, very tightly control, the image of apple, and his own image. he was a control freak. in every sense of the word. and yet he inspired us all. i mean, without steve jobs, you wonder, where's the excitement

going to come from in this industry. >> it's a good question. leo, thanks very much. erin burnett is still with us. erin, you covered this story, this technology story, for a long time over at cnbc. did you ever have a chance to sit down with steve jobs? >> i met him but i really never had a chance to actually interview him. i wish i had. it was always a dream of mine. you know, i was actually out in sun valley, idaho, this summer, a get-together of a lot of tech ceos. his name was on the list. i thought to myself, oh, he's been so sick, is he really going to be there? of course, he didn't end up being there. i remember checking that list and calling apple to see -- steve dowling, over at apple, who has been an apple aficionado, but he wasn't there. it really has been, as i was saying before, my experience around the world -- you know, i was talking about shanghai where iphone seems to be synonymous with the wordchildren, but

everywhere where i've been recently, southeast eaasia, eve pakistan, the iphone is one thing that only has good associations with america. people see it and they love it and they want it and they want that dream. and it always made me really proud as an american to have apple be something that was a little bit mine because i was an american and it was an american company. >> american institution that has changed the world. thanks, erin. andy surwur is joining us, editor of "fortune" magazine. what will happen to p apple now? >> there's been speculation about that for a while, wolf. part of what steve was doing over the last several years as he declined and was well wa ware of that was he was setting up apple for this unhappy day. obvious obviously tim cook has now been the ceo for a little bit. there's a whole other deep bench for the company that has been waiting to fill his had shoes.

they're very big shoes. the shoes can't be filled. i mean, this is a once in it a century type of person. you were talking earlier about how important he was. he was the most innovative ceo of our time. owe may not have been the best ceo because on a personal level he had failings when it came to interacting with people, for instance. but in terms of creativity and innovation, unparalleled. we'll never see anyone like him again in our lifetime. i will tell you that for sure. the company will go along fine for a number of years, no doubt. it's sort of a borg, a machine. it's set up. but we don't know had what this machine company will be like five years from now. it's had an incredible run, one of the most valuable companies in the world up there with exxon and walmart. can that continue? i would say over time it can't continue, but right now it's positioned beautifully and steve wanted it that dway.

one of his last wishes was to create a lasting legacy. there will be incredible new headquarters in p coupe oor tee know, california, they're going to build which will be an amazing tribute to him. >> can are we simply assume the value of apple stock will go down now/. >> well, the fact he's been very, very sick is sort of priced into the stock, as they say, wolf, which means people have been anticipating it for so long now. will the stock go down tomorrow? probably. what will it do days from now? i don't know. no one knows. you know, when something is that high you say to yourself, well, there's only one way to, down. it's the short way of saying you don't know. you wouldn't bet on this run continuing, particularly since he's not there, over the longer haul. >> sad day indeed. andy, thanks very much. we'll take another quick break. continue the breaking news. look at this live picture of the

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>> someone's brought flowers over to the apple store in washington, d.c. steve jobs unfortunately dead. joe brown is the editor and cheap of gizmoto.com. he's followed steve's legacy over the years. what do you think? the world has clearly changed as a result of steve jobs, joe. >> yeah. the world changed when he was alive and now it will change now he's gone. the world will never be the same. he's the person who really shapeded way we use technology the way we do today. he made the computer personal. he made the p smartphone fun and i don't think it's overstating it to say this is the guy who will be considered to be our leonardo when we look back on this. this person made the leaps no one even thought were possible. >> it's an amazing story. you got to know him over the years and i think you're in this business now because of him, is that right? >> yeah the i don't think i would be do this if it wasn't for him. he made technology cool, made it interesting, made more than just the province of math and

science. i'm an english person and a technologi technologist. it's amazing to think about it, science from just for science to for everybody. people like him and very specifically him made me realize it's something that i could do and i could contribute to. >> i think you're doing it. a lot of people feel just like you do, joe. thanks very much. susan candiotti is over at the apple flagship store on fifth avenue in new york city. what's happening over there, susan? >> reporter: also a busy place here as people who admired steve jobs stopping by, leaving flowers and signs as well. this is where people have been camping out for more than a week to buyed new iphone 4s. joining us is keenan thompson, one of the people first in line to buy that new iphone. how did you hear about the death? >> i got a tweet from my friend. at fist i didn't believe it because of the rumors a few weeks ago that he died. that turned out to be false.

soy said no way. i looked deeper into twitter and i found out it was in fact true. >> reporter: what does his loss mean to you? >> it means a different apple for me. i don't know how apple will change exactly. i'm sure tim will carry apple througho throughout, but there will never be another steve. >> reporter: what attracted you to steve jobs and to the apple products? >> it was just simplicity overall. 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. >> reporter: i don't know whether people realize you're a social media manager, you managed blogs. you're only 21 years old. you bought your first apple product at what age? >> 14. my first ipod was at 14, my next purchase was thei ibook the next

year. >> reporter: you'll be faithful to the product. >> i you will. >> reporter: back to you, wolf. >> thanks, susan. a poignant from steve jobs in 2005 at stanford's commencement address. >> no one wants to die. even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. and yet death is the destination we all share. no one has ever escaped it. and that is as it should be because death is very likely the single best invention of life. it's life's change agent. it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now the new is you. but someday not too long from now you will gradually beme the old and be cleared away. sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life. don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking.