Legendary Apple CEO Steve jobs resigned on Wednesday, citing health concerns and his inability to meet his duties and expectations as Apple's CEO.

His retirement was not a complete surprise given his three medical leaves, nearly decade-long battle with pancreatic cancer, and liver transplant in 2009.

But in resigning, he marked the end of an era at Apple - the company he co-founded in 1976 - during which he took it from its dismay loss in the computer market to becoming one the largest companies in the world.

In the process, Jobs transformed the space for consumer electronics.

There were portable music players before Apple, but the iPod transformed the market and created more demand for it. The iPhone shook the cell phone industry. The iPad effectively created the tablet market.

Upon his retirement, effusive praises and accolades have poured in for the Apple CEO. Below are some of them.

Steve Jobs is the greatest business leader of our time. He'll be remembered for 100 years. To think that I knew somebody who became the most important person in the world. It's actually - it's kind of stunning - Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder.

Steve Jobs is the most successful CEO in the U.S. of the last 25 years. He uniquely combined an artist's touch and an engineer's vision to build an extraordinary company, one of the greatest American leaders in history - Eric Schmidt of Google

Steve Jobs is the greatest leader our industry has ever known. It's the end of an era - Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com

Still unimaginable: that Jobs was the most important person in personal technology both in 1978 and in 2011 - Harry McCracken of Technologizer.

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