“As stunning developments in the technology industry go, this one happened in a manner that felt inevitable,” Harry McCracken writes for TIME Magazine. “n yesterday afternoon’s crisp, matter-of-fact letter, Steve Jobs told Apple’s board and the world that he was unable to continue as the company’s chief executive. He asked to serve as chairman, and recommended that Apple COO Tim Cook succeed him as CEO. And he said that Apple’s best days were ahead of it and expressed gratitude to his coworkers.”
“Of course, one hopes that Jobs chose this particular week to step down as CEO not because his health left him no other option but because he felt Apple was ready to move on without his day-to-day involvement,” McCracken writes. “If so, his timing was impeccable. The iPhone and iPad are enormous hits that have left most of Apple’s competitors flummoxed; Apple’s market capitalization, revenue and profit have all passed those of Microsoft. Simply put, it’s this era’s preeminent technology company.”
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McCracken writes, “If the company succeeds at [figuring out what the next big thing is] in the years ahead, it won’t be evidence that Steve Jobs turned out to be replaceable. Instead, it’ll be proof that he taught the company which so many fans and detractors believed was a one-man show to go on being Apple without his intensive involvement. That would be Jobs’ final and finest one more thing — and right now, the odds seem decent that he’ll pull it off.”
Read more in the full article here.