California Governor Jerry Brown upgraded a tweet to a proclamation yesterday, officially declaring today as “Steve Jobs Day” across the state in a stronger capacity than a mere 140-character (or less) message could provide.
The full text of Brown’s proclamation is below:
“In his life and work, Steve Jobs embodied the California dream. To call him influential would be an understatement. His innovations transformed an industry, and the products he conceived and shepherded to market have changed the way the entire world communicates. Most importantly, his vision helped put powerful technologies, once the exclusive domain of big business and government, in the hands of ordinary consumers. We have only just begun to see the outpouring of creativity and invention that this democratization of technology has made possible.
It is fitting that we mark this day to honor his life and achievements as a uniquely Californian visionary. He epitomized the spirit of a state that an eager world watches to see what will come next.”
Today also marks the first larger-scale memorial for Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, but it’s not a service that just any member of the public will be allowed to attend – or even know about, for that matter. Invitations were sent out last week to members of Silicon Valley’s “elite,” as well as various connected executives in the greater technological circuit, for today’s evening memorial at Stanford University. But the actual location of the memorial at Stanford, as well as its contents, has not been made public.
A recent tip from an undisclosed source interviewed by Reuters suggests that Lee Jae-Young, president and chief operating officer of Apple rival Samsung Electronics, will be in attendance for the event. Apple and Samsung have been battling one another in courtrooms worldwide over alleged patent infringements between Samsung’s tablets and Apple’s iPads.
One additional “public” memorial is also planned for this week. But the Wednesday morning gathering at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California is, like the Stanford event, not open to the actual public – only Apple employees will be convening outdoors at 10 a.m. to reminisce about Jobs’ life.
That said, Jobs’ death earlier this month hasn’t gone without its share of public tribute. Apple stores worldwide have been bombarded with messages, flowers, candles, and geekier tributes to the late Apple CEO. Apple’s homepage remains in tribute to the late co-founder, and fans are asked to send their stories and other notes to a [email protected] email address.
