CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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 Appleâs 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 Appleâs 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.
dunno about his health but can't it simply be that he is happy that he was able to make apple a succesfull company afterall that is world market leader in some products. (finaly not behind microsoft anymore) and he just wants to take the best from life from now on? you can have a nice retirement whit the money that he made =P
I'm going to speculate that issues with his health are the cause of him stepping down - that or he wants to spend more time with his family. He's still staying on as Chairman so it's not like he's completely removing himself from Apple. I really am going to miss Steve as I suspect he'll step back from the public eye and his influence behind the scenes will probably be far less too but I'm also excited about what directions and changes Apple might pursue if this marks the dawn of a new era in the company.
They all do it at some point and go Chariman status. Bill Gates did it, too. He's Microsoft's chairman. Google's Eric Schmidt is his board chariman, too. It probably is due to his health. He might also be tired of doing all of that stuff, he's been heading Apple for a long time. I am going to miss his creativity though, he's pretty cool.
