Colbert Sends Final Goodbye To Jobs On iPad 2 He Gave Him, For Free

It's been undeniably heartwarming to see the outpouring of love and remembrance for Steve Jobs who passed early this week, and today (or last night, rather), one of his biggest fans and greatest allies added to that pile of appreciation with a short segment. In this segment you'll see Colbert show the excellent experience he had with Apple and their intelligent offering of free product to him over the years as well as a personal email Jobs sent to him the night after he showed off his iPad 2, the first iPad 2 owned by a non-Apple-employee, mind you, at the Grammys.

Stephen Colbert has had the show The Colbert Report for several years now, long enough to have reported on the original iPhone and demand that Apple give him one. Since then, he's essentially gotten every big release that he's asked for on air – including, yes indeed, the iPad 2 before ANYONE ELSE ON EARTH that wasn't working for Apple at the time. Colbert gives tribute and also thanks Jobs for his generosity, noting that he and Jobs were best friends, and that he knew this because Jobs had once communicated with him.

You'll also see the time Colbert got a brand new Lime Green iMac all the way back in 1997, this taking place in a flashback that never actually happened. Thus is the generosity of Jobs, of course, and that's why Colbert very nearly breaks character near the end of the segment. Colbert reads the "personal" email Jobs sent him the day after the Grammy appearance that contained the words Sweet! and Thanks!, then replies post-mortem to Jobs, saying as he typed:

"Right back atcha, thanks for everything, and send."

[via Colbert Nation]