Who will be the next Steve Jobs?

SAN FRANCISCO - Since the day in 1977 that he introduced the Apple II, the world looked to Steve Jobs for leadership on computing, technology and design.

On Thursday, admirers and competitors alike awoke to a sobering new reality - a world where the oft-asked question "What would Steve do?" was giving gave way to the wistful "What would Steve have done?"

Jobs' death last week at age 56 leaves a void unlikely to be filled by one person, historians and analysts said. The Apple co-founder's ability to envision new markets and seemingly will them into existence was without peer.

"I don't think in the history of the computing business, possibly in American business, there has been someone who was a tastemaker, an evangelist, and a technologist, all at the same level," said Chris Garcia, curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

It is not for lack of trying. Any number of forward-thinking technologists are waiting in the wings:

Jeff Bezos continues to expand Amazon.com in sales and ambition, recently unveiling a tablet computer widely expected to become the iPad's first credible challenger for market share.

Mark Zuckerberg is quickly transforming Face-book into the Internet's central hub for connecting people and sharing content, and has recently shown off both improved presentation skills and a stronger focus on product design.

Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin remain consummate Silicon Valley technologists, continually refining the world's best search engine while pursuing left-field innovations in lunar exploration and self-driving automobiles.

Jack Dorsey took on the Jobsian challenge of running two companies at once: Where Jobs had Apple and Pixar, Dorsey has top roles at Twitter and mobile-payments startup Square, both of which have grown rapidly while keeping a sharp focus on product design.

Then there are the deputies Jobs left behind at Apple, from CEO Tim Cook to design chief Jony Ive. With a Jobs-approved product road map that stretches through 2015, analysts say, Apple's days as a taste-maker need not necessarily be behind it. In Jobs' last years at the company, he reportedly instituted an executive training program known as Apple University, designed to instill his values and product sense into every corner of the company. With Jobs now gone, his successors' moves will be watched with even greater scrutiny.

Princess Diana?

Yet even among those running the largest tech companies in the world, no other CEO has managed to capture the public imagination like Jobs did. The global reaction to his death, as measured by the memorials found at Apple Stores around the world on Thursday, has drawn comparisons to the outpouring of grief that followed the death of Princess Diana.

To view him as a mere technology figure likely undervalues his contributions to the world, saidSteve Blank, an entrepreneur and Silicon Valley historian.

"Jobs transcended Silicon Valley in the last five years," said Blank, a lecturer at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. "He became the standard by which every CEO in the 21st century will be measured. Forget who's better in Silicon Valley - who was a better corporate CEO at any other company on the planet?"

Blank pointed to Apple's stock price, which increased by more than 400 percent in the past five years, and Jobs' model of continuous revolution inside the company, where new products like the iPhone and iPad were launched even though they ate into sales of iPods and laptop computers.

"There are billions of people who don't even know where Silicon Valley is who know Steve Jobs' name," Blank said. "Ninety percent of the people who are feeling bad right now can't even find Cupertino on a map. Yet his company's market cap is the biggest in the world. What other conversation do we need to have?"

Silicon Valley

And yet while Jobs' loss will be felt around the world, on Thursday it was being felt most acutely at home.

"For Silicon Valley, he has, in many ways, been the star around which we all orbit," Jonathan Schwartz, former CEO of Sun Microsystems, wrote in a tribute to Jobs posted on his blog. "His absence is disorienting. I can't think of a better way of describing it."

Finance ministry to reopen assessments of taxpayers with secret foreign assets

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry is considering reopening assessments of taxpayers found to possessundisclosed foreign assets and bank accounts to up to 16 years as against six years now.

"We are examining allowing opening up of reassessment to up to 16 years to verify older information and establish money trail, it is necessary to have a provision for opening of older assessment," said a finance ministry official.

A government panel on black money has pitched for reopening assessments of such taxpayers as part of the measures to tackle black money. The official explained that such a law will also help the government secure information under its revised tax treaties such as the one with Switzerland.

iPhone 4S pre-orders sell out

Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S sold out in the first day of availability, according to shipping estimates on Apple's Web site.

The iPhone 4S went on pre-order in the predawn hours on Friday. Carrier AT&T called it its most successful iPhone launch ever, with more than 200,000 orders in the first 12 hours.

Users looking to pre-order the iPhone 4S now are seeing shipping estimates of one to two weeks.

• STORY: Apple announces iPhone 4S

• COLUMN: iPhone 4S: Cool camera, voice control

Customers can still get an iPhone 4S this coming Friday, though, if they wait in line at an Apple Store or at other retail partners.

Those who were able to pre-order the phone Friday will get it delivered to them this coming Friday.

The ordering process was marred with some of the hiccups that have become typical for an iPhone launch. Customers struggled to connect to Apple.com, especially when the site tried to connect to the carriers' servers to access the buyer's account.

Apple used a new triage system that offered a confirmation to customers that an iPhone had been reserved for them but said that they'd have to come back to finish their order when the account could be accessed.

Verizon customers reported an easier time ordering through the carrier's Web site on Friday morning.

The iPhone 4S features a better camera, faster processor and Siri, a new digital personal assistant. It is available to customers on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.

Apple's next mobile operating system, iOS 5, will be released Wednesday as a free download.

Pelosi Supports Occupy Wall Street Movement

House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she supports the growing nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, which began on the streets of downtown New York City in mid-September.

"I support the message to the establishment, whether it's Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest, that change has to happen," said Pelosi in an exclusive interview with ABC News "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour. "We cannot continue in a way this is not relevant to their lives."

Pelosi sees the protestors' anger stemming from unemployment, which remains above 9 percent.

Pelosi added that the failure of TARP, commonly known as the bank bailout, to add liquidity to the Main Street marketplace is fueling Americans' animosity towards Wall Street.

"The thought was that when we did that [pass TARP], there would be capital available and Main Street would benefit from the resources that went largely to Wall Street," said Pelosi. "That didn't happen. People are angry."

President Obama is hoping to remedy the struggling economy with his proposed $447 billion American Jobs Bill, which is a combination of tax breaks and spending on infrastructure. Obama has touted the bill as the country's insurance policy against a double-dip recession.

"We've needed jobs for awhile," Pelosi added. "What he [the president] is proposing is job creating. And it's really important for him to explain what this is about, or at least keep saying it over and over."

The proposed American Jobs Bill is still awaiting a vote on the Senate floor on Tuesday. Pelosi said she thinks that the bill will get the majority of Senate Democrats' support. But with a few Democrats still on the fence and significant Republican opposition, it's anticipated that the bill will not pass.

"Whether one or two members, Democrats, vote for it or not, we'll see," said Pelosi. "But they have to be allowed to bring the bill up. And the obstruction is not from the Democrats, it's from the Republicans."

The gridlock on Capitol Hill has the vast majority of Americans dissatisfied with Congress. Only 14 percent of Americans approve of Congress' performance, according to the latest Washington Post/ABC news poll released last Wednesday.

Pelosi said she includes herself in the group of Americans dissatisfied with Congress.

"Count me among those ... who object to the way Congress is conducting itself," said Pelosi. "We have a responsibility to try to find common ground."

At times, such common ground can seem to be a long shot. Last Wednesday, Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., called the Occupy Wall Street protest a "growing mob."

Pelosi lashed back at Cantor, saying that American democracy allows for public expression.

"How they characterize someone who may disagree with them, that says more about them," said Pelosi.

Pelosi: America in 'Abusive Relationship' With China

Pelosi affirmed her strong support for the bipartisan China Currency Bill, which is designed to take away benefits for Chinese products because of China's undervaluing of its own currency.

A final vote on the legislation is scheduled for Tuesday.

In an effort to balance what supporters see as an unfair advantage for Chinese manufacturers and a loss for U.S. companies, Pelosi said she wants to put an end to China's manipulation of its currency.

"We're in an abusive relationship with China when it comes to trade -- whether it's the policy of our intellectual property, lack of market access for our products [or] manipulation of their currency," said Pelosi.

She added that the manipulation of currency has a direct impact on the U.S. economy and hinders how well American products compete in a global market.

"We have to make sure that we're not losing a million jobs on a technicality of manipulating currency," Pelosi said. "They certainly are looking out for their workers. We have to look out for ours."