Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO - Page 5

Not to beat this one to death, but I don't get the politeness aspect of, "dear board members, I am resigning as CEO and now I would like to take Bill's position on the board." I don't imagine for a moment that this is actually how it went down, even if the resignation letter implies as much. Even making the letter public was kind of peculiar. More drama than necessary seems to be par for the course where Apple is concerned.

But yes, finally, all the succession talk will get behind us -- not that we won't have to endure endless speculation about "what this means for Apple." That talk will probably persist at least until mid-October (the next earnings announcement).

A toast to Steve Jobs:

"Heres to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. Theyre not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you cant do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Be well and happy Mr. Jobs. You so deserve it. Thank you for everything.

Steve you have shown how to steer a company in an ethical but profitable fashion. No one else has been able to remake the face of business in the way you have. Your legacy will last not for years but for centuries. Apple will be a model of success.

On a personal note I hope you live a long time (we are the same age, so I have extra reasons! ). You are an inspiration and I hope you understand how greatly you have been loved well, the well-wishing here does not leave room for any doubt in that regard.

Eluard

I was wondering that myself. Cook had/has, will have for a time at least, a very difficult job maneuvering suppliers, manufacturers, etc. It's specialized knowledge and talent. His might be the harder slot to fill.

As a one two punch, he and Jobs have been remarkably effective. I would think that Cook will be continuing much of what he's been doing for some time, and that Jobs will be doing the same. I don't know who else at the company has been responsible for supplier management other than Cook. The first name that would likely come up as a replacement, I suppose might be Schiller, but I don't know if what he does fits that role.

It's only sad if he's on his deathbed. That's one possibility. Another possibility is that he's not (immediately) dying, and wants to enjoy a little retirement. Who wants to work all their life, right? Steve isn't a slave in the Apple mines. Retirement is a happy thing. Without further information we have no way of knowing.

Regardless, this is it for Steve as CEO. "Execute our succession plan" is pretty final language.

__

The Wednesday announcement strikes me as odd, though. Generally anything that might negatively impact stock prices is announced on a Friday; with this happening in the middle of the week, the stock will likely tank tomorrow morning before recovering a bit (and be honest, it's overvalued).

yes -- I think I was able to do that for my young family when I got my first Mac in 1984, about 2 weeks after the Super Bowl commercial. After upgrading ti Lion, and really digging into some of the things it does different even from Snow Leopard, I have been thinking that the the "insanely great" Mac products are back at Apple.

I have been going back over some of the old announcements and interviews of the last few days -- when Steve Jobs says when he returned to Apple he had to bring the company back to making great products first, and making a profit second -- that is really some great insight. Of course, Apple is not perfect by any means, but their heart is always in the right place, at least in my opinion.

I hope that continues to be true. It is hard to imagine Apple without Steve Jobs -- I hope we still see him at the major announcements and hope he maintains good health and continues to provide his creative insight for a lot more years. Tim Cook is a worthy successor in terms of running the company, but I don't think anyone can have the same "magnetic field" as Jobs does. He is truly one of a kind.

Glad to see that he can resign as CEO when Apple is on top in so many ways -- before all the naysayers can pummel him on killing other technology companies. ! I am really looking forward to reading his biography.

I want to you put this on a real physical letter and send it to Apple in Cupertino care of Steve Jobs. You just summed up PERFECTLY what Jobs has done since the day he and Steve Wozniak helped found Apple Computer in 1976.

(By the way, where did that quote come from?)

No, it's not. Many companies don't have a COO, but many do. RIM had four!

The larger a company becomes, and the more complex its operations, the more jobs need to be broken down. Why would it be a ridiculous question? The question is whether Cook will continue to do all the things he's been doing, or not.

You and your life's work will always be an inspiration to those of us who love your personal vision of beautifully designed and crafted technology. Thank God you were there to help Apple make science fiction products a reality.

I hope you are able to enjoy your new role and that your health holds out for a happy retirement. Take care!

Yeah. As he mentioned, there WAS a succession plan, as most of us had thought.I'm wondering how far down the line it goes, if it does.

Is there a point to your unceasing dissection of this announcement and reducing it to its most debased and selfish elements? Are you trying to establish yourself as some sort of expert genius commentator?

Enough. You are leaving a bad taste in readers' mouths and establishing that you lack two essential qualities that Steve Jobs exhibited in his letter - decency and grace.

You mean, well undervalued, not overvalued.

I have no doubt the same intelligence, foresight and vision which have ruled at Apple for so long now are also directing this seeming transition. Of course, it has been long in the planning...ever since Jobs' initial diagnosis with cancer.

Once the industry sees Apple continue to perform as usual, so then shall the stock value rise...along with Apple's inexorable gains in market share. As a consumer, I expect no real changes for a long, long time.

Now, when Steve Jobs dies...that will be a time to pay attention to. But for now....well, who of us hasn't been expecting something like this?

In any case, Steve...I hope you redirect some of your energy from that massive brain of yours...to your healing. Good luck.

Melgross, I believe you've been paying attention to Apple for as many years as I have...and that's a very, very large # of years. I believe Jobs looks faaaar into the future and deeply into his company. I reiterate that we shall have no alarms and no surprises for quite some time.

I guess we will find out soon enough. The question of who succeeds Cook is a good one.


Oh my, questions you don't like or can't answer are now "debased." And the "selfish" elements are what, exactly?

From my iPad...

For those of you Johnny come lately's

Ive been on Apple products for 26 years when it was really a strong boutique company that serviced the graphic arts industry in a huge way. I know a huge community here in L.A. "owe" their livelihood to Steve Jobs and Apple Computer.

I never made it to college but I used every dollar I had to buy a Mac II and learned the graphics business solely from my Mac. I literally went on to make millions of dollars from companies I started ONLY using macs and devices that worked with them. Later I was able rise to pretty high levels in the entertainment industry -- ya inspired from my Mac(s). I am so seriously grateful to this company for it has done for me all my life. Those of us in this industry for many years seriously have a certain spiritual connection to this guy and this company, crazy right?

I will say that this announcement however painful to hear really does come at a good time in the companies life cycle. Apple today is poised to really really explode with the launch of iPhone 5 and the recent success of the very young iPad. The iPad like the iPhone is a game changer for computing. Most of us veteranos know this. Painfully HP knows this!

Seriously Apple is going way higher in it's success with what's coming on the horizon. CEO Tim Cook is awesome -- he is the guy that has "kept the wheels on" this bullet train that's on it's incredible journey. How awesome this must feel for Steve up against his health condition and the irony in that as well. Cook brought the know-how to run a company with such UNPRECEDENTED growth and I dare for anyone to dispute this fact. This guy is responsible for the management of getting millions of units of products produced, distributed, and supported. Steve the innovator was the not the manager of such an immense and insanely fluid operation. I highly doubt Steve could have achieved what he has without a guy like Cook behind him. Literraly Cook is perfect to run the company. Hes not the innovator and never claimed to be. Apple will be fine and is getting ready to really explode sales wise in the next quarter.

This news is never easy to handle and Im still not sure where I'm at with my feelings about Steve Jobs as I am sure it is the same for so many others. Here's to Apples future -- which looks incredibly strong and resilient. Its that resilence and interdepence and TRUST, we really trusted this company and they took care of us -- that is what many of us connected with over the years and can't forget it. It's how we made our livelihood and were able to depended on Apple for oh so many years.... Now we all have trusted their innovations with our children even our dogs! -- my five labs literally watch cat and squirel videos on this iPad, lol! This is really tuff!

I can think of only four words I would send to Mr. Jobs...


Thank you, for everything.

It was an Apple commercial..

This surprised me because I never thought Steve would resign even if he couldn't handle the job any longer. So I really respect him for leaving.

This is a very sad day.

The stock will fall tomorrow because Wall Street reacts emotionally instead of to reality. The market has been incredibly unstable, but does anyone think that the value of American companies really changes by 5% or more from day to day? The stock will come back up when everyone realizes that Apple is still doing its thing and doing it better than anyone else.

I wish Tim Cook all the best luck in the world.

And I hope a miracle happens and Jobs' health stabilizes and he's with us longer than even he thinks.

Yes, Tim's most difficult challange will be relinquishing some of his [detail] duties to assume the broader role/vision of CEO.

I don't know if he has any supply-chain experience... But Eddie Cue, has a no nonsense reputation for getting done, that which needs to be done.

Albert Einstein - on his dying bed asked, "Bring me a pencil and paper please. I want to calculate."

SJ is in the same mold.

Cook = experience. IBM was his training ground. I'm not worried at all. He's been increible and will only grow into a larger challenge.

For everybody saying that Apple will do fine under Cook and without Steve, do you think it will be important that Cook be allowed to make his own decisions instead of living under Steve's shadow?

Furthermore, who thinks Cook is going to be a complete clone of Steve? Is Cook going to think 100 percent the same as Steve? Will Cook make all the same decisions that Steve would have made under the same circumstances?

This will be an interesting time for Apple fanboys. What happens if Cook as CEO makes a decision that Steve would not have made, or if he reverses one of Steve's previous decisions, and it ends up being successful for Apple? The Apple haters will probably say "Good riddance to Steve". How will Apple fanboys handle the apparent contradiction?

+++qft

The day-to-day vision will be provided by Tim. He will mold Apple in his own vision.

It is a tribute to Steve that he has picked a strong individual to follow him.

The greatest gift is knowiing what, and when to let go -- as parents we all face that challange.

OMG, Can't believe this...

Surely going to miss you man...

Charles

First I would like to thank you for your innovative judgement and being a visionary.
You have not only created an IPOD, IPHONE, and IPAD but also have created love and admiration of all the consumers of APPLE products .
I as well as many others trust in your judgement and we all wish you well. And we want to let you know that you have done something for society that merits among the great people of all times.
Hopefully your new roll and health will go on for a long time.

THANK YOU!

And now you BOTH are jerks.

Write a book, Dick, write a book! \

I too believe that Tim Cook is and will be, a fantastic CEO.

Get well Steve!

Awesome stuff Steve has done or been in charge of the people doing:

Apple II (face it, Woz wanted to give the plans away for free; Steve marketed the thing)
Lisa (yes, it was awesome.)
Mac 128k
NeXT (first Internet computer and foundation for OS X has to count for something)
Pixar from inception to Monsters, Inc. (bought it from Lucasfilm; filled it with people with vision)
Apple since '96 (Ive was designing toilets before Apple. I'd like to have seen his work, but he was better utilized at Apple )

Industry milestones:

Birth of the personal computer
Definition of 'personal computer'
Definition of 'mobile computer'
Redefinition of 'modern OS'
Redefinition of 'personal media player'
Redefinition of 'phone'
Redefinition of 'tablet computer'
Death of his original definition of 'personal computer'

God Bless and Good Luck!
Thanks for everything Steve.

Thanks and best to you, Steve.

You've definitely made it interesting.

Like everything else with Apple, I think this was a calculated announcement. The stage is set for Apple to end the year on an incredible high, all under the helm of Cook. This will propel him to the status of a great successor for Jobs.

Steve, thanks for pushing forward technology to the point where it is today. Without you, your vision, and the rest of the Apple employees, technology would not be anywhere close to where it is today. Take care of yourself and know that we are incredibly thankful for your contributions.

That's always the best way to leave a company - on a high note. He'll be missed and always remembered as the most genius marketer of our time. Turning Apple around in their darkest days from a company that Michael Dell said should be folded up to the most valuable company in the world. Pure genius.

Thank you Mr. Jobs for keeping innovation alive in the U.S.A. God bless!

I wish you the best in your new role at Apple as Chairman & Director. You are the Most Innovative Designer of my time. iWish you & your family good health & joy! You'll definitely be missed!

It's called "class"..... Once Steve resigned it was not his decision to make, so he asked the board, which was the proper thing to do, even if it was "a given" .... not surprising, because Apple has "shown the way" in a lot of areas ... and that lead comes straight from Steve.

On a personal note, I never had the opportunity to meet Steve Jobs, but I've watched so many hours of video of him, read so many books about him, I feel like he is a personal friend.

Steve, I wish you all the happiness and good health that you so truly deserve. Your contribution to my world ... and to many like me .... has been enormous. All of us should be lucky enough to make the same kind of positive impact on even a few people in our lives. My wish for me ..... is to soon hear about the improving health of Steve Jobs. Peace, my friend.

Why? .... Does the concept of humility escape your grasp?

Great post!