A woman sticks a Post-it note on a window at a memorial for the late Steve Jobs, co-founder and former chief executive officer of Apple Inc, outside a company store in New York on Thursday. {Photo / Agencies}

The death of charismatic CEO will fuel demand, say industry experts

SAN FRANCISCO - In the end, Steve Jobs left the world to his own devices.

As macabre as it might seem, Jobs' death on Wednesday will only add to the mystique of Apple Inc, and its profits. The iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac will, no doubt, get a sales boost as consumers pay the ultimate tribute to one of the creative geniuses of the United States.

That could be especially true for the latest iPhone, which is scheduled to go on sale on Oct 14. The lines were going to be long anyway, but now there are bound to be even more people clambering for the iPhone 4S - the last device to be unveiled while Jobs was alive.

It's a commercial phenomenon that has happened many times before, most recently when Michael Jackson's sales rocketed after the pop singer died in 2009.

"Steve Jobs was a rock star, someone on the scale of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison," said Steven Osinski, a marketing professor at San Diego State University. "I think it's very likely there is going to be an upsurge in Apple's sales for a while."

Anything designed by a revered figure invariably becomes a hotter commodity after their death, said Michael Bernacchi, a marketing professor at the University of Detroit Mercy.

"These products have significant emotional value, they have sentimental value, they're connected, if you will, to the bloodstream of the person who's likely to be the purchaser," Bernacchi said. "There's a certain nostalgic value attached to that.

"Mr Jobs really continues to exist in a much different manner through these products," Bernacchi said.

It can't hurt that many of Apple's 357 stores have already turned into shrines, attracting people who want to mourn together. It's not hard to imagine some of them wandering into the stores and buying an iPad or Mac.

Consider the scene on Thursday at Apple's San Francisco store.

A memorial of flowers lined the sidewalk and handwritten notes were plastered on the window. One read: "You made the world a better place." Another proclaimed "hungry and foolish 4 ever", a nod to one of Jobs' favorite sayings.

Inside the store, it was business as usual. Upbeat rock music played, and shoppers clustered around the iPad display.

Javier Martinez, a medical doctor vacationing from Spain, passed by and snapped pictures of the scene with his iPhone 4. Although he has no immediate plans to buy the new version, he is committed to continue buying the products that are a testament to Jobs' genius.

"He's dead, but his soul is alive," Martinez said. "He was the soul of an idea for many people who want to do things better, differently."

Investors believe it will remain business as usual at Apple. The technolgy company's shares dipped only slightly on the first day of trading after Jobs' death, down 88 cents on Thursday to $377.37.

The sedate reaction represents a vote of confidence in the management team that Jobs assembled to carry out his vision. In his final years, Jobs increasingly shared the stage with his lieutenants in a move that signaled that Apple wasn't just a one-man show.

AP