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CUPERTINO, Calif., Aug 24, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.
“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”
“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”
Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.
[Update] - Here's a copy of Steve's letter addressed to his employees and the public:
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
This major update to Apple’s mobile operating system will be available in the fall as a free update for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 4G, iPod touch 3G, iPad, and iPad 2. There doesn’t seem to be any notion towards limited features for older-generation devices, but we’ll work on confirming this. If you want, you can enter your email address and Apple will notify you when it is released. iOS 5 contains over 200 new features, the following being the most notable: all-new and improved notifications, iMessage text messaging, a newsstand illustrating all of your App Store subscriptions, an official creative to-do application called Reminders, in-app Twitter integration, new camera features such as grids, photo editing and enhancing abilities, new Safari features included tabbed browsing on iPad, and the ability to setup and use your iOS device without a Mac or PC. Here’s a breakdown of some of these and other features:
Currently, notifications can easily become a nuisance when you’re playing games or using other applications. They pop up, they’re obtrusive. In iOS 5, notifications are all-new and improved. There’s a new drop-down menu called Notification Center, which allows you to keep track of all of your notifications in one convenient location. Perhaps Apple took a lesson or two from the notification system on Android–they now have striking similarities. To reveal Notification Center, you simply swipe down and you can then choose which notifications you would like to see. If you want to delete the notification, you can simply tap the “x” button located next to it. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a “clear all” option for deleting your entire queue of notifications. This is something, however, that could be seen in a future update. New notifications also appear briefly at the top of your screen, without interrupting what you’re doing. Furthermore, they appear on your lock screen for quick access.
This is an official application designed by Apple that allows you to send text messages to other iOS devices over Wi-Fi or 3G. It’s compatible with any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad that is able to be upgraded to iOS 5. This is another new iOS feature that his strikingly resemblance to another company’s features, this time it being RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).
Another application designed by Apple. This one adopts the iBooks bookshelf design as a convenient place to show you all of your App Store subscriptions. This includes newspapers and magazines, which the app will alert you about when there is new issues available. There is also a new section on the App Store that is specifically dedicated to subscriptions.
You can create reminders for yourself in a neat and clear to-do list. There’s also integrated calendars for your convenience. Reminders also works with iCal, Outlook, and iCloud, so changes you make update automatically on all your devices and calendars.
Twitter integration is another prominent feature of iOS 5. Of course, Twitter is already available on iOS devices in a variety of different formats—through Safari, the official Twitter app, or other apps on the App Store—but this is different. You sign in once in the settings, and you can then tweet directly from Safari, Photos, Camera, YouTube, or Maps. You’ll be able to tweet text, photos, videos, and more. It would be nice if this functionality was able to be added to third-party apps from the App Store, but we can’t confirm this functionality just yet. You can add a location to your tweets based on your iOS device’s location tracking ability.
There’s a variety of new features in this mobile browser from tabbed browsing on iPad to the Safari Reader. The latter allows you to display web articles without any ads or any other distractions. There’s also Reading List, which saves webpages offline for later viewing. These webpages can be synced with iCloud.
This is perhaps the most creative feature of iOS 5. Thanks to a combination of Apple’s iCloud service, on-device software updates, and on-device setup, you’ll be able to use your iOS device without ever connecting or configuring it with a Mac or PC. You can do everything wirelessly and backup and restore your iOS device through iCloud.
An anonymous Best Buy employee has confirmed that the iPhone will be moving to other carriers, most notably that of Sprint. The employee noted that there has been no news of an iPhone built to use Verizon’s network, though Apple’s revolutionary smart phone may very well be moving away from AT&T. While there is no hard evidence that the claim is valid, the amount of information (and products) leaking out of the typically locked down Apple may be an indicator that this is true.
A formal announcement of the migration to other carriers could come at the upcoming WWDC 2010, the developers conference from the 7th to 11th of June. Steve Jobs has been confirmed to be keynote presenter.
Once again, an iDevice prototype has been leaked. This time, an iPod touch – with a camera. It’s not known how it was acquired, but it’s clear that Apple needs to do something about all these leaks.
Tinh Tế, to whom we owe thanks for the second iPhone 4G leak, have gotten hold of a prototype next-generation iPod touch, now sporting the long-awaited camera.
The serial number of the Camera part indicates 2.0 megapixels, but this could easily change as newer models are developed. Running a diagnostic mode, no internal specs are known as of yet.
It’s fairly safe to say that we’ll be seeing Camera-equipped iPod touches in the near future! As before, we’ve got a video in action, and more images after the jump.
The back, showing some hardware details.
via iPodTouchFans
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