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Steve Jobs resigned his position of CEO of Apple, Inc. today, after 14 years at the helm, and was elected to the position of Chairman of the Board. Tim Cook, formerly Apple’s COO, replaced Jobs as CEO.

The full text of Jobs’s resignation letter was reproduced in the Macworld.com article:

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

Jobs had taken a medical leave of absence since January 2011, and Cook oversaw the the daily operations of Apple.

“While I am concerned about Steve personally, I am not concerned about Apple,” Bajarin said. “You’ve got a very deep bench of managers and executives who know how Jobs thinks, feels, and his vision.”

Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne in 1976. Wozniak and Jobs developed the Apple I and II and, in 1984, introduced Macintosh. In 1985, after a clash with then-CEO John Sculley, Jobs left to found Next Computer. Jobs also acquired Pixar from George Lucas in 1986 and later sold it to Disney, while becoming a member of Disney’s board and its largest individual shareholder in the process.

Apple acquired Next in 1997, and Jobs returned as interim CEO to replace Gil Amelio. Jobs became CEO in 2000. Apple accomplishments with Jobs as CEO include: the iMac in 1998, the iPod in 2001, MacOS X in 2001, iTunes in 2003, the iPhone in 2007, and the iPad in 2010. Although Apple needed an influx of $150 million from Microsoft in 1997, it now has a cash reserve of over $72 billion.

I had the pleasure of sitting at a desk at Apple on Valley Green as a Netscape employee from April 2000 to April 2001 and witnessed the birth of MacOS X from there. The importance of the transition to a UNIX-based operating system, and the wisdom of establishing a cross-feeding ecosystem of products, PARTICULARLY software products, are not generally appreciated sufficiently outside the industry. Apple is also one of the very few companies that excel in BOTH software AND hardware.

The envisioning and implementation of the “big picture” while assembling a company of very bright, dedicated people are perhaps the greatest accomplishments of  Steve Jobs and ones that will last into the future.

-Bill at

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