FIRST LOOK : Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs in JOBS

In the brief clip, Kutcher - who can wear the shoes of the great Steve Jobs - lively discussions with Josh Gad (Steve Wozniak) in the parking lot of Hewlett Packard. The reason for the question? The interest or less of companies and individuals for a new computer in "real time" created by Woz. "This is freedom! Freedom to create, to build something, as artists, as individuals "Jobs says in the clip. "Although we have developed something that we like, nobody wants to buy a computer. None, "replied Wozniak. At this point, Kutcher, taking a phrase particularly dear to the real Steve Jobs, says, "how can anyone know what he wants if he has not yet seen what it is?".

 

Rides : Steve Jobs Planned to Design the iCar

A member of Apple’s board of directors declared that Steve Jobs had plans on designing a car.

Speaking to Business Insider this week, Mickey Drexler, the CEO of J.Crew and a member of Apple’s board, said “Look at the car industry; it’s a tragedy in America. Who is designing the cars? Steve’s dream before he died was to design an iCar.”

It is well known that Apple has made a name in the technology sector, but would it also have the same success in the auto industry? It is no doubt that the so-called iCar would be designed in California and built overseas in China, as the rest of the “i” line. Mr Dexter added that if Jobs would have managed to create the iCar, it would have acquire 50% of the market, a rather bold number.

Although it is highly unlikely for Apple to build any car soon, it will certainly continue to cooperate with important auto makers to integrate its line of “i” products.

“I think smart vehicles are going to end up with a tablet-like feature built in. It won’t be a tablet per se, but it will be a screen that will be tied to the product in the market,” sais Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies.

New biography reveals, Steve Jobs was initially opposed to apps

 

Walter Isaacson's new book on late Apple CEO Steve Jobs has yet to be released, but the Huffington Post recently obtained an advanced copy of the authorized biography, and highlighted some of its most salient revelations. Throughout the course of the 656-page book, Isaacson provides fascinating and often intimate insight into Jobs' life and times, including details on his childhood, his Bob Dylan-drenched iPod and, perhaps most notably, his curious philosophy on apps. Strange as it may seem, Jobs was initially opposed to the very concept of an app-based environment, for fear that his company may not be up to the task. According to Isaacson, Apple board member Art Levinson called the CEO "half a dozen times to lobby for the potential of the apps," but Jobs was initially reluctant. "Jobs at first quashed the discussion," Isaacson writes, "partly because he felt his team did not have the bandwidth to figure out all the complexities that would be involved in policing third-party app developers." Needless to say, Jobs and his team eventually figured it out.

Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple

In a shocking development out of Cupertino, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stepped down, the board naming Tim Cook as his replacement. The company said "Steve's extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company."

Steve himself published the following letter:

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

Apple has confirmed that Jobs will stay on as Chairman.

 

Press Release

Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple

Tim Cook Named CEO and Jobs Elected Chairman of the Board

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(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 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."
"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.

As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company's worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple's supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple's Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Apple Says Steve Jobs Will Take a New Medical Leave

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Steven P. Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive of Apple, is taking a medical leave of absence, a year and a half after his return from a liver transplant, raising questions about both his long-term prognosis and the future of the world’s most valuable technology company.

Mr. Jobs, who recovered from pancreatic cancer after surgery in 2004, is going on leave at a critical time for Apple.

While the company has outflanked most of its rivals in the technology industry, creating a string of products like the iPhone and the iPad that have been blockbuster hits with consumers, it is also facing ever more intense competition from giants like Google, Microsoft and Samsung. Some of those rivals have narrowed Apple’s lead or even surpassed the company by some measures.

Mr. Jobs’s leave is certain to cause anxiety with investors and even consumers. Perhaps more than any other chief executive, he is seen as inseparable from his company’s success.

“He may the most vital C.E.O. of our era,” said Michael Useem, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and director of its Center for Leadership and Change Management.

Mr. Jobs is known for his hands-on management style and his obsessive attention to the most minute details of Apple’s products. He is also credited with anticipating the needs of consumers time and again, leading Apple to create one breakthrough product after another.

Mr. Jobs, who is 55, announced his leave on Monday in a letter to employees that said he was stepping aside “so I can focus on my health” but would continue to be involved in major strategic decisions at the company.

“I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can,” Mr. Jobs wrote in the letter, which was made public by Apple.

As during his prior medical leave in 2009, Timothy D. Cook, 50, the company’s chief operating officer, will run day-to-day operations, Mr. Jobs said.

“I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011,” Mr. Jobs said in the message.

Unlike his prior leave, when Apple said Mr. Jobs would be gone for six months, this time Mr. Jobs did not say how long he expected to be out. Analysts said the leave raised questions as to whether Mr. Jobs would come back to lead Apple.

“It raises the bigger question about whether he’ll ever return,” said Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company.

Medical experts said that people who have had a liver transplant often suffer from a variety of medical problems that are not life-threatening.

A person with knowledge of the situation said that Mr. Jobs suffers from immune system issues common with people who have received liver transplants and that, as a result, his health suffers from frequent “ups and downs.”

In recent weeks, Mr. Jobs began a down cycle and slowed his activities at Apple, said the person, who refused to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss Mr. Jobs’s condition. Mr. Jobs has been coming to the office about two days a week and has appeared increasingly emaciated, the person said. He has frequently had lunch in his office, rather than in the company cafeteria, the person said.

During his prior leave of absence, Apple kept details of Mr. Jobs’s health private, prompting criticism among some shareholders who contended that the company had an obligation to be more forthcoming with information.

In his message to the staff on Monday, Mr. Jobs said, “My family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.”

An Apple spokeswoman, Katie Cotton, said Apple would have no further comment beyond Mr. Jobs’s statement.

Apple’s stock immediately dipped on foreign exchanges Monday, falling almost 7 percent in Germany. Financial markets in the United States are closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King’s Birthday.

“It is natural that investors will expect the worse,” said Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Company, noting that Apple has a history of “minimal disclosure” and “obfuscating” details about Mr. Jobs’s health.

Mr. Wolf said that regardless of whether Mr. Jobs returns to Apple, the company would probably continue doing well for the foreseeable future, though its long-term prospects are more uncertain.

“Right now Apple has a management team that is one of the greatest in American business,” Mr. Wolf said. “Whatever trajectory the company is on will continue for two to five years, regardless of whether Steve comes back.”

Still Apple faces increasing competition, especially in the smartphone market, where handsets powered by Google’s Android software recently began outselling the iPhone in the United States. Some analysts said the rise of Android led to Apple’s recent decision to begin offering the iPhone on Verizon Wireless starting next month, ending more than three years of exclusivity on AT&T.

Apple also faces sharper competition in tablet computers. The company’s iPad, introduced last spring, became an instant hit with consumers. But less than a year later, companies like Samsung, Research in Motion and others have introduced or announced a string of credible competitors.

Analysts said that during Mr. Jobs’s 2009 leave, Mr. Cook successfully steered the company as it developed critical products like the iPhone 4 and the iPad.

“Last time, Tim elevated his status with shareholders and employees,” Mr. Sacconaghi said. “The company did very well in Steve’s absence and various constituencies were pleased with that.”

In January 2009, Mr. Jobs went on a medical leave. During the leave Mr. Jobs secretly flew to Tennessee for a liver transplant.

In June 2009, Apple said Mr. Jobs was back at work, and he reappeared in public for the first time in September of that year. While he was energetic and exhibited his unique brand of salesmanship as he unveiled new products during 90-minute event, he continued to look gaunt. Since then, Mr. Jobs has headlined a string of product introductions, including the iPhone 4 and the iPad and a new line of MacBook Air laptops, where he was equally energetic and focused, but still looked frail.

At one such event in July 2010, a reporter asked Mr. Jobs about his health, and he replied, “I’m feeling great.”

In recent months, he has looked increasingly frail, according to people who have seen him.

Dr. Lewis Teperman, the director of transplant surgery and vice chairman of surgery at the Langone Medical Center of New York University, said a variety of problems could affect someone with a liver transplant. Dr. Teperman has not been involved in Mr. Jobs’s care and said he had no knowledge of the case.

“It’s very common for transplant patients to have issues that are not life-threatening,” Dr. Teperman said. “We give them very strong, high-powered medications, immunosuppressants, to prevent rejection. It’s a delicate balance, more art than science.”

Side effects from the drugs can make patients ill, and sometimes the regimen has to be changed, a process that can take days and weeks. The side effects include high blood sugar and diabetes, kidney damage, diarrhea, high blood pressure, high blood fats and cholesterol, rashes and low counts of white blood cells. The drugs leave patients prone to infection.

Rejection of the transplanted liver is also a possibility, but Dr. Teperman said it was extremely rare for a liver transplant to be totally rejected.

The original reason for Mr. Jobs’s transplant was never publicly disclosed. At the time, doctors not involved in his case said the most likely reason was that his pancreatic cancer had spread to his liver. If that was the case, it is possible that cancer has recurred; the anti-rejection drugs can increase the odds of cancer recurrence. A recurrence may be treatable. But so little information has been disclosed that it is impossible to tell, Dr. Teperman said.

“There are lots of bumps in the road with transplantations, and people usually get through them,” Dr. Teperman said.