Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple after a long and eventful career with the company he co-founded with Steve Wozniak in the 1970s.
He holds the distinction of being at the cutting edge of ICT developments for 36 years, from the 1975 release of the Apple 1 to the current wave of success with the iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone.
To see Apple in pole position today is stunning and to have predicted the company’s current leading role just five years ago would have brought hoots of derision. Then came the iPod music player’s chatty friend, the iPhone, followed by the iPad – all portable devices with advanced features and eye-candy design features.
For much of its existence, Apple has been viewed as a niche product company. Despite doing much to trigger the personal computer industry with the successful Apple II in 1977, Jobs insisted that Apple’s products would be distinctively designed, using high quality components, and he guarded his products with a fierce, proprietary zeal.
In his years outside Apple, Jobs also bought into Pixar which ultimately resulted in the first fully computer-generated feature length cartoon, Toy Story.
On his return to Apple in 1996, he brought with him the NeXTSTEP operating system from the failed computer company and had it turned into OS X. At this time Apple was literally hanging on to its existence but Jobs’ energy as CEO put it back on course.
Then came the iPod in 2001 which not only established Apple in the consumer market but also overtook Apple’s computer revenues. The rest is history but the story came to a comma if not a fullstop with Jobs’ announcement of his semi-retirement.
Jobs has been ill since he developed a form of pancreatic cancer, a neuroendocrine tumor, in 2003. As is often the case with this kind of tumor, he had a liver transplant and, over time this can have repercussions. When he withdrew from daily involvement with Apple last January, no details were given but, obviously, his health has yet to improve and he considers himself no longer able to perform his duties.
Longer term, there have been rumours that Apple will move into a new range of products in the coming years and Jobs’ steering hand is still on the tiller as chairman. It is not time for market jitters yet and Steve Jobs’ presence will calm any fears. It is likely to be business as usual at the Cupertino headquarters until the day that Jobs ends his involvement with Apple.
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