Obama Meets With Tech Leaders Including Steve Jobs

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs, on medical leave from the company he co-founded, attended a meeting of technology industry leaders with US President Barack Obama in northern California on Thursday.

Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, was joined by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and other members of the Silicon Valley elite for talks with Mr Obama at a venture capitalist's sprawling estate outside San Francisco.

Mr Jobs, 55, a high-tech visionary who has come to embody Apple's turbulent history and some of the industry's most cutting-edge products, stepped away from the company on medical leave last month. It was the third time in seven years that he has taken time out because of health reasons.

Mr Obama's two-day West Coast visit was aimed at promoting technological innovation to help boost the struggling US economy and reduce stubbornly high unemployment - considered crucial to his 2012 re-election chances.

Mr Obama met with 12 leaders from technology companies and discussed ways to work together to invest in innovation and promote private sector job growth, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said after the meeting.