Hmmm…doesn’t sound good.
I should have said he resigns his position. He wants to remain involved, still.
Here is his letter:
The only Apple product I have ever owned is an Apple II+ and an iPod. I generally think Apple products are overhyped and a little self-important.
Having said that, the man is a legendary visionary, the products out of Apple under his stewardship have really defined a tech generation. And he is also a fantastic businessman, Apple is the most valuable company in the world and it is mostly due to his vision.
i hope he manages to get well.
Resigned from day to day running of Apple. Remains as Chairman of the Board.
I think Mr. Cook has been doing most of the operational work for quite some time now.
I hope Steve gets better soon, I understand he’s been fighting off Pancreatic Cancer for a while, and he’s had a tough time of it, the last Stevenote I watched, he looked decidedly unwell and quite gaunt, it was sad, really…
I’ve been an Apple user since the days of the old Apple II series (IIe and IIc), and the original Mac back in '84
Hope Steve does what he needs to to get better, hate to lose him prematurely
Good luck, Mr. Jobs
In related news, Apple stock has dropped 19 points, losing 5.07% of its value in after-hours trading since the announcement. I can’t help but feel a wee bit of schadenfreude at that - and the long descent sure to follow (hey, when you’re the biggest company in the world there’s only one place to go from there).
Poor Steve. I’ve never in my life cared about a CEO before.
That sound you just heard through your iPod’s earbuds was the crashing of Apple’s stock, marked by hundreds of thousands of fanboys crying out in despair.
So it wasn’t a great disturbance in The Force™ then?..
or another earthquake/aftershock?
psh, everyone’s stocks are crashing. My company’s stocks are crashing.
Oh, I don’t know… Apple is one of the best run companies around. Those people are still in place, they have tons of cash, Steve will still be there to share his vision. Maybe it’ll take a short term hit but the value in the company remains intact and I think investors recognize that and will treat it accordingly.
I think so, too. I imagine a lot of little geniuses out there have been short on Apple just waiting for today. They’ll sell off, make $10, and life will go on.
Heck, I just bought myself a couple of shares. If I had more cash in my Sharebuilder account, I would have purchased a whole lot more of them.
So much fail in one small post. At the moment Apple is down $7.00 or so which isn’t even the lowest it’s been this week. There might be a short term dip in the stock but probably hard to detect in the noise of the last few week’s market shifts. And, in the long term, there might be an effect. But for the next couple of years at least, they’ve got a solid product plan and will (probably) be releasing the eagerly awaited iPhone5 in the next few weeks. They’ve had several years to plan for Steve Job’s retirement and they have a capable management team in place.
And, by no statistic is Apple the biggest company in the world – here’s Forbe’s list of the top 2000. By their metrics, Apple is #47. (Their metrics mix sales and assets as well as simply market cap.)
Steve Jobs is an immensely talented individual and there’s something to be said for the “one man, one vote (and he’s the man with the vote)” school of corporate leadership, but a company of Apple’s size is going to have a significant talent pool. It’s a bit too early to be abandoning ship because a new captain is at the helm.
It was, very briefly on August 9th, the biggest company in the world. Please do try to keep up.
And, is this August 9th? No, I don’t think it is. Was it August 9th when you made your post claiming Apple was the biggest company in the world? No it wasn’t.
Did my post mention that metrics other than market cap were used to determine what the biggest companies in the world were? Yes, it did.
I’m pretty sure that I’m not only caught up, but very slightly ahead.
After Jack Layton’s passing this week, I can’t help but think the worst in this situation - maybe his cancer has come back.
My point was that it reached its pinnacle and the only way from there is down. I’m also aware of the absurdly cult-like indoctrination program Apple has in place to teach its up-and-comers how to “think like Jobs” and ask themselves “What would Steve do?”. Yes, I’m aware of all of that.
But cults tend to wane in power without their grand leader, and I’m betting that the same thing will happen to Apple eventually. Yes, they are ginormous with lots of market influence so they will be around for a long time, but they’ll never be the same (nor will they continue to have the same levels of success).
Six Great Steve Jobs Moments Caught on Camera [video], for anyone interested.
I know, he’s not dead!