Obama meets Apple supremo Steve Jobs

SAN FRANCISCO: US President Barack Obama met Apple chief executive Steve Jobs in the San Francisco area on Thursday and discussed education and technology's role in the economy, the White House said.

Visiting California on a campaign swing ahead of mid-term elections on November 2, Obama spoke with Jobs about "education, especially reforms such as the president's Race to the Top initiative," spokesman Robert Gibbs said, referring to the White House's drive for federal grants to public schools.

Gibbs told reporters the pair, who last met on the presidential election campaign trail in 2008, also spoke about "energy independence and ways to increase job creation."

The meeting took place a day after Jobs unveiled Apple's new MacBook Air notebook computer inspired by its winning iPad tablet devices. Obama earlier attended political fundraising event for his Democratic Party hosted by Google executive Marissa Mayer at her Palo Alto home.

He praised the Internet titan and said the company "spoke to the essence of the America, the American ideal -- that if we're innovating, if people have the tools to let their imaginations run, that there's nothing we can't do in this country."