It's been 7 years since Steve Jobs stepped down

This thread on Reddit got me thinking about the Tim Cook era…

It starts with a memo dated Aug. 24, 2011:

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

From Reddit:

Drizzt1985: I still remember reading this like it was yesterday. So surreal. We all had been hoping that his cancer issues were in the past and then this came out of no where.

magadget: When the photos leaked of him going into home care I knew it was over. Goddamn, Steve killed himself willingly by forgoing a relatively straightforward treatment.

MikeReddit74: Apparently, he also passed up on an offer by Tim Cook to donate a piece of his liver.

Drizzt1985: Very true and it still saddens me to think he might still be with us if he’d made other choices. I can’t help a small part of me though that appreciates that he stuck to his convictions and was 100% Steve to the end.

sweatshirtjones: Never thought of it this way. Thank you for saying this.

numpad0: Steve Jobs mocking Elon Musk would have been so fun, but Apple products without Jobs’ constraints has been fun in its ways. They couldn’t have relied on the man’s charisma forever and perhaps he had to go at some point, which in a greater picture not too early, if not already too late.

Imgonnathrowawaythis: I wish I could see what the apple landscape would like today with Steve still at the helm

hewkii2: The Apple TV service would be farther along if what his final interviews indicate are true

bluewolf37: The Mac pro, Apple TV, Siri, and HomePod would have been farther along than they are now. They basically dropped them until they got behind. Their pro software might have also had been updated to keep pros on their hardware.

My take: Better Macs, slicker hardware, more wows!, fewer bugs. But no stock buybacks or trillion-dollar valuation.