Lord Sugar thinks Steve Jobs should be commended for his services to technology, the former Amstrad boss has revealed ahead of tonight's T3 Gadget Awards.

The British tech icon and Apprentice star is to be recognised for his Outstanding Contribution to Technology at the ceremony in London's Old Billingsgate, yet he believes it's hard to look past the late Apple CEO, who died a year ago on Friday, when handing out gongs.

"When talking about 'outstanding contribution', one has to admire my late friend at Apple," Lord Sugar told T3. "It was fantastic what he did. He was not so much a technologist, but he had a vision. It's a real shame we've lost him."

Lord Sugar's hits prior to this year's YouView digital TV success include launching Sky with Rupert Murdoch and bringing the first affordable PCs and word processors to the UK, back when Jobs and other tech legends were also getting started.

"I dealt with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates back in the 80s, you've got to respect these people," Lord Sugar continued. "[Jobs] had his mad ways of doing things but they weren't that mad in the end, were they?"

The T3 Gadget Awards 2012 kicks off from 7.30pm this evening. For the full shortlist, head to awards.t3.com, and follow the winners and ceremony chat tonight on Twitter at @t3dcotcom