image from Apple.com
Yesterday, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple Inc. Apple posted his very thoughtful resignation letter to their media site.
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
Although not unexpected, it was still a bit of a shock. As Steve recommended, Apple immediately announced Tim Cook as the new CEO. Tim has been acting as CEO since Steve took his most recent medical leave of absence. Many of our recent conversations have been around how they have been able to build these fantastic devices which no longer cost more than the competition. Tim Cook is behind all that supply chain optimization.
My first reaction was that it was too early. I thought for sure we would see an iPhone 4Gs/5 (depending on the rumor you believe) before this came official. But now that I’ve had twelve hours to think about it, and I’ve been able to see what Apple has done in after hours trading, this makes sense.
Apple isn’t a single man. The next iPhone is in the bag. Their next two to three years of development is detailed out. Their next five years of strategy is set. Tim can drive Apple to execute. Jony and team will continue to design fantastic stuff. Phil and team will continue to understand who their customers are, way better than the pundits do. Scott and team will continue to deliver fantastic mobile hardware and software.
Cringely makes a good point. We don’t know who the next visionary is. But at this point, we don’t need to. The visionary will be revealed, and Apple will continue to success.
If you believe in Apple, like I do, today might be a good day to buy Apple stock. It’s currently trading down 2% from yesterday (at $368 a share), and seems to be in a freefall. It’s still way up from a small dip it took two months ago ($315 on June 20th), and has done nothing but grow since the recession hit in late 2008 (looks like a low of $85 in early March 2009.)
data from Google.com
I think I’m buying, its just a matter of waiting until the bottom.
