CUPERTINO, United States, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- For 62-year-old Kathy Corby, a 45-minute drive to Apple's headquarters, an office complex dubbed "mothership" by Apple fans, is a natural way to pay tribute to Steve Jobs, the legendary co-founder of Apple who passed away Wednesday.
"Steve built this place and he brought these people together. And I know he loved it, he was here a lot and he walked on these sidewalks," she told Xinhua.
"I think his spirit will be here for a while," said Corby, who drove more than 30 miles (48 km) from Santa Cruz, California, to join dozens of Apple fans mourning the death of the former Apple CEO.
Corby learned the news from the web page of The New York Times on her iPad, an Apple device which she always takes with her at work as an emergency room doctor.
Apple on Wednesday announced that Jobs, who had been struggling with pancreatic cancer in recent years, passed away earlier in the day at the age of 56.
"I felt like the world was a darker place, like some of the magic and wonder had gone out of it. I was very sad that he died so young," said Corby.
Outside the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Corby displayed on her iPad a black-and-white picture of Jobs on the Apple website among flowers, cards, candles and even an iPhone case dedicated by mourners.
Apple fans including Corby hailed how Apple's products, developed under the leadership of Jobs, have changed their life and work.
"His ability to see the future two or three decades ago, and bring us where we are right now, where anyone can talk to anyone else on the face of the earth who happens to have an Apple device, I think that's wonderful," Corby said.
Peter Aguilar, a sales person at a Tiffany store who lived in San Jose, said Jobs has affected his life profoundly through the Macintosh computer, the iPod media player and the iPhone cell phone that he has used.
"He just changed the way that I play, communicate with my friend and work of course," Aguilar said.
"I've been a big fan of the way he built all those products, the culture that he instilled, and the passion that he had," he added.
Apple's loss of its visionary soul has raised concerns over whether the company can keep the innovative spirit in the post-Jobs era.
"He probably left his ideas for other people to work on, and I think that people at Apple are going to do that," Corby said.
