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Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and creative force, resigns

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Published : Aug. 25, 2011 - 09:11

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Steve Jobs, the mind behind the iPhone, iPad and other devices that turned Apple Inc. into one of the world's most powerful companies, resigned as CEO on Wednesday, saying he can no longer handle the job but will continue to play a leadership role.

In this March 2, 2011 file photo, Apple Inc. Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs waves to his audience at an Apple event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. (AP) In this March 2, 2011 file photo, Apple Inc. Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs waves to his audience at an Apple event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. (AP)




The move appears to be the result of an unspecified medical condition for which Jobs took a leave from his post in January. Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, was quickly named CEO of the company Jobs co-founded 35 years ago in his garage.

In a letter addressed to Apple's board and the ``Apple community,'' Jobs said he ``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.''

The company said Jobs gave the board his resignation Wednesday and suggested Cook be named the company's new leader. Apple said Jobs was elected board chairman and Cook is becoming a member of its board.

Genentech Inc. Chairman Art Levinson, in a statement issued on behalf of Apple's board, said Jobs' ``extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company.''

He said that Jobs will continue to provide ``his unique insights, creativity and inspiration,'' and that the board has ``complete confidence'' that Cook is the right person to replace him.

````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,'' Levinson said.

Jobs' health has long been a concern for Apple investors who see him as an industry oracle who seems to know what consumers want long before they do. After his announcement, Apple stock quickly fell 5.4 percent in after-hours trading.

Jeff Gamet, managing editor of The Mac Observer online news site focused on Apple, said Jobs' departure has more sentimental than practical significance, and that he has been telegraphing the change for several years.

``All Apple really has done is made official what they've been doing administratively for a while now, which is Tim runs the show and Steve gets to do his part to make sure the products come out to meet the Apple standard,'' he said.

``I expect that even though there are a lot of people that right now are sad or scared because Steve is stepping back from the CEO role, that ultimately they'll be OK,'' Gamet said.

But Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, said Jobs' maniacal attention to detail is what set Apple apart. He said Apple's product pipeline might be secure for another few years, but predicted that the company will eventually struggle to come up with market-changing ideas.

``Apple is Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs is Apple, and Steve Jobs is innovation,'' Chowdhry said. ``You can teach people how to be operationally efficient, you can hire consultants to tell you how to do that, but God creates innovation. ... Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing.''

Earlier this month Apple became the most valuable company in America, briefly surpassing Exxon Mobil. At the market close Wednesday its market value was $349 billion, just behind Exxon Mobil's $358 billion.

Jobs' hits seemed to grow bigger as the years went on: After the colorful iMac computer and the now-ubiquitous iPod, the iPhone redefined the category of smart phones and the iPad all but created the market for tablet computers.

His own aura seemed part of the attraction. On stage at trade shows and company events in his uniform of jeans, sneakers and black mock-turtlenecks, he'd entrance audiences with new devices, new colors, new software features, building up to a grand finale he'd predictably preface by saying, ``One more thing.''

Jobs, 56, shepherded Apple from a two-man startup to Silicon Valley darling when the Apple II, the first computer for regular people to really catch on, sent IBM Corp. and others scrambling to get their own PCs to market.

After Apple suffered a slump in the mid-1980s, he was forced out of the company. He was CEO at Next, another computer company, and Pixar, the computer-animation company that produced ``Toy Story'' on his watch, over the following 10 years.

Apple was foundering as he returned as an adviser in 1996 _ a year it lost $900 million as Microsoft Windows-based PCs dominated the computer market. The company's fortunes began to turn around with its first new product under Jobs' direction, the iMac, which launched in 1998 and sold about 2 million in its first 12 months.

Jobs eventually became interim CEO, then took the job permanently. Apple's popularity grew in the U.S. throughout the 2000s as the ever-sleeker line of iPods introduced many lifelong Windows users to their first Apple gadget. Apple created another sensation in 2007 with the iPhone, the stark-looking but powerful smart phone that quickly dominated the industry.

The iPad was introduced less than a year and a half ago but has already sold nearly 29 million units as it inspired myriad rivals in a tablet computer market that scarcely existed before Apple stepped in.

There have been some setbacks. Apple was swept up in a massive Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into stock options backdating in the mid-2000s, a practice that artificially boosted the value of options grants. But Jobs and Apple emerged unscathed after two former executives took the fall and eventually settled with the SEC.

As Jobs was praised for his vision, concerns about his health persisted. The January leave was Jobs' third medical leave over several years. He had previously survived pancreatic cancer and received a liver transplant.

Shannon Cross, an analyst at Cross Research, said Cook is a good choice to replace Jobs.

``He has taken over for Jobs twice in two medical leaves and the company has functioned extremely well,'' she said, adding that Cook has been Jobs' ``right hand guy'' for many years.

Cross also said Jobs put in place a ``culture of innovation'' that will help Apple remain a creative force in the industry.

``Steve Jobs is an extremely strong leader and clearly has made Apple a leading consumer electronics company and one of the most innovative companies in the world,'' she said. ``However, he didn't do it alone.''

 

<한글기사>

잡스 사임, 세계 IT업계 충격..찬사 이어져



뛰어난 창의력과 혁신으로 애플뿐  아니 라 21세기 IT업계를 이끌었던 스티브 잡스가 CEO 사임을 발표하며 전세계의  IT업계 가 술렁이고 있다.

애플의 제품들은 세계 IT 생태계의 중요한 축으로 다른 업체들과 관계를 맺고 있는 만큼 잡스의 사임은 어떤 방식으로든 업계에 지각변동을 몰고 올 것으로  보인 다.

애플이 계속 IT업계의 핵심에서 변화와 혁신을 이끌 수 있을지는 스티브 잡스 이후의 애플이 어떤 리더십을 가지고 운영될지에 따라 달렸다는 것이 업계의 전망이 다.

애플의 제품들이 세계인의 생활 속 깊숙이 자리잡고 있는 상황에서 앞으로 어떤 변화가 다가올지, IT업계의 시선이 애플의 향후 변화에 집중되고 있다.

◇'잡스 없는 애플' IT업계 리더십 유지할까 = CEO직 사임을 발표했지만 잡스는 한동안 이사회 의장직을 유지하기로 했다.

이에 따라 경영 일선에 나서지는 않지만 애플의 비전을 보여주는 역할을 계속해 나갈 것으로 보인다.

잡스의 빈자리는 팀 쿡 최고운영책임자(COO)가 맡는다. 앞서 잡스가 병가로  자 리를 비운 사이 공백을 메워온 그는 차분한 성격으로 조율에 뛰어난 인물인 것으로 알려졌다.

이외에 제품의 외관과 이미지를 만들어온 산업디자인 부사장인 조너선 아이브를 비롯해 수석부사장 스콧 포스톨, 마케팅 담당 부사장 필립 실러 등이  집단지도체제 를 꾸려 잡스의 공백을 메울 계획이다.

집단지도체제 아래의 애플이 당장 큰 혼란을 겪을 것으로 보이지는 않지만 카리 스마 리더십으로 애플을 이끌어온 잡스의 뒤를 이어 예전의 명성을 유지할지는 미지 수라는 것이 관계자들의 시각이다.

잡스는 과거 애플을 파산 위기에서 구해냈고 시대의 흐름을 꿰뚫는 통찰력,  소 비자들의 마음을 읽는 능력, 천부적인 프레젠테이션 기술을 가지고 애플을 이끌어왔 다고 평가를 받았다.

아이폰이나 아이패드 등 스마트 기기와 스마트폰 운영체제인 iOS를 가지고 있는 애플은 그동안 철저하게 폐쇄적인 정책을 펴왔다.

세계의 다양한 업체들과 특허 소송을 치르는 한편으로는 부품의 공급과 관련해 경쟁업체와 손을 잡고 있기도 하다.

◇스티브 잡스를 향한 찬사 이어져 = 스티브 잡스의 사임 소식은 전세계 IT  전 문가들에게도 큰 충격으로 이어졌다.

애플PC를 선보이며 개인용 컴퓨터의 대중화를 이끌고 아이폰을 통해 모바일  시 대를 개척한 한 명의 외로운 천재에게 보내는 찬사가 트위터 등 소셜네트워크서비스 (SNS)를 통해 쏟아졌다.

타임지의 칼럼니스트 해리 매크라켄(Harry McCracken)은 "여전히 상상하기 힘든 일"이라며 "잡스는 1978년과 2011년에 가장 중요한 인물이었다"고 회상했다. 1978년 은 스티브 잡스가 세계 최초로 일반인용 컴퓨터(PC) 애플PC를 개발한 해다.

558 엔가젯(Engadget)의 조슈아 토폴스키(Joshua Topolsky)는 구글의 모토로라 인수, HP의 PC사업부 분사 등의 사건이 떠오르는 듯 "최근 IT 역사를 통틀어 가장

미친(crdaziest) 2주를 보냈다"고 말하기도 했다.

뉴욕타임스의 칼럼니스트 데이비드 포그(David Pogue)는 "나는 애플이 수많은 천재가 우글대는 곳이라는 데 동의한다"면서도 "그러나 잡스는 그 어떤  조직체에서 도 쉽지 않은 홀로 단 하나뿐인 비전을 제시했다"고 강조했다.

구글노믹스의 저자로 이름이 알려진 제프 자비스(Jeff Jarvis)도 "그에 대한 찬 사를 쓰는 것은 이르지 않다"며 "그 사람 자체가 천재적인 인생이다"라며 칭찬을 아 끼지 않았다.

애플에 정통한 것으로 알려진 더루프(The Loop)의 편집장 짐 달림플(Jim Dalrym ple)은 "스티브 잡스는 죽은 게 아니라 사임을 표했다는 사실을 기억하는 것이 중요 하다"고 말하며 그의 영향력은 앞으로도 계속될 것임을 암시하기도 했다. (연합뉴스)

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