Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple, COO Tim Cook Named as Successor

The Board of Directors of Apple, Inc. announced on Wednesday that Steve Jobs has resigned as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company.

Time Cook (L) and Steve Jobs (R)

In a resignation letter, Steve Jobs personally recommended Tim Cook, a man known more for his operational expertise than vision, as his successor.



Here’s the full resignation letter sent to the Apple Board of Directors and to you, members of 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

Steve Jobs left no explanation for his exit in the CEO role, but it undoubtedly raised concern regarding his health. We can recall that Jobs was diagnosed of a pancreatic cancer and underwent a liver transplant back in 2009. Just early this year, he took again a medical leave of absence.



As of this writing, Apple stock dipped as much as 5% following Jobs’ resignation.



In a press release sent to the media, Jobs has been elected Chairman of Apple’s Board of Directors, and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.



The question now is will Apple continue its winning streak under new leadership? Well, according to Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board:

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO. 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.”

Read on the full press release after the break.



Click to Read Press Release

Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.



“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”



“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “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.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.



As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.



Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

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2010 Mobile Device Sales Surge 31.8 Percent Worldwide; Android Smartphone OS Grew 888.8 Percent from 2009

Research firm Gartner Inc. reported Wednesday the previous year’s final number of sales recorded for mobile devices worldwide.

Mobile device sales to end users in 2010 accounted a total of 1.6 Billion units, a 31.8 percent increase from 2009. Leading player by number of handsets sold is Nokia with 461.3 million units sold, followed by Samsung and LG Electronics with 281 and 114 million units sold, respectively. Research In Motion and Apple, Inc. displaced Sony Ericsson and Motorola at the 4th and 5th spot with 47.4 and 46.5 million units, respectively.



Nokia, Samsung, and LG’s total market share declined significantly together with other players like Sony Ericsson and Motorola; while Apple, RIM, ZTE, HTC, and Huawei have better numbers in terms of market share.

Worldwide smartphone sales to end users grew 72 percent in 2010 from a year earlier, to a total of 297 million units. Symbian OS still accounted the most number of handsets despite a 9.3 percent decline of the market share. Android market share is on the extent of sloping sharply in which it grew 888.8 percent in the previous year accounting to 67.2 million units, taking the number 2 spot of the most-widely used smartphone OS. Though Android surpassed Symbian OS in the fourth quarter of 2010, legacy products from Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and other phone manufacturers using the latter platform still pulled up the OS from the Finnish company to the first spot.



RIM’s BlackBerry OS and Apple’s iOS took the 3rd and 4th position, respectively; while Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 at the 5th position of the total market share by Operating System in 2010. [via]



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Larry Page is the New Google CEO, Eric Schmidt as Executive Chairman

Eric Schmidt, the current Chief Executive Officer of Google Inc., announced today that he will be transitioning as the company’s Executive Chairman starting April 4th, 2011.

Google’s founder Larry Page will seat then as Google CEO, while Sergey Brin will stay as the company’s Co-Founder.

From left to right - Eric, Larry and Sergey in a self-driving car photo

In his blog post,

Larry will now lead product development and technology strategy, his greatest strengths, and starting from April 4 he will take charge of our day-to-day operations as Google’s Chief Executive Officer. In this new role I know he will merge Google’s technology and business vision brilliantly. I am enormously proud of my last decade as CEO, and I am certain that the next 10 years under Larry will be even better! Larry, in my clear opinion, is ready to lead.

Sergey has decided to devote his time and energy to strategic projects, in particular working on new products. His title will be Co-Founder. He’s an innovator and entrepreneur to the core, and this role suits him perfectly.

As Executive Chairman, I will focus wherever I can add the greatest value: externally, on the deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership that are increasingly important given Google’s global reach; and internally as an advisor to Larry and Sergey.

With more than a decade in the Search industry, Google has revolutionized the way people use the internet. Since 2001, three years after the search giant was incorporated, Eric Schmidt played the role as Google CEO - leading the company to a place he never had imagined. While the company continues to grow, and innovates technological and advanced products and services for its users, they’ve decided to simplify the management structure of the company.

We are confident that this focus will serve Google and our users well in the future. Larry, Sergey and I have worked exceptionally closely together for over a decade—and we anticipate working together for a long time to come. – Eric Schmidt added.

What do you think of the move? Will Google continue to dominate the search engine market? How about its mobile platform, Android; and its upcoming Chrome OS? Well, let’s just see.



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