Steve Jobs was honored online and off Wednesday as tributes poured into a memorial website set up by Apple for its late co-founder and shops closed temporarily as workers celebrated his life.
Doors were locked and curtains drawn at Apple Stores to allow retail store employees to tune into a private memorial being held in an amphitheater at the company's headquarters in the northern California city of Cupertino. Shops reopened at noon, two hours after the event began.
Employees from Apple satellite offices streamed to the main campus to honor the man who altered modern life with iPhones, iPods, iPads and Macintosh computers.
Video streamed from a news helicopter showed a central courtyard at Apple headquarters packed with people.
Messages evidently fired off on Twitter by people at the memorial claimed that music stars Coldplay and Norah Jones performed in honor of Jobs.
"Cold Play & Norah Jones @InfiniteLoop," the brief message concluded, the tag an apparent reference to Apple headquarters' street address of One Infinite Loop.
The celebration in memory of Jobs reportedly ended with a rendition of the Randy Newman song "You've Got a Friend in Me" featured in the blockbuster film "Toy Story" made by Pixar, a studio created by Jobs.
The Internet buzzed with word of Apple stores around the world temporarily closing to let employees watch live streams of the memorial at which Jobs's usually poised successor led a heartfelt remembrance of the visionary.
At the Apple Store in Georgetown, in the US capital of Washington, white curtains were drawn to prevent onlookers from seeing inside. A white sign stated the shop would be closed for three hours, with no explanation why.
Meanwhile, people around the globe were given an online outlet for their grief at a "Remembering Steve" website at apple.com/stevejobs.
Publisher Simon & Schuster on Monday will release "Steve Jobs," pre-orders of which rocketed after the beloved Apple co-founder's death.
