Apple's mystique may grow with Steve Jobs' death

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

As macabre as it might seem, Jobs' death Wednesday will only add to the Apple mystique - and profit. The iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac will, no doubt, get a sales boost as consumers pay the ultimate tribute to one of America's creative geniuses.

That could be especially true for the latest iPhone, scheduled to go on sale 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 album and song 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 revered figures invariably become hotter commodities 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.