Goodbye Steve Jobs, hello Steve (and Tim)

Steve Jobs, Apple’s ‘irreplaceable’ CEO, has resigned and been replaced. Photo / AP

Opinion

As you probably already know, Steve Jobs, Apple's 'irreplaceable' CEO, has resigned and been replaced.

Apple published a letter from Steve Jobs, who is 56, to the Board of Directors and the Apple Community. (That's us. Well, some of us.)

Well, it proves Apple did have a succession plan after all - as the letter says: "As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple. "

Tim Cook, who appears somewhat colourless compared to the popular, crowd-pulling Jobs, has been doing a good job by all accounts. He certainly has been drawing a stupendous enough wage as Apple's Chief Operating Officer.

Now Cook is Apple's new CEO, it's hard to imagine him going for Steve's 'dollar a year' wage.

Jobs is still there - he has already been elected Chairman of the Board, and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

I have to fess up here and say I've never bought Jobs' cult of personality. I've never got up at 4am (or whatever) to watch a keynote. I always found the fawning of the crowds at those events a bit creepy.

Plus I always imagined Apple's CEO to be a pretty uncompromising, hard-to-deal with character, actually. Resolute to the point of arrogance, which is a culture I perceive in many facets of Apple - but I'm guessing about his character.

In the resignation, Jobs wrote "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." This may well be true, but I always imagined there'd be a much longer list of those burnt by the man's drive and ambition, but once again, how would I know? (Although there is evidence.)

So you won't see me writing stuff like this: "It is incredibly hard for me to write right now. To me, like many of you, it is an incredibly emotional moment ..." That's Om Malik at Gigaom.

Yeah ... I don't buy it. Whatever your opinion of Jobs, it certainly takes a strong character to keep Apple doing what it has been doing.

Apple has always flown against the face of popular opinion, but also contrary to the accepted wisdom of the tech industry. If anything, this has just proved how moribund, unimaginative and hidebound most industry people actually were. (And many still are.)

For there's no doubt Jobs' singularity of vision has been an absolute winner for Apple.

When Jobs came back to Apple in 1997, the company was in such a parlous state it had even been selling code to Microsoft. In New Zealand, Apple Mac use had dropped to under three per cent from a high of around 12 per cent of the PC market, and this downturn was echoed all around the world.

Then Jobs came back, and soon after his return he personally introduced the ground-breaking, USB fitted, all-in-one CRT 'jelly' iMac (1998) and the tide began to turn, very slowly.

The 'i' in the first iMac stood for 'internet' and it was 'net-connectible out of the box. This was a foretaste of Job's vision of the computer as an appliance, a 'knowledge navigator' that anyone could use.

This vision is now encapsulated in portable form in iOS on the iPad, the gadget Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak called the vision Jobs always had, finally realised in a device.

Now, the next version of the iPhone ('5') is imminent and there are even rumours of a revolutionary new Mac in the wings - but these are just rumours. Since Apple has the money to invest in new tech, and files and buys patents like nobody's business, and has never been shy in investing in research and development, even when money was much scarcer, the future still looks both surprising and promising for Apple's faithful, and soon to be faithful.

The Inc is on a high - it's got billions in the bank, its products have consistently broken sales records and it's far from over, even though Apple's share price dropped a little on the resignation announcement.

Hopefully with Jobs' involvement in the board and Cook's firm hand on the tiller, Apple will continue its long and rewarding streak.

What we don't know is why Jobs isn't any longer able to meet his "duties and expectations as Apple's CEO."

We can only assume it's health related. Jobs' health has been bad, as anyone can see. He has a rarer form of pancreatic cancer and has had a liver transplant.

I may never have bought his cult of personalty, but I wish him the best. Jobs may be able to afford the best doctors on Earth - hell, in the Solar System - but that doesn't lesson the gravity of his fundamental health problems. And don't forget, Apple's greatest rise to current prominence has been through his trying years of illness, and medical absences.
That surely attests to a fairly unbelievable singularity of vision, not to mention bravery.

For now, Apple watchers and those already planning on buying the next awesome device - probably an 'iPhone 5' due in October - need to take heart in Apple's professed certainty in Tim Cook: "The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO," said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple's Board. "Tim's 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does."

I am sure Cook will endeavour to do his utmost. He's taking over possibly the most daunting role in tech right now, but also the most successful. Imagine messing that up?

But many hope Jobs will at least front a few more keynotes. The Wall Street Journal writes that he will continue to maintain an active role in product strategic planning.

To me, that's a lot more important than standing on stage announcing 'one more thing'.