Jobs to Remain Closely Involved in Apple's Product Strategy

Wednesday August 24, 2011 4:27 PM PDT by Arnold Kim

In the wake of the news that Steve Jobs has resigned as Apple CEO, the Wall Street Journal spoke with their sources who said that Jobs has remained actively involved, and that is not expected to change.
People familiar with the situation have said that Mr. Jobs continues to be active at Apple and is closely involved in the company's product strategy. Apple watchers don't expect that to change even after Mr. Cook takes over.
Tim Cook has been made Apple CEO at the recommendation of Jobs.

Update: AllThingsD also reports a similar sentiment:
Extremely well-informed sources at Apple say he intends to remain involved in developing major future products and strategy and intends to be an active chairman of the board, even while new CEO Tim Cook runs the company day to day.
37 comments


Top Rated Comments

(View all)
Avatar
AIP5
93 months ago
Well, Tim Cook has been temporary CEO ever since Jobs announced his medical leave... so he is probably now taking over completely. It was probably only a matter of time before SJ handed him the CEO position.

Either way... I am in shock. I really had hoped to see SJ on the stage announcing the iPhone 5 among other things at the Sept conference... This is just... wow. :(
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
adztaylor
93 months ago
This can only be good news that he will still be involved, and also implies that his health hasn't deteriorated from first thought.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
Warbrain
93 months ago
In other words, nothing has changed compared to the last 8 months.

It's like everyone is at a funeral. This should be a celebration of his success as CEO.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Warbrain
93 months ago

Ivy is Apple personified. He should have been the new CEO.

AND PLEASE CLONE STEVE!


Being CEO requires the person to be a manager of so many different parts. Ive wants to design, not run a company.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
matthew12
93 months ago
no death soon!

Probably similar to his role now. I have a feeling Jobs will always have a strong influence and be a part of product innovation until he dies.


You are correct in saying that Steve Jobs is still in his same role. But hopefully he will not die for a long time!
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
nagromme
93 months ago

Probably similar to his role now. I have a feeling Jobs will always have a strong influence and be a part of product innovation until he dies.


Exactly. This is like making his medial leave (which has been this entire year) permanent. But he’s remained involved all year anyway.

We can imagine all kinds of terrible news, or even really good news, but we just don’t know. From what little we do know, the big change for Apple was in January (and has gone great) not today. I hope it was a change that worked out for him too!
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
mazurka
93 months ago

[url=https://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif]Image (https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/24/jobs-to-remain-closely-involved-in-apples-product-strategy/)[/url]


Image (https://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2011/08/steve2.jpg)


In the wake of the news that Steve Jobs has resigned (https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/24/steve-jobs-resigns-as-apple-ceo/) as Apple CEO, the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904875404576528981250892702.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories) spoke with their sources who said that Jobs has remained actively involved:Tim Cook has been made Apple CEO at the recommendation of Jobs.

Article Link: Jobs to Remain 'Closely Involved' in Apple's Product Strategy (https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/24/jobs-to-remain-closely-involved-in-apples-product-strategy/)


Thank you, Steve Jobs, for defining an epoch. There are only a handful of people alive in the world about whom that can be said.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
cmassage
93 months ago
All the best, Steve. We love you.

I have held the image since his medical leave in January that Steve's wife, family and close friends held an "Intervention" with him, saying, in effect:

"If you keep working at the pace that you have been working, that stress on top of your pancreas health issues will kill you in 2 years. Give up being in total control, meditate, go to the beach and guide Apple from a greater distance and you can live to an old age and continue to have a big impact."

I think that is what he has been doing, giving the presentation at the WWDC, creating agreements with China Telecom etc. and he now has confidence that Apple can prosper with him being 'navigator' and without his hand on the tiller at all times.

May it be so.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
longofest
93 months ago
This honestly feels kind of like when Bill Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO and became chief software architect... minus the philanthropy.

Both are stepping down from day to day CEO activities, but both stay involved in the company, at least for a while.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
chrmjenkins
93 months ago
It's obvious they've been grooming Tim Cook for this role. His role as temporary CEO over the past several months shows that Apple's performance will hold strong. They announce this right before the iphone 5 launch so that the positive press will drown out lingering speculations and show Apple is still on top form.

Shareholders demanded a succession plan. This is it. Tim Cook is CEO and Jobs can stay chairman until the day he dies if he pleases and it won't cause panic as a capable man is still at the helm.
Rating: 1 Votes
[ Read All Comments ]