Consumerism and commiseration shared some common ground Thursday, as the Eaton Centre Apple Store was turned into a makeshift memorial for Steve Jobs.
As staff did brisk business inside, mourners left flowers, candles, apples, and even old iPods at the foot of the store window for the Apple co-founder, who died Wednesday at the age of 56 after a battle with cancer. Post-It notes and pens were laid out at the door so Jobs’s followers could leave personalized tributes, many of them in the techno slang that his products inspired.
“iPhone4(Steve)” read one note posted on the Apple Store window. “You ?’d my world” wrote another follower, using the mathematical symbol for change.
“Steve made the world look different,” said Giri, a 21-year-old York University student who left a tribute to Jobs. “I really wanted to thank him.”
Another young man who left a note said he was a musician, and that the products Jobs invented helped revolutionize the way artists work and gain access to their audience. “I was really saddened when I heard he died,” he said. “He’s done a lot for many different industries, including music.”
Apple employees wouldn’t say how long the memorial will be allowed to stay up.
