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Fans still holding vigil for Steve Jobs outside Apple Store (photo gallery)

Apple fans are nowhere near done paying their respects to the man who arguably jump-started the smartphone revolution.

Dozens of fans are still gathering at the Apple retail store in New York City and across the country to pay their respects to Steve Jobs, the company’s former chief executive officer, who passed away on Wednesday at age 56. Some left notes, some left flowers, some left apples and personal messages. A security official on staff outside the Apple Store said that was the largest the crowd had grown to so far. When Jobs died, many also converged on Apple’s campus in Cupertino, Calif., and left flowers and tributes at Jobs’ house in Palo Alto, Calif.

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Jobs was known as a visionary, creating products that he knew people would be fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on. They were products you didn’t even know you needed: the tablet market was basically non-existent before the introduction of the iPad, and the iPhone is now one of the most popular smartphones in the world and is an industry standard. Jobs arguably jump-started the smartphone revolution with the iPhone and its associated App Store. “It’s a phone, it’s an iPod, and it’s an Internet communicator — are you getting it yet?” he said on stage when he unveiled the iPhone.

President Barack Obama said perhaps Jobs’ greatest tribute to his success was that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. It might be an even greater tribute that all the events honoring his life have been documented by those same tools. Many people present at the vigils were sending tweets, emailing, calling, taking photos or messaging friends — on their iPhones.

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“There are few people who could build something so successful and so magical and do more than (Jobs,)” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told me. “It’s humbling as an entrepreneur, more than anything else, to see what he’s done.”

A woman sits on the steps outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store after taking several photos.
A half-eaten apple, another tribute to Jobs, sits outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
A man takes a photo of the flowers and gifts left in honor of Jobs outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
A woman takes an image of the vigil left for Steve Jobs with her iPad outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
Dozens of flower bouquets and apples stood on the stairs outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
Some fans left written poems or notes, like a paper that read "iSad" outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
A number of fans left signs and pictures in honor of Jobs outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
Most left either flowers, apples or photos outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
A man takes a photo of the various notes and flowers left outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
Another woman takes a photo of the vigil outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
A woman takes a photo of the flowers and photos left outside New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple store.
A New York resident takes a picture of the various things left at the vigil outside the Apple Store.
Even smartphone owners that run Google's mobile operating system, Android, were present at the vigil.
An Apple fan takes a shot of the crowd outside the Apple Store with an iPhone.
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[Photo credit: Matthew Lynley]

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