He was simply a (very good) businessman. This probably isn't the best thread to go into it, but Apple was but one of several other systems that 'ushered in' the age of the home computer, alongside highly successful systems such as the Amstrad PCXXX, the ZX Spectrum, the Commodore 64 and the mothersmurfing IBM PC. Steve Jobs didn't even work for Apple at this point after it almost went bankrupt, and didn't return until over ten years later.

MP3 players and capacitive touch screens had been around for years before the iPod and the iPhone became popular gadgets. Tablet PCs had been tried and failed god knows how many times twenty years before the iPad. Jobs just had the marketing prowess and business sense to find a way of getting Apple hardware into the status quo and turn it into a fashionable brand for the non-techie geek or tie-wearing office worker. That was his greatest success.

I'm not by any means trying to bash the guy, but let's just get some perspective. The fact that his death has hit home to so many is testament to the power of his marketing reach ('cult of personality' would be a bit sharp, but consider, would Bill Gates, a man who achieved just as much in the field of IT, be getting the same response?).