On Wednesday, Mr Steve Jobs, who had turned exactly 56-and-half, submitted his resignation as the CEO of Apple by saying, “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.”
In the IT industry, the word “icon” is used casually, but not referring to Mr Steve Jobs. This is because, from 1984 till now, he has changed the way we compute by bringing the GUI (graphical user interface) to our desktops, and of course, the iPhone and the iPad.
More importantly, he ensured that the competition never had a snowball's chance in hell of overtaking him. And this success is even more relevant when one realises that Mr Jobs is the classic rags-to-riches story. He was given up for adoption by his Syrian father and American mother a week after he was born and in his youth, to get one good meal a week, he would walk some 11 km every Sunday night to a Hare Krishna temple.
He is also perhaps, the biggest comeback man the tech world has ever seen. He was kicked out by Apple in 1985 by the man he hired, ex-Pepsi Chief Executive, Mr John Scully. But returning in 1997, Mr Jobs turned Apple around to make it the world's most valuable company. And now that he has resigned, many are worried that his absence could cause the company to lose its technical edge as well as its value to the shareholders (Apple stocks fell 7 per cent in one single day since his resignation).
Though Mr Jobs' successor Mr Tim Cook has been with Apple for around 13 years, his forte is more logistics than vision. This could make a difference in the way Apple products are perceived.
Mr Anshul Gupta, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner termed the transition at Apple as a “well planned move”. “Tim Cook has been doing well during Jobs' absence already and he is well respected within the company. Apple has likely decided product line-up and strategy broadly for next couple of years. This change is going to be business as usual for Apple,” he said.