On the 24th of August, Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO of Apple. In his short but emotional resignation letter Jobs stated:

So who is Steve Jobs anyway, and why is he so important to Apple? Why has his departure led to a 5% drop in Apple shares? Is his contribution as CEO indispensable, or can Apple continue to grow and develop at the same rate without him? 

Steve Jobs co-founded apple in 1976, and had a huge hand in the design, development and marketing of one of the world first successful personal computer's, the Apple series II. However in the mid 80's, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple following an internal power struggle. After that, Jobs set up another company, Next Computers. Although the company was responsible for ground breaking innovations, it never achieved the same level of success as Apple had with the series II, because it was too expensive. Steve Jobs obsession with slick presentation was well before its time at that point, and as a result, in 1993 Next Computers reverted its product line entirely from hardware to a software.

 

In 1996 Apple bought Next Computer's, thus reintroducing Steve Jobs to the Apple team. Since thattime, Steve Jobs has made a name for himself as both a genius and an egomaniac. He is said to be charismatic and temperamental in equal measure, but has always strived to put Apple ahead of its competitors by coming up with things first, and doing it with style. This is obvious when looking at everything Apple has done over the years since Jobs' reinstatement, from the Ipod to the Iphone to the Ipad, which is the fastest selling computer product of all time. 

Stephen Fry, a long time friend and admirer of Steve Jobs, said in a recent BBC interview:

So why has Steve Jobs resigned? Although there is no formal mention of Jobs' health in his resignation letter, his admission that he no longer feels able to maintain his duties, combined with his gaunt appearance at Apple events prior to him taking an unspecified period of annual leave beginning on January 17th this year, it is safe to assume that his health is the main reasoning behind his departure. 

Jobs' resignation may not come as a huge shock to some, especially since it is widely known that he has struggled with pancreatic cancer and has recently had a liver transplant. His ill health has been a very poorly kept secret, one that many have accused Apple of trying keep under wraps to prevent investors from getting nervous. Yet despite Jobs having been on annual leave since January, it is only since his official departure, that shares in Apple have depleted world wide.

So what does this mean for Apple? Can they continue to captivate the public's interest and continue to be at the forefront of technological innovation without their charismatic leader? 

Of course nothing is certain, but the 5% drop in share prices, although is not a good sign for Apple, it is a relatively small hiccup considering the perceived magnitude of Jobs' personal input into the company. It is well publicised that despite Jobs' decision to step down from the role as CEO, he plans to maintain his role as chairman of the board, and stated in his resignation letter “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.” In short, although he is not the CEO of the company any longer, his involvement with and contribution to Apple will continue. 

It is difficult to say whether or not Apples next releases will continue to be as successful, but Steve Jobs resignation as CEO seems to be a lot less significant than people are currently making out. The drop in share prices is a slight setback, but fears that Apple may fail to develop at the same rate based on Jobs' departure are at this stage unfounded scaremongering. Tim Cook has been running the company in his absence since January, and there has been no sign of Apple slowing down in that time. Although it is important to recognise Steve Jobs' contribution to Apple, his resignation is certainly no reason to lose faith in Apple's ability to continue to grow and develop in new and exciting hardware formats.