Mr Jobs has suffered from poor health for some time, having recently undergone a liver transplant for pancreatic cancer in 2009. He said that he was no longer able to fulfil his CEO commitments and will now become chairman of the firm.
In a short letter to the Apple board, Mr Jobs wrote:
"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's chief executive, I would be the first to let you know.
"Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as chief executive 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."
Tributes have been flooding in for Steve Jobs from social networking sites and around the globe. Trip Hawkins, who spent his early years working on multimedia at Apple and is now CEO of Digital Chocolate said:
“Steve is the most remarkable person I have ever known. I consider him the greatest CEO in history because he rescued Apple and Pixar at the same time, and both were major turnarounds. Most CEOs never achieve a successful turnaround or even a pivot, and they are very hard to do in large corporations. Steve defined our generation and if the history books only mention one person from this period it will be him.”
Mr Jobs is viewed by many to be the person that masterminded Apple’s journey to become one the world’s biggest companies. Mr Jobs co-founded Apple in the 1970’s with Steve Wozniak. Apple’s first Macintosh was released in 1984 and their follow up models became hugely popular throughout the 1980’s. In 1987, Mr Jobs left the company after a fall out with the colleagues and later joined Pixar Animations, playing a pivotal role in turning around their fortunes.
In 1997, Mr Jobs returned to begin Apple’s transformation into an eventual market leader by launching the colourful iMac Computer. Then in 2002, the iPod was released and revolutionised the personal music-player market. It was this product that laid down the foundations for the company’s success over the past decade.
Apple went onto release the iPhone, which similarly inspired change in the Smartphone market. Although the iPad came under initial criticism upon its release, it too went on to become hugely popular. Apple’s design and innovation engineered their success to become one of the world’s most sought after brands.
The company recently became the most valuable firm in the US after its market capitalisation overtook that of oil company Exxon Mobil. Nevertheless, Steve Jobs's resignation as Apple CEO has wiped billions of dollars off its stock market value in a short time period, as traders worry over the company's long-term future without its visionary leader.
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