iResign

The co-founder of IT giant Apple Inc, Steve Jobs, has announced his resignation as CEO in a letter to the board of directors and the Apple community.

The 56-year-old had taken medical leave in January but said Wednesday he wanted to remain involved in the company as "chairman of the board, director and Apple employee" if the board saw fit.

"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," Jobs wrote in his letter of resignation. "Unfortunately, that day has come."

Jobs' battle with ill health had long cast his future as CEO into question but the markets still took the news badly, with Apple's share price falling over 6 percent after the announcement.

Considering his role with the company, and his inextricable links to its successes and failures alike, this can come as little surprise.

Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976, playing a key role in the home-computing revolution in his early years. Despite these successes, Jobs' popularity in the company began to wane, his powers were gradually removed and in 1985, he was fired. This marked the decline of Apple's fortunes, along with the meteoric rise of Bill Gates' rival computer concern, Microsoft.

Via the acquisition of NeXT, the computer company Jobs set up on his own, the co-founder was brought back into the fold in 1997. Soon after he was named temporary CEO, with the qualifier "temporary" dropped from his title in 2000.

Branching out

In the 21st century, Apple began branching out into non-computer markets with great success. The iPod portable music device, or MP3 player, was the company's first major foray into a new arena, followed by the iPhone mobile phone and later the iPad tablet computer.

These successful diversifications, coupled with a renewed surge in sales for Apple's Macintosh range of home computers and laptops, drove the company back to the forefront of the IT sector, surpassing Microsoft in terms of market value in May 2010 and briefly becoming the world's most highly-valued company earlier this year.

Fans of Apple products around the world offered thousands of glowing tributes to Jobs after his announcement, with many referring to him as an icon of the entire technology industry.

"I make calls every day with my iPhone3, send Weibo messages by iPhone4, jog to podcasts downloaded from iTunes, listen to music on my iPod, use applications from the App Store and surf the net with my Mac - never before has a company been entwined so deeply in my life," Chinese blogger Wang Lifen said in a tribute on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

More effusive praise gushed in from rivals at other companies, with one official noting his bravery in fighting and beating a rare form of pancreatic cancer, starting in 2004.

"I think his brilliance has been well-documented, but what gets forgotten is the bravery with which he's confronted his illness," said Sony CEO Howard Stringer. "For him to achieve this much success under these circumstances doubles his legacy."

Jobs has been known for his intricate involvement with the design and conception processes for many of Apple's products, but also for his charismatic public speaking engagements; he has often given lengthy, impassioned demonstrations to mark the launches of new products.

Jobs' right-hand-man Tim Cook, the Apple chief operating officer who has served several stints as stand-in CEO during his friend's battles with illness, will take over at the top of the company.

Author: Mark Hallam (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Martin Kuebler