The death of Apple founder Steve Jobs is being felt strongly in Asia, where the products he pioneered are largely made and immensely popular.

Millions of tributes to Jobs appeared Thursday on microblog sites in China, where members of the world's largest on-line community routinely line up for days to purchase each new Apple product. Copyright pirates have not only cloned iPhones and iPads but even opened counterfeit Apple stores.

In Beijing, 20-year-old university student Li Zilong worried that without Jobs, Apple may not be able to continue turning out products like the newly released iPhone4s.

He said he hopes Jobs' successors take good care of the company, which produces many of its products at the sprawling Foxconn factory complex in China's southern Guangdong province.

Jobs' loss was also being felt at an Apple store in Seoul, South Korea, where 37-year-old employee Lee Joo-young described his feelings.

He said he feels that he has lost his hero.

In Hong Kong, business executive Francis Lun was more pragmatic, saying he feels personally saddened but is not too worried about the impact on the stock market.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard added her own words of tribute, saying the technologies that Jobs pioneered have shaped the economy of the future.