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’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. “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.”

“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.

Link - http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Steve-Job ... l?x=0&.v=1

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I am quite surprised by his resignation of Apple, he pretty much brought the company to the mainstream

All I can say is that, without Steve Jobs, the computer landscape today would be a very, very different place. I respect this man so much, and wish him all the best.

that was a shocker....go on the internet and WHAM!!!! thank you Steve Jobs for the great innovation you have brought us.

No Way you must be joking! sees source SHOCKED and whos next?

If NeXTcubes had cost 500$ as planned and not 6500$ then Jobs hadnt stopped manufacturing them in 1993 and we would had them in Doom as office objects.

you are right that would be terrible

Im a PC fan but im sad hes gone...

Tim cook will be taking over as CEO, Steve will still (maybe) be the chairman.

Steve is the chairman.

I respect you, Steve.

is he really doing that!

Well, at least Jobs isn't really just leaving the company. What ever happened to Woz though?

Wikipedia (yeah, yeah) says that Woz no longer works at Apple but he still gets a paycheck from them.

Well I can't say I have much apple stuff but I will still respect him for the man he its sad you see you go steve.

Since I'm a PC guy I'll say good luck apple still.

For the record. He hasn't "gone" anywhere. It was probably an internal decision made after discussion and agreement with all concerned parties. On observation, I would say he has been promoted "sideways" and slightly up

Well I hope they'll change the naming scheme now, Jobs is obsessed with iNames...

Sad to hear. And yeah, they'll probably change the iNames.

too bad he's gone, because of that goddamned cancer...

It is true, without him the IT industry would be such a different place. Shame to see him (sort-of) moving out of the spotlight, like it was when Bill Gates resigned from his major duties in Microsoft.

cancer, oh! really?

Yup, rumors suggest he already went to the same place Patrick Swayze once went... forgot how the damn place is called...

He had cancer was it 2 years ago as well?

Poor man, made an excellent success out of pieces of silicon. One of the absolute geniuses of the IT industry.

I don't particularly care about this, company leaders change all the time and it's not as everybody depends on Apple or anything, but saying that I do use a couple of their products. Don't have a go at me or anything, but I haven't really liked the way Apple have been doing things lately. I'm not saying I don't care for the man himself, though, he has brought great innovation in the past. Not sure why everybody's acting like he's died or something though, he's just not CEO any more. THINGS CHANGE.


Soooo not biased or anything [/sarcasm]

I feel the same. I feel sorry for the guy because of the cancer thing, but I really don't care if he's not the CEO anymore... Gates did it, so why couldn't he?

Steve Jobs was the manwho drove the company forward. Job the bar for portable computers...the good old days. Cook is going to be a good CEO but i don't believe anyone could replace Job. raised I'm really sorry that he is battle cancer, he had cancer 3 years ago, i believe. I hope apple stocks don't drop like last time. HMM wonder What innovations Cook comes up with, bet he gonna go with another catchphrase instead of i.

I'm not an Apple fan but I respect the work Jobs did for that company. Apple was a laughing stock in the late 90s and now just over 10 years later they are a major company.