Steve Jobs – Resigns In Peace
Well a new day of international mourning was created this week with the announcement that Steve Jobs has resigned as Apple CEO.
To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.Steve
It really was only a matter of time. It has been well reported that Jobs has had health problems mainly in the form of pancreatic cancer, a survivor nonetheless and also a liver transplant. The early signs of Steve not being able to do his role as CEO of Apple were seen when he was unable to commit to one of his eagerly anticipated keynote speeches at a WWDC (Apple Word Wide Developers Conference), but he has always been open about his health.
It should be said though that Steve is not dead, nor has he left Apple at all. Jobs has nobly put the interests of Apple ahead of himself and it has been confirmed that, as he requested, Jobs will continue as Chairman of the Board and will remain with the company in that capacity. To take his place as CEO, Jobs personally recommended Apple COO Tim Cook. Cook has been ‘filling’ in for Steve when on medical leave and the recommendation comes as no surprise.
In 1976 Steve Jobs (21), and Steve Wozniak (26), founded Apple Computer Co. Their first personal computer released was sold for $666.66.
Some time after Apple became a listed company tensions between Jobs and the Apple board (in particular John Scully, who came from Pepsi to head Marketing) led to Jobs resigning from Apple, for the fist time! This turned out to be one of the best things that, in my opinion, ever did.
After that resignation, Steve went on to found two other well known companies neXT and PIXAR. The neXT computer was used to develop the original Word Wide Web system by Tim Berners-Lee. Unfortunately neXT was wiped off the market, but the new venture PIXAR was to become another hugely successful company. You would now PIXAR as the animators of movies such as Toy Story, A Bugs Life, and of course Finding Nemo.
Are you starting to see the incredible vision of this man?!
Jobs returned to Apple after the failure of neXT. The rest is history! All I need to say is two words, iPod and iTunes! But that’s just the start of Steves vision for Apple. Now we have the iPhone, iPad and the fastest computer operating system around, OS X.
I could go on and on about the success and credibility of this man, but I won’t put you through that! You can read more here!
I will leave you with some lesser known facts about Apple and Steve Jobs though:
• Microsoft Office was first made for an Apple Computer
• Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are friends
• There is a third Apple co-founder, Ronald Wayne who relinquished his stocks in Apple for $800!!!
• Wayne created the first Apple Computer logo
And finally for a bit of fun, if you haven’t seen the Mac vs PC TV ads you’re in for a treat! I found on YouTube the whole collection in one clip (below). Enjoy!
Yours in LONG LIVE APPLE!
Paul.
