Q66 As Steve Jobs steps down as CEO what's the future for Apple?

INTRODUCTION

Apple has announced today that Steve Jobs is stepping down as CEO of Apple effective immediately, replaced by COO Tim Cook, who’s been serving as interim CEO recently. Jobs isn’t completely out of the picture, though — he’s staying with the company as Chairman of the Board. This all comes at a time when rumors were swirling that a proper succession plan might be coming together. Clearly, there’s no such thing as a good time for Jobs to leave the company that he brought to superstardom, but by all appearances, Cupertino isn’t being caught flat-footed.

We’re hearing from sources that Jobs will continue to have an active strategic role in the company, just as he has through Cook’s position as fill-in CEO most of this year. Notably, the Wall Street Journal‘s Yukari Iwatani Kane — who has an established track record of inside information at Apple — is hearing the same thing. By all appearances, that’s a good sign for Jobs’ health and well-being.

Here’s the letter from Jobs “to the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community” distributed over the newswires this evening:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

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

==================================================================================

DISCUSSION

Steve Jobs' resignation

But product pipeline stocked for at least two, maybe three years, say analysts

Steve Jobs announced Wednesday that he is resigning as Apple CEO.

Computerworld - Steve Jobs' resignation Wednesday as the CEO of Apple will not disrupt the company's product plans in the short-term, but it could dull Apple's ability to dazzle consumers down the road, according to one analyst.

"Apple is fine, and will be," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "Apple knows what it's doing for the next big thing, maybe the next two next big things. They lose the showmanship of Jobs, but [the company's executives] have their marching orders."

Shortly after Jobs submitted his resignation, the Apple board of directors took his advice and named Tim Cook, formerly the chief operating officer, as the new CEO. Also on Wednesday, Jobs was named chairman of the board.

But to some longtime Apple observers, the departure of Jobs is a potential pitfall for the company.

How Steve Jobs changed Apple...

Potential pitfalls in Apple CEO transition, say experts

QuickPoll: Can Apple maintain its mojo without Steve Jobs at the helm?

Will Jobs' departure shake up the mobile industry?

'Operations guy' Tim Cook gets chance to shine at Apple

Steve Jobs' resignation 'end of an era'

Steve Jobs at Apple: A timeline

Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO, Tim Cook takes helm

Apple turns to Tim Cook to replace Steve Jobs

More in Apple Update

"Apple will be a changed company without Jobs," said Rob Enderle of Enderle Group. "It will be a very different Apple."

Jobs, who co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak, was forced out of the company in 1985, a year after the launch of the original Macintosh, by then-CEO John Scully and the Apple board. Jobs founded NeXT that same year.

He returned to an Apple in early 1997 when the company acquired NeXT, first as an adviser and then as interim CEO. Jobs was named permanent CEO in 2000.

Jobs' departure, the analysts agreed, will certainly affect how Apple markets itself and, ultimately, how customers view the company.

"Longer term, Apple won't pull off the miracles it did during one of the great leadership careers in business," said Gottheil, citing the iPhone, which Jobs personally launched in 2007, and then the iPad in 2010.

Enderle was more blunt.

"Companies that lose an iconic leader -- whether IBM when Thomas Watson Jr. stepped down, or Disney when Walt Disney was gone, or even Microsoft without Bill Gates -- firms that went through that transition largely lost the magic," said Enderle.

He also compared Jobs to P.T. Barnum and traced a line from Barnum to Disney to Jobs, saying each was "magical" in his own way. "Apple with Jobs was magical," Enderle said. "And [without those leaders] you can't do the magic. And Tim Cook isn't magical."

Jobs was best as Apple's creative spark, said Gottheil; Enderle saw it differently.

"It's how he marketed, how he announced products and how he put them in the public eye," said Enderle. "The iPhone wasn't the first smartphone. It was a success because of the way it was packaged and delivered."

While Enderle believes that Apple could undergo dramatic changes within 24 months -- conceivably before the already-stocked product pipeline is exhausted -- Gottheil was more optimistic about its chances without Jobs.

"Three years out, Apple is less likely to dazzle, to explode," said Gottheil. "There will be more duds. But the product lines begun during the Jobs years will be executed very well."

The analysts disputed whether collectively, the executive team at Apple equaled Jobs, or could stand in his stead. Gottheil thought they could, and with the exception of Jobs' performance on stage during product launches, would.

"The real question is whether the people at Apple can execute the strategies he's set, and use the lessons he's taught," said Gottheil, who believes they are up to the task.

"Of course, after this, when a product launches with flaws, people will say, 'If Jobs were there, that wouldn't have happened.' Well, Jobs was there when Apple launched products with flaws," said Gottheil.

Enderle wasn't as sure.

"Operationally, Tim Cook is great," Enderle said. "But like [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer, who is incredible operationally, he's not the visionary.

Jobs' resignation may have been a surprise, but it wasn't totally unexpected.

A survivor of pancreatic cancer, Jobs took a leave of several months' duration in 2009, during which he had a liver transplant. In January 2011, he again stepped away for medical reasons.

In a letter he released today through Apple's public relations department, Jobs did not give an explicit reason for resigning, but intimated that the decision was health-related.

"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," Jobs said in the letter. "Unfortunately, that day has come."

Jobs has made few public appearances since January, among them the product launch of the iPad 2 in March and the keynote of Apple's annual developers conference in June. Also in June, he spoke before the Cupertino, Calif., city council to promote a new campus the company wants to build.

Gottheil and Enderle agreed that Jobs' resignation was related to his health.

"If he had the operational strength to run the company, he wouldn't have stepped down," said Enderle.

Both analysts bemoaned his departure.

"He was the CEO of the decade for an entire decade," said Enderle. "He was the iconic CEO that started off the century."

===============================================================================

CONCLUSION

Well he had to leave some day. It's what Bill did at Microsoft only I think Steve stayed a bit longer. I think Apple will be fine though. Reading some doom and gloom here and there but from what I read, Steve is in everyone's DNA. So I guess everyone at Apple will carry on the torch. And it's not like Steve single-handedly created all these devices."ITS ACTUALLY END OF STEVE JOB ERA AND BEGINING OF TIM COOK ERA"

=================================================================================

Submitted by:- ASHISH TULI

Submitted To:- prof. Gurdeepak singh