Despite knowing he was dying, Steve Jobs worked for more than a year on the products that he believed would safeguard the company's future.
It was also revealed today that Jobs fought hard to get plans approved for a spaceship-style company headquarters in California.
It will be big enough to hold 12,000 employees in a park-like setting near the existing base in Cupertino. He appeared at a town council meeting in June to plead for the planning go ahead.
Jobs had a part-time job working for Hewlett Packard at the site when he was 13 and he ensured Apple bought the land when it became available.
He has also been overseeing the development of the delayed iCloud project, which will allow Apple users to store their music, photos and other documents remotely and masterminding updated versions of the iPod, iPad, iPhone and MacBooks, ensuring at least four years worth of products are in the pipeline, according to Apple sources.
Pre-order sales of the first authorised biography of Steve Jobs increased by a staggering 44,000 per cent.
