Steve Jobs resigns as Apple's CEO

Well, this has spiced up an otherwise slow news day: Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple. Effective immediately, former COO Tim Cook will oversee Cupertino's day-to-day operations as the new chief executive. Although Jobs will step down from the helm, he has asked to serve as the chairman of Apple's board.

The iconic figure has struggled with various medical conditions through his tenure in Cupertino, battling pancreatic cancer in 2004 and undergoing a liver transplant in April 2009. Jobs has been on medical leave since January 2011, a year plus after returning from the transplant, so his resignation isn't entirely unforeseen.

"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 in a public letter. Considering Jobs' immense contributions and visionary-like status, many will question Apple's future. However, Jobs said he believes the company has its "brightest and most innovative days" ahead of it.

Tim Cook served as interim CEO while Jobs attended to his health, and as a 13-year veteran at the company, he should be well groomed for the role. In today's press release, Apple's board said it has "complete confidence" that Cook is the right person to lead the company. Cook also received Jobs' recommendation and you couldn't ask for a better endorsement than that. We've included Jobs' full letter below:

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

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Apple to hold media event on September 7?

Rumors of the next iPhone have been swirling ever since the device was a no-show at WWDC earlier this year, but now we have the first rumored date of Apple’s next media event: September 7.

Japanese site Kodawarisan (via MacRumors) claims that Apple will hold their traditional fall media event on this date which has typically been reserved to introduce new iPods. We haven’t heard much of anything about new iPods at this point and previous rumors of a September or October iPhone launch align perfectly with this date.

Apple broke tradition in June when the annual conference passed without a peep about the next-generation hardware. WWDC had been the launching pad for the past three iPhones. The iPhone 3G was introduced on June 9, 2008. The iPhone 3GS was announced on June 8, 2009 and arrived on June 19, 2009 in the first countries. The iPhone 4 was announced on June 7, 2010 and released on June 24, 2010.

There has been a lot of speculation as to why we haven’t seen a new model in over a year. The most popular guess is that Apple experienced some overheating issues with the dual-core A5 chip that is said to power the iPhone 5. There could be some validity to this claim, especially if the rumor of a thinner and lighter iPhone is to be believed. Other gossip suggests the staggered announcement is a strategic move used to buy time for 4G LTE development and integration or to counter Google's planned Ice Cream Sandwich release.

Details on the next-gen iPhone are bleak at this point but the prevalent rumors point to faster internal hardware, a thinner chassis and possibly a larger "edge-to-edge" display. Still others believe that the next iPhone will feature a radical new design with a contured rear panel

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