Apple Will Be Fine Without Jobs as CEO

First HP decides to break up its company, admitting that selling PCs will no longer be its primary goal. Now, Steve Jobs—Apple's magnate, heck, the tech industry's magnate, the sultan of everything that's been great about the hardware business, the guy who brought Apple back from the brink of failure, yeah, that Steve Jobs—is stepping down as CEO.

Before you dump all of your Apple stock and race over to the Apple Store expecting some kind of a fire sale to rival the one HP had for its TouchPads, relax. Apple's future is not in jeopardy.

It's not as if Jobs is removing himself completely from company operations. He'll be staying on as chairman of the board. It's what CEOs do when they slip into their golden years—they want to spend more time with their family, do something philanthropic, or care for their health. In Job's case, everyone will be pointing to the last possibility, thinking he has had a relapse of some sort. It's no secret that Jobs has had his share of health problems. But even though he's resigning, stepping down for another role with the company sounds a lot better than taking a long leave of absence, which was what he did two years ago.

Steve Jobs Resigns: Complete Coverage

What does this mean for Apple products? What will happen to the iPad, iPhone, and MacBook lines? Nothing, that's what. The company will continue to crank out great hardware products, as well as the software that runs them. In fact, it's the perfect time for a role change, on the eve of the iPhone 5, Apple's most successful product to date. And with the iPad 3 due out later this year (or possibly early in 2012), and rumors of a major MacBook Pro redesign, Apple is practically on cruise control.

It'll probably stay that way for many years, because tech companies prize themselves on road maps that plot products out into the distant future. Products that are due out two years from now from Apple are probably in their final development stages. In terms of its PC business, Apple is looking down from the summit while its rivals are at base camp, figuring out what line to climb. Job's vision is so clear and buried so deep within Apple's culture that anyone in Cupertino who dares put out an ugly product or go after the "lower price" would be reprimanded in the worst way.

Apple only needs to convince investors that everything the company has accomplished up to this point isn't because of one man. Steve Jobs is brilliant because he surrounded himself with talented people who will see to it that the company's pace won't languish. With people like Jonathan Ives, Phil Schiller, and new CEO Tim Cook (pictured) running the show, and with Steve Jobs watching over things from a distance, all Apple has to do is to continue putting out great products, which it will.

Source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391777,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05039TX1K0000760