But game publishers are already looking at the future. They know their mostly young, male fans are dedicated console gamers but demographics such as female and older audiences are harder to target.

This machine will soon reflect your personality, beliefs, talents’ even your favourite colour. So if you aren’t crazy about the giant Mac smiley face or the scenes straight out of Innerspace, you’ll want a new desktop pattern or picture.

If the CEO of any other multinational company fell ill, it wouldn’t generate such comment — compared to Jobs, they’re interchangeable suit-wearing lawyers, politicians and number crunchers who flit from one company, regulator and law firm to another and back again.