Farewell Steve (1955-2011)
Steve Jobs died today at the age of 56. As someone who grew up with a Mac Classic and followed Steve and Apple through the ups and downs, he’s always been a personal inspiration. Steve was a visionary and has shaped the world in ways that will reverberate into the future for decades to come. It fills me with a profound sadness to know that someone so unique is gone in the prime of his life. I had the pleasure of watching Steve give a keynote at the Mac Expo in Paris in what seems like many years ago now – I regret never having had the opportunity to shake his hand, and thank him for all that he’s given us.
Thank you Steve. You will be remembered, always.
[Update] Apple has posted the video of their Celebrating Steve event from October 19th.
Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple CEO, Tim Cook Named as Successor
Today is a sad day. Steve Jobs, the man who founded Apple and single-handedly turned the company back around and redefined the music and mobile computing industry, has announced his resignation as CEO. Steve has been an inspiration to me for as long as I can remember, and his vision and attention to detail has defined a generation and brought us products that are, without a doubt, insanely great. Unfortunately Steve has struggled with health issues over the past few years, and I wish him all the best. I’m very happy to see him continue as part of Apple as Chairman of the Board. Here is Steve’s press release:
PRESS RELEASE: Letter from Steve Jobs
August 24, 2011–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.
As far as Apple goes, well, it’s always difficult to know what the company will do, but it’s safe to say that they’re in the most stable and dominant position they’ve ever been. Although Steve was the visionary, he’s had a rock solid team of executives working with him, and I’m sure that his succession plan was developed to leave Apple in the best possible situation. Apple has already announced Tim Cook as his successor, and Steve being elected to Chairman of the Board. In my opinion Tim will be a solid CEO, and proved to be extremely capable during Steve’s previous absence; I just hope he also shares some of Steve’s creative vision.
Apple stocks crashed nearly 5% in after-hours trading, which is to be expected. As the world has been aware of Steve’s medical condition for a while now, his resignation did not come as too much of a shock, otherwise the drop would’ve been far more significant. Apple has strong fundamentals, and an excellent performance capped off by a massive cash store. If the stock does drop, it will be very short lived as investors realise that the company is as solid as ever. Not to mention that Apple’s roadmap is more or less fixed for the next two years anyway.
Again, Steve I wish you all the best, get well soon, and welcome to Tim as the new leader of what will continue to be a source of innovation for years to come! I look forward to reading Steve’s official biography. Hit the jump for Apple’s full press release.
Steve Jobs Presents New Apple Campus to Cupertino Council [Updated]
Just a day after his keynote at the World Wide Developer Conference, Steve was giving a different kind of presentation… to the Cupertino Council.
Five years ago Apple purchased a large chunk of land from HP, and have been planning on building a new campus to house 12,000 employees. As Steve explained (and this guy can sell anything), the new campus will feature a beautiful circular building, to be set in a massive landscaped park. The picture below shows how close it’ll be to Apple’s headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop, and a mock-up of what it will look like from space (likely the setting of Apple’s new campus in 2098).
The campus will even feature its own natural gas power station, because it seems like Steve doesn’t trust the electricity company. The entire project is pegged for completion by 2015.
[Updated 9/06/2011] Steve has made his coucil presentation slides available (PDF). Details have emerged that the architect will probably be Norman Foster.
Hit the jump for a video of Steve’s pitch to the council. Read more
WWDC 2011 Reaction: Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud
I’ve been following Apple for pretty much my whole life, and I like to think that I have a good feel for how the company is going to behave. Every so often they actually manage to surprise me a little, which is always nice, and WWDC 2011 managed to do that. First off, it was nice to see Steve back in action, particularly as all the stuff he announced is essentially what he had been dreaming about and predicted as the future of technology back in WWDC ’97! Secondly, although it may not seem like it, this WWDC was different, and in my opinion is the starting point for something fairly major, both for Apple and the future of the way we use technology in general.
I don’t want this to be a long protracted post about what was announced, but here is a short recap. Read more
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