On August 24, 2011, twelve years ago, Steve Jobs stepped down as the Apple CEO just six weeks before his unfortunate passing, after battling pancreatic cancer for nearly a decade. His resignation marked the end of an era and solidified Jobs' enduring legacy as a pioneer who forever changed how we interact with technology and transformed Apple Inc. AAPL into one of the world's most influential and innovative companies.
By the time he resigned in 2011, Jobs' health was a concern for a few years already. His successor and then the COO, Tim Cook, had been steering the company during Jobs' absence this time – he even led multiple Apple keynotes, so he was more than prepared for the job then.
In his typical fashion, Jobs posted a short note announcing his resignation on August 24, 2011.
"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," Jobs said.
The inevitable happened on October 25, 2011 – 43 days after he stepped down, Jobs passed away at his home after a relapse of pancreatic tumor.
Not The First Time Jobs Stepped Down As The CEO
This was not the first time that Jobs stepped down as the Apple CEO. In 1983, he handed over the reins to John Sculley in a decision that would lead to his eventual ouster from Apple two years later.
Jobs returned to Apple as its CEO in 1997, bringing the company from the brink of bankruptcy to turning it into the most valuable company in the world by market capitalization.
A Legendary Comeback
Jobs brought back with him a new operating system – NeXTSTEP, which would eventually be renamed to Mac OS X and then macOS. His first goal was to make Apple profitable again, leading to the company axing several projects, including Newton, Cyberdog, and OpenDoc.
Under Jobs 2.0, the first major launch was the iPod in 2001 and the iTunes Store, transforming how people streamed and paid for music.
But it wasn't until 2007 that Jobs marked one of the biggest achievements of his stint – the iPhone. His introduction of the device would end up not only being legendary but also pushing the then-market leaders Nokia and BlackBerry out of the race for good.
"Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone," Jobs announced prophetically. He introduced the iPhone as a combination of three devices – a "widescreen iPod with touch controls", a "revolutionary mobile phone", and a "breakthrough Internet communicator".
At the time, rival Microsoft scoffed at it, but a few others, like Google, quickly pivoted their own smartphone strategies.
The Health Battle
Jobs' first health scare emerged in 2003 when he was diagnosed with cancer. After initially resisting an intervention by his doctors, Jobs eventually underwent surgery in 2004 that removed the tumor.
However, the disease returned two years later. A rocky few years followed next, with endless rumors about his health. He eventually received a liver transplant and returned to work.
What isn't as widely known is the fact that Tim Cook, who took over from Jobs multiple times during the 2000s to steer Apple in his absence, had offered a part of his liver to Jobs for his treatment. Jobs refused the offer.
A year and a half after this, Jobs announced a "leave of absence" from Apple in January 2011. Seven months later, he stepped down from the top job of the company he co-founded with Steve Wozniak in 1976.
Tim Cook has since then led Apple as its CEO.
In his last public address, Jobs presented a concept for the new Apple Campus to the Cupertino City Council. It would end up being the last product of Jobs, but he wasn't alive to see it come to life. The Apple Campus was eventually finished in 2017, six years after Jobs left the world.
Image Credits – photocritical on Shutterstock
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