One day after the launch of the iPhone 4S, Apple’s charismatic co-founder and longstanding CEO Steve Jobs passed away at age 56 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. His death marked a turning point for Apple, prompting many to ask whether the world’s most valuable company could keep growing.

This is Day 13 of 30 Days of iPhone, a look at the moments that shaped the smartphone era .

Steve Jobs And The First Life Of The iPhone

Tributes from across the consumer electronics and business worlds sat alongside makeshift memorials around Apple Stores worldwide, demonstrating Jobs’s impact on the world. The smartphone was a commodity, but many saw the iPhone as a lifestyle, a lifestyle that had Jobs as the father figure. How would Apple sustain the innovation that had led to this point without his guidance?

Apple entered a period of mourning, temporarily closing stores and hosting private remembrance services for employees. The connection between the workforce and Jobs was incredibly strong. Moving on through this grief would be a challenge for Tim Cook, who had been appointed Apple CEO two months previously .

The Tim Cook iPhone Era and Apple’s Strategic Transformation

As Chief Operating Officer, Cook oversaw worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end supply chain management. Strategic supplier and reseller relationships all flowed through Cook. Rather than replicate a single-person genius CEO, Cook focused on operational efficiency .

Cook maintained the same hardware-software integration Jobs established with the iPhone, adding wearables like the Apple Watch and AirPods to the product mix. This tight core of accessories meant the community had little reason to look elsewhere. The introduction of software services accelerated Apple’s revenue, with new income streams sitting alongside the iPhone’s growth.

Steve Jobs was the brainstorming ideas man who came along at the right time. Tim Cook built on that vision with ruthless efficiency, shifting Apple’s corporate trajectory toward the second decade of the 21st century.

This is Day 13 of 30 Days of iPhone. Yesterday, we looked at the impact and promise of AI that Siri failed to deliver .