Fin de una Era

Posted at 08:40 AM ET, 08/25/2011

Steve Jobs resigns: Reactions to the end of an era

By Hayley Tsukayama

Steve Jobs is stepping down as Apple CEO. Apple has named COO Tim Cook as his successor. (Justin Sullivan - Getty Images) Steve Jobs has resigned as Apple's CEO, a position he's held since his return to the company in 1997, though he will stay on as chairman. Admired and hated by the tech industry, Jobs, 56, has rebuilt the company he co-founded in 1976, turning it from the brink of bankruptcy into a company responsible for the greatest hits in personal technology: the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

Apple's stock took a hit after-hours trading on the news that Jobs is stepping down as CEO, down about 5 percent before the markets open Thursday. But analysts have said that Apple will survive and that they have faith in new CEO Tim Cook, who has effectively been running the company while Jobs has been on medical leave.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Jobs will remain on the board of directors at the Walt Disney Corp.

Here's what people are saying about Jobs's announcement this morning:

In their words —

Steve Wozniak to Bloomberg: When he returned to Apple, I wasn't really sure how that would work out, and I've just been totally blown away. I feel that I'm one of the luckiest people in the world to have been able to know this incredibly great person and to have been a friend of his.

Google's Vic Gundrota: Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products. They have been a part of my life for decades. Even when I worked for 15 years for Bill Gates at Microsoft, I had a huge admiration for Steve and what Apple had produced.

Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg:

Most people are lucky if they can change the world in one important way, but Jobs, in multiple stages of his business career, changed global technology, media and lifestyles in multiple ways on multiple occasions.

He did it because he was willing to take big risks on new ideas, and not be satisfied with small innovations fed by market research. He also insisted on high quality and had the guts to leave out features others found essential and to kill technologies, like the floppy drive and the removable battery, he decided were no longer needed. And he has been a brilliant marketer, personally passionate about his products.

Robert Scoble: Today's news fills me with emotion. The kind you can't really explain. It's wrapped up in a lifetime of living in Silicon Valley and it isn't really explainable.

Love him or hate him, Steve Jobs changed my world in major ways. Not many people can say that. Which is why I'm feeling this strange emotion right now that I can't explain to you in words or actions.

Daring Fireball's Jon Gruber: Jobs's greatest creation isn't any Apple product. It is Apple itself.

And in his —

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

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