Steve Jobs has resigned

[navychop]

Coming soon: iClone

 

[isaacmorseMI]

How much has Steve Jobs' Apple bitten you? | Crave - CNET

 

[DustoMan]

I don't know. I'm actually surprised he didn't resign sooner. I believe the most recent video we've seen of him was in front of the Cupertino city council back in June. He really didn't look all that great.
Steve Jobs Presents to the Cupertino City Council (6/7/11) - YouTube

Even with his health on the decline, he is still Apple. As chairman, he probably will have final approval on all major projects until the day he is no longer with us.

 

[Ramy]

He doesn't look good at all and I thought he would have done this a lot sooner.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

A very interesting take by i, Cringley on Jobs, and his next move...

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » Cupertino Two-Step - Cringely on technology

Will the forthcoming biography be Jobs' technology manifesto, and begin to reveal Apple's grand plan?

 

[TheForce]

He actually did back in January 17th. But that was just a trial separation of duties, not the official title. Basically, Tim was doing the job ( no puin here, and as he had done successfully twice before when Steve was on sick leave),but not getting the credit. Insiders say that as of that date Steve's presence has been non-existent compared to before. Tim has been running the show. So what will he control as Chairman of the Board? Usually this will be stockholder relations matters. As Chairman he will just conduct the meetings and get one vote as the others do, including Al Gore who is also on the board. The board does not review day to day operations of the company but it does approve budgets, hire the top position, CEO and maybe others per bylaws of the company. The board also reports top the SEC and stock holders as they are elected by the stock holders, one vote per share of common stock.

 

[TheForce]

Grand Plan? Interesting Mike. I was at Comdex Microsoft Party in 1988 or was it 1987 when Bill Gates announced his grand plan, titled: "Information at your fingertips" I think we have essentially achieved that today as we can find out anything we want just by asking.

IMO the Apple grand plan has been to make technology work like humans think and want it to work, not the way technogeeks think we should work.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Grand Plan? Interesting Mike. I was at Comdex Microsoft Party in 1988 or was it 1987 when Bill Gates announced his grand plan, titled: "Information at your fingertips" I think we have essentially achieved that today as we can find out anything we want just by asking.

IMO the Apple grand plan has been to make technology work like humans think and want it to work, not the way technogeeks think we should work.

That was I, Cringley speaking more than me, but I am sure there will be tidbits of the future in that book, just hints. I should have said "the next step in Apple's grand plan." For whatever else Jobs is, the guy has a vision. Its really quite impressive when you look at the NYTimes thread on patents.

 

[TheForce]

Mike- I do think with Steve gone, finally, Apple will cease to be a cult and become more like an Exxon Mobil corporation. Big with excellent product line. If it does remain a cult, it will be like the Catholic Church. No Pope has ever replaced Jesus. But, if it does become like the Church, then that will be the death of Apple. I hope it becomes more of an Exxon-Mobil corporation. Right now, it's well on the way making that transition. Cultists will die off and disappear as the Apple customers of the world grow as just customers and not members of the cult. You and I are in that category.

Stock sees just a 1.6% fall off in the wake of Job's letter. Not surprised, but disappointed as I was hoping for a big drop to buy more shares at super bargain prices. From a stock analysts perspective, it is looking like the market has built into the average $360 price range the loss of Steve Jobs already. Only thing recently that had Apple fall to season lows is the season of usual cycle. July and August has always been bad for tech and a good time to build position in good companies at cheap prices.

 

[jayn_j]

I totally agree, Don. It is hard to think of examples of companies that were wildly successful with the same crative energy after the founders left or retired.

I lived through the HP years. Bill and Dave trained their successor for 10 years before retiring the first time. They then walked away and gave John Young a free hand. After another ten years or so, they came back, took over the company and announced that they were there to help with the transition while John "retired". They worked just as hard in finding and training Lew Platt to take over the position. It fell apart when lew turned out to be just as short term focused. I don't know if the founders decided another round wouldn't be any better or if they were getting too old to handle another round. They were in their '80s by then, but frankly, the company philosophy changed and not gradually from the late '80s onward.

You can come up with similar stories for a lot of tech companies. It is hard to find ones where the new crew had the same dedication and vision. My vote is that Apple transitions in the next 5 years into just another maker of personal electronics with market share slowly being eaten up by the next visionary.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

See, now this is an interesting discussion. In the end the question is whether the cult really is about Steve Jobs or whether it is that half-bitten apple logo and that grand plan you mentioned:

IMO the Apple grand plan has been to make technology work like humans think and want it to work, not the way technogeeks think we should work.

Time will tell.

Apple is in a very different place from the other tech companies. Not only does it produce hardware, it produces operating systems that are wildly successful. Google produces software, but is not in the hardware business (yet); Microsoft seems to be going the way of the dinosaur, with the exception of the fact that it still produces the single largest desktop operating system (yet one that does not have the same user satisfaction, and certainly none of the excitement), and the others mostly produce hardware.

Again, time will tell.

 

[mike123abc]

I seriously hope that Apple can keep up the good work. I hope it does not go the way it did the last time Jobs left the company. I am sure the board learned its lesson that Apple is not a "big company" - what I mean is run to maximize shareholder value. But, a company built on providing what the customer needs just as the customer discovers he always wanted it. I know it is an odd statement as the company has provided very good shareholder value and is one of the largest (if not the largest by market cap) companies in the US.

This is where I think Jobs always had the right mind set - produce a product that people will want, even when they do not know they will want it, not try to compete in an existing market.

 

[TheForce]

Doesn't look like the announcement has affected the stock in any significant way in today's trading, mostly making up for the panic after hours trading that is leaving the short sellers scrambling to cover their shorts. Stock is only down 0.85% since before the announcement. It has been in recovery mode most of the day from the crash last night immediately following the announcement. Lot of shorts lost their shirts.

 

[yaz96]

Doesn't look like the announcement has affected the stock in any significant way in today's trading, mostly making up for the panic after hours trading that is leaving the short sellers scrambling to cover their shorts. Stock is only down 0.85% since before the announcement. It has been in recovery mode most of the day from the crash last night immediately following the announcement. Lot of shorts lost their shirts.

I wish I could have bought last night in the 350's.

I was hoping to catch it this morning, but it didn't happen, no freefall.

 

[John Kotches]

Like him or not, one of the first gen PC greats is starting to walk away... An amazing career, spanning parts of 5 decades.

apple, Pixar, neXt and apple again. those that follow the industry and are old (like me) realize that what is Mac now was neXt in the 1990s. Mach kernel + roots in open bsd + the GUI layer. Great stuff but very big $$.

I hope he beats the disease!





Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Again on the love him or hate him, this piece from a Google Executive went the rounds on Google Plus yesterday, and was reproduced in The Daily today. A testament to Jobs' focus on details.

Verbatim: Toasting Jobs? legendary attention to detail - WWW.THEDAILY.COM

 

[TheForce]

Let's not forget Job's first claim to notoriety in 1970. That was when he and the WOZ were showing everyone how to hack Ma Bell to get free long distant phone calls. I remember reading about them and their published design plans in Popular Electronics for the Blue Box, the first hacking device using inward circuit's magic mystery tone of 2300 Hz. By the time the Blue Box plans were published, everyone in the ham radio world knew how to build the phone black box that used nothing more than a toggle switch and two NPO 4 mfd capacitors and a phone hand set. I think the Steve's like to forget those days.

YAZ96- you can trade after hours without a license by using Ameritrade account maybe other online accounts too. I've done it many times. Just enter a limit order to execute as regular + extended hours and it will often execute during a dip or peak after hours. Not sure of how it's done, I just know that I have done is may times. If you trade with a broker, you probably won't find him to make your order request after hours.

 

[foghorn2]

Are they going to send him to China for his health care?

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Apple's confidence in Tim Cook:

Daring Fireball Linked List: In It for the Long Haul

in today's stock value, a $383 Million signing bonus. Sounds like they have plenty of confidence in the guy.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Just saw a very gaunt and sad photo of Steve Jobs, taken by TMZ today. How low do these papparazi go? The guy looks like his time will be short. Don't wish that on anybody.