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The End Of An Era … Steve Jobs Resigns As Apple’s CEO

After years of being the singular most influential driving force in the computing industry, Steve Jobs resigned today from his post as CEO of Apple Inc. and recommended Tim Cook as his successor.

Mr. Jobs published this letter to Apple:

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

According to a Press Release from Apple, Steve Jobs request to act as Chairman of the Board has been approved and Tim Cook has indeed been named as the new CEO.

“It’s not the end of the Apple era for certain…but in many respects, it is an end of an era,” said Other World Computing founder and CEO, Larry O’Connor, upon hearing the news. “However, if anyone thinks that, based on this announcement, Mr. Jobs will have any less influence on products, I find that outcome highly unlikely.”

From all of us here at OWC, thanks for the memories, the inspiration, and the journey Steve…it’s been an insanely great ride.

Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple

Tim Cook Named CEO and Jobs Elected Chairman of the Board

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration. Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board.

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.


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50 Comments

  • I purchased my first Mac in 1999. After a few weeks of using it, I understood why Mac owners never look back. Macs just work. I never consider anything but Apple when I’m researching and purchasing computers. They are by far the best. I wish the best for Steve Jobs and I am not concerned about what’s next for Apple. One thing is for sure, my next computer will be a Mac.

  • I remember using some of the first Mac’s back in elementary school. I attended a rich district so was fortunate enough back in the 80’s they could afford them. Then went through a period where I was not on a Mac and couldnt afford to buy one. In 2005 I made the switch with the first Intel Imac and have never went back. Today Im on the new 12 core Mac Pro and loving it. Apple & steve jobs have really made something nice. Jobs & Woz really changed the industry to be something great.

    I just feel a warm vibe every time I enter an apple store….everyone seems happy. Beautifully designed products all about the store….good job Steve, best wishes and long life in the future. Apple and the world needs people like you.

  • Jobs gets it when it comes to computer usability, more than anyone else in the tech industry. His frequent medical leaves over the past three years have already, in my view, had a noticeable effect on the usability of the software and not in a good way. I can’t quite believe he signed off on the vandalism done to Lion iCal, for example, or the Address Book application. And I expect, unfortunately, to see more of this stuff show up on both Mac and iOS. I think part of the problem is the tech industry tends to promote people who like cheap baubles rather than adhere to a vision, and we’re lucky to have had Jobs insert himself at another level early in his career.

    The only other senior executive with Jobs’ vision in software at Apple was Avie Tevanian, and Apple in my view never found an adequate replacement. With his departure the quality took a noticeable knock and with Jobs’ leaves the usability has taken a noticeable knock as well.

  • My journey with Steve Jobs (abet through hardware and software) began when I upgraded from a Northgate to my first real computer – an Apple IIc then an Apple IIe with CPM onboard. As a Systems Engineer, I had the privilege to use the LISA (Mac pre-cursor) in developing this nation’s space systems. Needless to say, I was in line for the Mac 128 when it appeared and had Macs, iPods, iPhones and iPads to date. As a matter of fact, after a period of time using my Mac Plus, wife announced that she wanted her own Mac to replace her Pentium-based PC.

    It is my belief that Apple (Steve Jobs) understood that people wanted an computing tools – tools that allowed the operator to be creative in their professional and personal life without being bogged-down in making the details of making the tool function. To that end, Apple through Steve Jobs leadership has been imminently successful.

    My best wishes to Steve in the past and future.

  • Steve Jobs has been an inspiration for me over the years. When I purchased my first 512K Mac and on to the black Macbook on my desk right now I have pursued his dreams and been lifted up by Steve throughout his years at Apple and during his hiatus. I agonized about purchasing Macs while he was away, did so and then was ecstatic upon his return. I wish Steve the best, pray for his health to return to at least a level where he may continue contributing to Apple’s success and for a long life!
    God’s blessing on Steve!
    Ruben Zamorano

  • Thanks Steve for all you have done at Apple. I became an early adopter of Apple’s Macintosh computers. To this day I find them to be heads and shoulders above the competition. I would hope for the best in the future for you and Apple.

  • I was a believer of macs back when most people were not. Fans of macs are a unique group that stick together and are loyal forever!!! I own everything apple. Love all the products.

  • Steve deserves all the accolades he is getting for a “job excellently done.” I too confess my life would be that much poorer without the products that Steve inspired Apple to make for us who are not quite that interested in computer language and the intricacies of coding. He stands not only with the likes of Ford and Edison but with those who enabled artists to create their superlative works of art that enrich us all.

  • I too thank Steve Jobs for his contribution. Otherwise I would have been stuck trying to create music on a P.C. for the last 20 years.

  • I put Steve Jobs in the same category as Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. His vision has radically changed the world for the better. He took a product and made it available to average people. Along the way the company he led has improved the product beyond what any of us could have imagined when we sat in front of an Apple computer (Apple IIe in my case) for the first time.

    Hopefully Steve will enjoy many years ahead. I have said for some time that he doesn’t need to be the one at Apple that worries about the day-to-day operations. He needs to be the one that sets the vision. It sounds like this change will leave him as visionary-in-chief. I am eager to see what Steve and the company he built will come up with next.

  • A few thoughts on Steve

    “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?” – Steve Jobs to the president of Pepsi, John Sculley in 1983. And, change the world he did. From the Macintosh in 1984 and iMac in 1998 to the iPod in 2001 and iPad in 2010 Steve Jobs has continuously changed the face of personal computing and has arguably had the largest impact on the technology field of any other person in modern history. Few others have been such a prominent pop culture icon while at the same time have contributed so much towards the technological advancement of the human race.

    Where would we be today without this man? Can you imagine the world without the influence that Steve Jobs has undoubtedly had on almost every piece of technology available today? While the rest of the industry is scrambling to catch up (often releasing products today that are not nearly as innovative as Apple’s product line 10 years ago) Apple has been releasing beautiful works of art that we call computers and phones. And while this aspect of Apple can easily be credited to people like Jonathan Ive and Scott Forstall, among others, you can see the touch of Steve’s hand in all of their work.

    Steve will be missed. There is no doubt to that. But, I hold my head up high for Apple; Tim Cook has been called the genius behind Steve and I look forward to what he has to bring to the table.

    “…while some 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.” – Apple’s Think Different campaign

  • First, I hope Steve Jobs is able to enjoy life as much as possible by stepping back from his CEO role. It’s certainly the case that he has improved the lives of billions of people with some of the greatest products of the last quarter century.

    Reading the many personal stories here, I think of many of my own. In both my personal and professional lives, Apple has been there over and over again. Ease of use, innovation, quality, ergonomic perfection and world changing industrial design are just the short list of what Apple has meant to me. It’s there in my office, my home, my backyard, my car and my pocket. No company that I can think of has improved my life as significantly.

    Thank you Steve for taking what a lot of people wrote off as near death, insignificant and turning it into a huge success, not just in dollars and cents; but in making sense over and over again. You’ve made the world more fun!

  • In my haste to bring you this news in a timely manner late yesterday while editing OWC Michael’s post, I perhaps minimized Steve’s impact by just limiting his influence to the computing industry. ;-) I’m with you all in the respect department regarding the man…heck…I was just in my 20’s when I went head to head with him in the Apple II world. Even back in the 80’s, the marketing team at Laser Computer tried to fashion ourselves, our thinking, and our company very much in the image of Apple. So, to me, he was doing it “right” from the very beginning. I got to meet him when he first started out with NeXT, told him he was the soul of Apple and it wouldn’t be the same without him, and wished him well with his new venture. He was modest and seemed to feel validated by my “soul” comment.

    I do feel that his imprint on Apple will last indefinitely. Forget about the Scullly and Amelio years….they were typical CPG business people. To be successful in this business you have to have a passion for simply elegant technology that has a scalability so that it appeals to many levels of users AND a passion for the users themselves. That’s what to me always defined Steve…well that and always Thinking Differently from the atypical box pushers more worried about price point than experience.

    Thanks Steve for just being you. I wouldn’t have had the career and life I’ve enjoyed without you.

  • The end of an era, indeed! Steve Jobs envisioned the Mac as the hi-tech “appliance” for everyone. I embraced his vision of the modern computing era back in 1986 and never looked back. I have owned every Mac version since the 512 “FatMac” as well as iPods, iPhones and now iPads. It has truly been “insanely great”.

    Thank you, Steve and may God Bless…

  • Steve Jobs has always been the beacon/guiding light at Apple in my opinion as a long standing devotee of the company. As with all visionaries and people of genius caliber there is a personal side of life that must be addressed when it requires as with all of us. I wish you good health with you and your family in whatever challenges may be on your horizon.
    You will be missed to be sure but your Apple family will persevere because of the effort and insight you have instilled in your constituents with your wisdom.
    We all hope you can return soon but in the interim good health and may success keep it’s healing light on you and yours.

  • I was the last holdout for the DOS command line, and thought Macs were for people that just didn’t understand computing. Then I actually tried using a Mac, and was totally blown away at the order-of-magnitude increase in productivity brought about by the GUI. Since then I have been a Mac evangelist. The incredible computing power we enjoy now simply would not have occurred without the vision of Steve Jobs.

    I too hope Steve can continue to have his influence on Apple and the world for years to come.

  • The genius of the man is his ability to envision products with startling simplicity, amazing intuitiveness, and sublime elegance. And of course, we can’t forget his innate talent to assemble teams that were as driven to innovative greatness as he was. Steve Jobs may have largely left the company, but I believe his spirit of creative inspiration and his will to supersede the ordinary with the extraordinary carries on with Apple under Cook.

  • Seems ironic he retires on the day I take delivery of my first ever mac ( 15″ 2.3 Macbook pro to be upgraded with 240 gb owc mercury extreme pro 6G and 8 gb of owc memory) after many years of pc use.
    Love my iphone 4- thats what made me switch- the way it just works… and is intuitive to get around

  • I didn’t begin my association with Apple Computer before the Macintosh Powerbook 5300cs and OS 7.5.2 in the early ’90s. Those were tough days, and I had to endure catcalls of “Macintrash” from a group of MUCH younger fraternity brothers at WVWC. I persevered, as did Apple, and participated as the metamorphosis in computing, remarkably begun in the ’70s, has culminated in the finest in computing products and operating systems the world has ever seen. Apple does not mention its adherence to product vertical integration as a reason for its success story, but it is true. When you manage the hardware AND the products that run on it, and manage them extraordinarily well, something that Redmond has missed completely, and have a visionary of at the helm that is Steve Jobs, success is axiomatic. That, and the finest customer and technical service in the industry, a model to be envied by all others, has stood, and will stand Apple in good stead in the years to come as a fine and well-respected company continues to make our lives, mine especially as a roofing specialist consultant, more productive, useful, easy, and fun with Lion run on a MacBook Pro 17.
    Thank you, Mr. Jobs, for a job still being well done.

  • Thanks, Mr. Steve Jobs! You’ve made the last quarter century, and more, an incredible place to be (as I type this on a macbook pro 13″). I’ll fall asleep tonight after playing a couple games of solitaire on my ipod touch. In the morning, my wife and I will share coffee and listen to some music stream to our sound system, via Airplay. LIfe’s been good, and Steve has had an enormous impact in our day to day lives. I stand in endearing respect. Thanks!

  • I learned how to use a computer on my father’s Mac 128 in the 1980s. (As a student he had set up the Stanford Daily’s front page with hot lead type while in college during the 1920s.)

    I bought him a significant upgrade for that 128: an external floppy drive that enabled him to use TWO 400KB floppy discs at the same time…

    I am typing this on my 2010 Mac Book Pro 13 and I have never owned anything other than a Mac….

    I wish Steve Jobs well and along with all the Apple fans who mark the end of another major era in the history of the USA’s most “disruptive” technology company…..

  • As much as everyone should have seen this coming, this isn’t the end for Apple’s run of success. Only if Apple wants it to end. Android is moving to dominate the market in a big way. Google is, thanks to its acquisition of Motorola’s mobile assets, Apple’s biggest competitor. The question is what will be Apple’s response to Google? Right now, Apple has no response to Google, which doesn’t bode well for the future of Apple.

    • You’ve got to be kidding.
      In the phone market android is an also ran. Not one mfg even comes close to iPhone numbers.

      Android tablets aren’t exactly knocking anyOnes socks off. Including those that would like to sell them.

      Apple laptops fly off the shelves and nobody can compete with air.

      The entire computer, phone and music industry is copying Apple including goggle.

      Apple has been what all others must answer. Not the other way around. Believe what you wanna believe though. Enjoy your droid computer… Oh wait… There isn’t one.

      Hats off t’ya steve. hate to see ya go!

  • Still got my 128k Mac with Team signatures. Who else would have thought of doing that? How did they sign inside that case? OK, they signed the die, only innovators did far out things like that. SJ was & still is a top Innovator. Wife says I’ve
    spent a fortune buying every Mac made, there was 6 or 7 I missed out on. I have enjoyed them, I have cursed them, but I continue to praise the Mac and Steve Jobs for keeping me creative and fully employed. Best of Luck Stevo, just do whatever you wanna. Remember, It gets late early.
    Graham.

  • Thank you Steve for all that you have done for this industry. From your humble beginings with Steve you both created the perfect computer. I have through out my adult life worked with all the various models of computers that Apple produced. During my darkest days when I lost a family member, a simple Mac SE kept me going as I spent hour after hour on it.
    In 2006 I was able to buy my fist brand new Mac, a 17 inch Macbook Pro core duo, which I still use. Not only has it proven to be reliable, but it is a joy to use when I get home from work. I may have not had the fortune to buy the latest Mac, but I have had th joy of using a Mac that has been able to still work with current software even though it may have been 3 or 4 years old.
    Thank you for everything and I wish you the very best in health and family.

  • Sorry Mr. Jobs. The Apple CEO monicker cannot leave you. You’re impact, attitude and general approach is seared into the minds of the Mac community and Apple. You were iCEO, then CEO. I hope “rCEO” will be to your liking as you simply have to be considered CEO forever. You’re there when your not. In the minds, and in the hearts. The energy you’ve built, grows within others.

    Best of health to you sir, and thank you for building the industry on which so many are able to stand. For building an environment that created products which can, themselves, inspire and enable others to do great things.

    You are, and will continue be an empowering force, now matter what capacity you’re able to serve. “Serve” being a more than appropriate word. You certainly had no monetary need to do what you’ve done, and “serve” is the only appropriate word to describe the efforts you have made to build, and ultimately resurrect Apple.

    Thanks for making the products you liked, and not building by committee. Many have obviously concurred in liking those products as well. Thanks for the ride, and inspiration.

    Thanks for the empowerment to do great things, big or small… but great.

    I wish you all the best Mr. Steve Jobs, rCEO of Apple Inc.

  • It’s not just America, it’s the world. If there is one company and symbol that stands for American excellence in the modern world, it’s not IBM or Microsoft, it’s not Ford or GM, or any of the others you can think of, but Apple.

    But, hey guys, this is not an obituary column, it’s a retirement party. And we wish Steve well and a long and happy retirement, and we can rejoice that he will still be in charge of the Big A.

    from Australia

  • It is the way of the world if not the universe that things come full circle. My first opportunity to indulge my interest in computers came in the form of exposure to an Apple II in 1984 at the aviation school I was attending. Other opportunities led me to consulting work in the electric utility industry where I became a PC user. My career shifted towards IT and in 1998 I became the Network Administrator for a division of state government in Florida. While I was there we built a statewide WAN connecting 150+ offices with server and storage infrastructure of significant capacity even by today’s standards. By 2004 I realized I could no longer afford the amount of time it took to maintain the Windows machines (Win) that I used in turn to administer the network. I snagged a cast off Power Mac G4 that had been set aside by our resident graphics artist when he got his first G5. It was running Panther which I soon upgraded to Tiger. A new PowerBook was soon added followed by a G5 PowerMac. and The rest was history. I ditched my PC’s and returned home to Apple. In a government PC infrastructure I proved that I could seamlessly integrate Macs and leverage their capabilities and dependability to maintain the network hydra we created, innovating as we grew. 7 years later as I type this I’m sitting herein the studio my wife and I share looking at our current 4 Intel Macs (not to mention 3 IPods I see) that we utilize in creating content for virtual worlds thinking that this wouldn’t have been possible without the innovation that Steve brought to Apple. So much of the multimedia content that we consume and enjoy today was created on Apple hardware running OS X and often with Apple application software. Macs are instrumental in science and medicine. Certainly the music scene wouldn’t be what it is today without the influence of Steve and Apple. So Steve, I say to you, A job most well done and for that you have our unending thanks. Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with you and Apple for the future.

  • I first worked on a Lisa – awesome multitasking for its day – 5 Meg hard drive. Then a MacPlus, MacIIcx, Quadra, several PowerBooks, now a MacBookPro. Thanks, Steve – your journey has fueled mine. May your health be strengthened.

  • My first Mac was the IIsi and currently have ten functioning Macs of one flavour or another, from iMac G3 to 8-core Mac Pro — I also have the original Apple Portable and 3400c and both still power up and work.

    SJ is still Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee, so don’t start writing the obituaries just yet.

    Just wish him good health and hope that whilst he remains active he can still contribute to Apple’s product roadmap.

  • I bought my first computer in 1980, a TI99/4A, immediate on, color, text to speech and was in heaven. 1983 TI pulled the plug and some of my user group members went to CPM. Without TI restrictions the abandoned computer flourished. Then the 256 and DOS, more friends went there. The black screen, C prompts, slow start up kept me with the 99/4A.
    In 1991 I bought a MAC 11si, and was very happy, the first computer I felt as good about as my beloved 99/4A.. I joined Guy Kawasaki’s Evangelista’s, user groups, made friends around the world, fought verbal uphill battles with PC’ers, but moved on and up through the Fruit colored units to the iMac G-5, and to my now current desktop and laptop.
    I am a proud Apple customer, deeply appreciate the quality and reliability. Apple’s respect of all their customers are well reflected in the customer service, whether online, or at the Apple Store. I love the Genius Bar, it so reflects corporate focus.
    This is a tribute to Steve Jobs, and a thanks for his modeling what he expects. His vision sets him and Apple apart from most others. Hopefully Apple Teams will be able to develop the foresight Steve Jobs naturally had.
    Positive thoughts for the strengthening of Steve Jobs health.

  • Jobs brought some Renaissance values to the computer world that I noticed in the ’80s. He had taken some calligraphy classes in school while in Oregon and included some wildly sophisticated (for the time) type fonts in the first Macs. I thought to myself, “Who are these guys?”

    In my realm of writing and publishing, those capacities always indicated a wisdom at Apple that transcended pure technology.

  • I’ve been programming computers since 1967, worked for 4 innovative information technology companies from 1972 to 1990, and doing management consulting with the big players in the industry since 1990, including Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, HP, Cisco, Intel and also many smaller companies. I’m writing this post on my MacBook Pro, but I’ve been using PCs and Macs nearly equally since PC-DOS and the original Mac came out. I saw the first Altos at PARC in the 1970s — just before Steve saw them and envisioned the Mac. I have so many generations of electronic media storage and playback devices that I could open a museum of them, and another museum of PDAs and tablets. From my 44-years of experience in this wildly creative industry that’s had such a profound impact on people everywhere, I would have to rank Steve Jobs as the one person who most humanized the computer, who did not just make the computer “for the rest of us”, but made everyone in the computer business re-think what their products should be and how people would interact with them, who re-tooled the outdated business models of all of his traditional competitors (software companies, computer manufacturers, record companies, and on and on) to create an amazingly strong and profitable company that other companies are scrambling to emulate. Thank you, Steve, for making my life and my career so interesting, enjoyable and stimulating! Your positive influence will be felt for a long time by nearly everyone on our planet.

  • Steve Jobs is a uniquely brilliant and irreplaceable force in the industry. Apple may prosper without him, but there will never be another Steve Jobs.

  • I’ve owned many Apple computers starting with the iic and going through all the iterations of SE, and trading up to most of the other models to the Mac Pro and ipad2. Only once did I experience an unhappy face (since 1990) when my imac graphite’s hard drive took a dump. Thank you Steve for all the years of great service. Only regret is not buying stock when it was less than $15.00 a share. Can’t wait to see what Apple comes up with next.

  • My entire career has paralleled the innovations that came about with Apple and Steve Jobs. I got one of the first Apple IIs and my first programming job as a teenager (proclaimed by the press as a “whiz kid”) for $4/hour creating educational software. I created character generator software that allowed any Apple II to display lower case letters, fonts, and colors!…truly an innovation for the time.

    During college I pursued electrical engineering and computer science where we used Macs in labs as some of the first people to use spreadsheets and automate graphing in our labs. We used the first color Macs to develop incredible computer graphics that previously had only existed on costly image processors.

    Today, I’m developing custom iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch business solutions that are totally on the cutting edge of what is possible with the technology that Apple has brought to us. http://www.cimbura.com/tech/wordpresstech/index.php/2011/08/17/the-minnesota-state-fair-hits-the-21st-century-in-technology/

    Thanks Steve for all that you’ve done…your push for excellence, passion for design and usability, and persistence to make your dreams come true in the tech world. I pray that your health improves and that you live a quality life with your priorities in the right place. Apple will continue to thrive but you will be missed as a leader. Oh yeah and “one more thing…”

  • I remember in 1984 deciding it was time to buy a computer. Went to the local computer store and the sales guy starts showing me these amber and green colored screened things with blinking cursors… Then at the end of the line up there was a Mac – a white screen with little pictures and a “mouse” thing so you pointed and clicked…

    That was my first Mac. I lost count through the years. But everything I’ve done creatively and business wise since then has used my Macs as indispensable tools. Mac changed my life and unleashed so many possibilities.

    Steve Jobs had a direct affect on my life. His uncompromising vision moved “life” forward. I like the comparison to Edison and maybe Tesla too.

    Thank you Steve Jobs for keeping the faith.

  • I have been an Apple fan since the 128k. When MIcrosoft software became so popular I always told my friends to buy Apple especially because it was more user friendly w/o the fear of virus attacks; it was like talking to a wall. After all they were cheaper, and most businesses ran IBM type machines and there was more software. MS is an enigma to me still. (I have the mac version) and have never owned anything but an Apple. I never gave up hope and now Apple is no 1. I think Apple will continue to do well under Tim Cook, and Steve will still b there. I have no idea what the panic is that the stock was slipping a bit tonight . Why not give the new CEO a chance?
    Meanwhile I hope and pray that Steve’s health will be ok and he can continue to improve the world. He has endured so much. It seems that some of the nicest people on earth get pancreatic ca. He is a hero to me.
    The original Apple slogan was “for the rest of us,” and I hope Apple leadership will remember that. Already when I install LION I’ll lose some of my best used programs and have to dish out more money for new programs. I’m not sure why that has to b but I’ll propably get over it in time on which Apple is probably counting.

  • Spent all day tracking audio on a Mac Pro, then read this news.

    My business would not run without Macs. Every day I can focus on the work that comes through the door, and not my equipment, because I know my Macs will work. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. Jobs made this happen.

  • On a dark and snowy night, holding my 4 year old granddaughters hand, we turned the corner at Michigan Avenue in Chicago and walked into the Apple Store. She looked at the translucent stairs and asked me (in a loud four year old’s voice: Nana, are we in heaven!? Most customers turned around and said: Yes. If it wasn’t for Steve and his innovative business, I would not have that memory … or my iMac … or my MacBookPro … or the iPhone sitting on my kitchen table. Steve’s SE turned my government JOB into a CAREER. And I’ll always be grateful for that. It was so much fun to get good work done on an exemplary computer. Steve Jobs built the Apple TEAM; it will continue life innovations that fascinate us, help us and make working easier. Steve’s not gone … he’s Chairman of the Board. Always.

    • @ MacNana: When I read your description of your visit to the Apple Store with your granddaughter, I immediately imagined that scenario as a TV commercial. Wonderful. You should sent it to the mothership with your permission to use it.

  • From my Mac IIsi to my current iMac, I’ve praised Apple nearly every day. A toast: Here’s to ALL of the geniuses behind an amazing company with amazing products and especially to Steve Jobs. CLINK!

  • I have been a Apple guy since the Apple IIc.
    Steve Jobs changed the world for the better. He also has set an example of a commitment to quality unparalleled in any industry today. His vision of a standard visual interface and his demand that specifications be met by software and hardware designers gave us a common user experience that accommodates young and old, not just the computer geeks among us. Watching a three year old pick up an iPad says it all.

    Thank you, Steve.

  • Unfortunately you are incorrect. Mr. Jobs has not just been the “singular most influential driving force in the computing industry.” He has been one of the most influential forces in American innovation and the American economy for over a quarter of a century. Just as much of what drove the 20th century was built off the work of Edison, a disproportionate amount of what we are now living off of is built from the work of Jobs. We won’t realize the true scope of this until he is truly gone, but that fact that Apple only very recently had a larger cash flow than the U.S. government, and the fact that Apple remains one of the few truly profitable companies in the midst of one of the worst economic downturns in history should give us a hint of the possible consequences. In a world that currently mostly only rewards get-quick rip-off artists and their cheap knock offs, Jobs elegant contributions and long-term successes gave those of us who value quality and experience a sense of hope.

  • I just have to wonder, *really wonder*, what the state of the information services industry would be if this man had never come along. Sure, there have plenty of others @ Apple that have made incredibly valuable contributions (Woz), but where would we be right now if SJ had never been there. Thank you, Steve, for a job done “insanely well”! You will be missed.

  • I was at THAT SuperBowl. I had WON tickets to the Superbowl on a local radio station. I still have my Apple seat cushion and two years later I owned my first Mac, an SE. I published three magazines on that SE, and have never looked back. I have followed Apple, Macs and the i-Family to the present day and am sending this message on my almost 1 yr old MacBook Pro 17. I’ve earned my living as a graphic designer on Macs and still do. I just turned 60 this past May and am proud of it. Apple kept me young, thirsty for the next great thing, the next new technology, software, platform and an Apple Store in my backyard. Thanks, Steve, for your vision, your ability to change the world. You changed mine, and in the process you became one of the best friends I never met. You’ve prospered. So all that’s left for me to wish you is “Live long!”

  • My first Mac was the 128K Mac. Inside, it had the signatures of the team that was pushed by Jobs to design it and change the “PC” world forever. Jobs provided the intense focus on innovation that in part drove success. Yet perhaps the largest achievement was not selling innovative products, but delivering music, delivering connections, by having simple products integrated with superior software, and married to an incredible service network of stores with the Genius Bar.

    I wish him well, and hope the best for his ongoing health.