Steve Jobs dropped a bombshell on the tech world Wednesday night, when the iconic founder and CEO of Apple Corp. announced that he was stepping down as chief executive because he could "no longer meet [his] duties and expectations as Apple's CEO." The news sent shock waves through Twitter and the blogosphere as tech-industry heavyweights and ordinary Apple fans alike expressed their feelings of shock and sadness at Jobs' departure. As Om said in his post, although Jobs remains chairman of Apple, it is the end of an era (Erica Ogg also has a post about what Apple might look like under its new CEO Tim Cook).
Here's a selection of some of the other responses to Jobs' announcement:
Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, said that:
Steve Jobs is the greatest leader our industry has ever known. Its the end of an era.
Long-time Wall Street analyst turned merchant banker Frank Quattrone said on Twitter:
@FrankQuattroneFrank Quattrone
Apple blogger John Gruber said at his blog Daring Fireball that Apple remains the same company it has been for some time, since the transition to new CEO Tim Cook has been fairly obvious ever since Steve Jobs took his last medical leave:
Today's announcement is just one more step, albeit a big and sad one, in a long-planned orderly transition — a transition that no one wanted but which could not, alas, be avoided. And as ever, he's doing it his way.
Googler Matt Cutts, the head of the company's anti-spam team, said on his Google+ page:
Really sad to hear that Steve Jobs is resigning. He's an incredible guy and has led Apple to launch amazing products that have changed the world. I hope he'll be okay. Sending good wishes his way.
TheStreet.com founder and CNBC host Jim Cramer said:
@jimcramerJim Cramer
Veteran technology writer Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal said in an essay on Jobs' departure:
Most people are lucky if they can change the world in one important way, but Jobs, in multiple stages of his business career, changed global technology, media and lifestyles in multiple ways on multiple occasions.
Bill Gurley, a venture capitalist with Benchmark Capital said on Twitter that:
@bgurleyBill Gurley
Matt Linderman of 37Signals said:
The two greatest runs I've ever witnessed in my life: Michael Jordan and Steve Jobs.
And Matt Galligan, former co-founder of SimpleGeo, said:
Steve Jobs will always be an inspiration to me. He turned something plain into something beautiful. And in the process, changed the world.
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that:
@SchwarzeneggerArnold
Saul Hansell, former technology writer for the New York Times, called Jobs "The patron saint of perfectionists" in a post at TechCrunch:
We all know lots of people who are nice. We know many people who are smart. We've seen a bunch of corporate leaders who have the rare combination of skills to surf the waves spawned by Moore's Law. But it's hard to think of anyone besides Steve Jobs who through the sheer force of will, self-confidence, vision and perfectionism could upend the powerful forces of technology to make so many products that delighted so many people.
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