resignation
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Tim Cook takes over as Apple CEO
Amidst the pathos and shock of Steve Jobs' resignation from his post as Apple's CEO (while still retaining his role as chairman of the board), one line from Steve's resignation letter should be ringing exceptionally loudly in the ears of all Apple fans, not to mention Wall Street's decision makers: "As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple." The most important words in that sentence: succession plan. Apple's corporate leadership has been repeatedly chastised by investors and pundits for the lack of a publicly announced succession structure, given the precarious state of the CEO's health and the critical role of leadership in guiding the company's groundbreaking products. While any competent observer of Apple's operations would have confidently stated that yes, there was a plan (albeit a closely held one, to prevent executive defections and talent raids by other Silicon Valley giants with deep pockets), and yes, Tim Cook was the heir apparent, still the caviling and caterwauling continued. Now, given the circumstances, we know that Apple's plan was what most of us assumed it would be: the operations chief who repeatedly stepped into the interim CEO role (in 2004, 2009 and 2011) has been promoted to the top job, and is now responsible for delivering the same exceptional results that the company's founder and chief visionary brought forth over the past decades. We know that Tim Cook has Apple's best interests (and the interests of its customers) at heart, and we know he has the advantage of many years of service within the inner circle of Apple's leadership. We wish him all good luck & wisdom as he moves into his new role. Check back with TUAW tomorrow morning for our profile of Cook, including first-hand impressions from former Apple employees.
Is this the end of the Keynote as we knew it?
As reported earlier, Steve Jobs' resignation from Apple's CEO slot -- following an incredible trajectory of success after success -- has been anticipated for some time, and it is a reminder of human fragility. As Twitter fills up with shock, sadness, and wistful appreciation at the culmination of Jobs' Apple leadership, a good number of people are beginning to realize that today could mark the end of the "SteveNote" as well. Is it time to say goodbye to that special brand of showmanship? SteveNotes were always an exercise in excitement and a demonstration of product passion. Even as Jobs' health declined over the past few years, it was a great treat when we were able to watch him demo the newest hardware, the latest software, and hints at the future of the platform. My first SteveNote wasn't actually an Apple one. It was way back in NeXT history, the company whose operating system eventually gave rise to OS X. It was, like all SteveNotes, a combination of bravura technical showmanship and personal commitment to the brand. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to be able to blog my way through many of his speeches, and I really appreciate the perfection of his presentations. Much as we appreciate the competence of Tim Cook and company, if Jobs truly has finished fronting both Apple and its product intros, we have lost a certain magic. Unless Jobs continues keynoting post resignation (the Wall Street Journal writes that he will continue to maintain an active role in product strategic planning), there won't be "one more thing" anymore. Thanks for all the memories, Mr. Jobs. And best wishes for the future.
Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple
A major development out of Cupertino: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stepped down, the board naming Tim Cook as his replacement. The company said "Steve's extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company." Steve himself published the following letter: 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 Apple has confirmed that Jobs will stay on as Chairman. Full details in the PR after the break.
HTC exec Horace Luke leaves company for 'personal reasons'
HTC is out a top executive with the departure of chief innovation officer Horace Luke. The exec has been gone for some time now, having exited at the end of April. The Taiwanese phone maker formally announced the news this week, citing "personal reasons" as the motivation behind the CIO's exit. HTC had nothing but kind words for Luke, who had been with the company since 2006, stating that he had "nurtured a culture of innovation." The company's vice president of design, Scott Croyle, has stepped into the Luke's vacant position.
Nokia Chairman Jorma Ollila to step down next year, complete exodus of old guard
Anssi Vanjoki, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Symbian, and Qt are all either already departed or on their way out of Nokia. It's of little surprise, therefore, to hear that the company's Chairman, Jorma Ollila, will soon be following in their footsteps and clocking out of the Espoo office for the final time. Ollila has been a member of Nokia's Board of Directors since 1995 and in his present position since 1999, however the recent change in direction and leadership at the company has clearly made it unfeasible for him to continue as Chairman. He's expected to step down at some point next year, with Nokia now commencing the search for his replacement.
Volition founder and president resigns
Mike Kulas, the founder and president of Red Faction developer Volition, is leaving the company. His last day will be next Monday, reports The News-Gazette. Kulas, 49, said his departure, which he had been considering since last year, wasn't triggered by any particular event. With Red Faction: Armageddon apparently complete (and all set for June 7), and Saints Row: The Third in "the home stretch," now is just a good time to make his move. Kulas will be succeeded by Volition's long-time vice president of product development, Dan Cermak. Kulas founded Volition in 1996, when he and then partner Matt Toschlog split their Parallax Software outfit in two. The pair had formed Parallax several years earlier, producing the successful Descent series. Volition was acquired by THQ in 2000 and has grown from some 30 employees in the late 90s to over 200 today, while continuing to maintain operations in Champaign, Ill. Kulas said he plans to remain in Champaign and will take some time to relax this summer before deciding on his next professional endeavor. [Image credit: Volition, Inc.]
The iPad's effect on rival companies' CEOs
Apple's iPad and iPhone are shaking up the netbook and smartphone market, producing a chain reaction of events that has led to the resignation of chief executives from three major electronics manufacturers. This past Thursday, Acer Corp. CEO Gianfranco Lanci became third in the line when he announced his resignation from the Taiwanese company. A report from Digitimes suggests the success of the Apple iPad had a major impact on Acer's netbook business, which in turn led to Lanci's departure. Acer climbed to the top of the netbook market when it introduced the Aspire One netbook back in 2008. Since the launch of the iPad in 2010, netbook manufacturers have struggled to compete with Apple's tablet device. The past year was particularly hard for Acer, which saw its netbook sales go flat, while the Apple iPad took off among consumers. Acer is reportedly working on an iPad competitor, but the tablet device is said to be underpowered and "outmatched by the iPad in terms of both hardware and software."According to the report, Acer's focus on affordable consumer devices makes it incapable of producing a device to compete with Apple. Acer is not alone in sacrificing its CEO as a result of Apple's success. In this last year, both Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo and LG CEO Nam Young left their respective positions due to increasing competition from Apple's mobile products. Both LG and Nokia are struggling in the smartphone market and have yet to produce a blockbuster handset to compete with the iPhone. LG's latest offering, the dual core Optimus 2X, features a dual-core processor, 4-inch display and an 8-megapixel camera, but the Android handset has not caught on as well as the Apple iPhone. [Via AppleInsider]
Acer CEO and President Gianfranco Lanci resigns amid disagreement about company's future direction
Acer's board and CEO don't seem to have been getting along too brilliantly lately and now the situation's come to a point with the resignation of one Mr. Gianfranco Lanci from the company's helm. In a press release just distributed, Acer points out that Lanci held different views from the majority of board members about the "importance on scale, growth, customer value creation, brand position enhancement, and on resource allocation and methods of implementation." Following a few months of discussions that failed to deliver a consensus, both parties have decided it's best to part ways. For now, things continue as normal with Acer's goal still being globalization of its product portfolio, whose centerpiece will remain the personal computer, according to Chairman JT Wang. He'll be the man to take over for Lanci while Acer seeks out a replacement for the outspoken Italian.
Anand Chandrasekher resigns from Intel after 24 years, leaves scandal mongers hanging
Well, as tech industry resignations go, this one's not exactly sensational, but Anand Chandrasekher's plan to leave Intel is no doubt a popular topic of conversation with chip makers this week. The chief of the company's Ultra Mobility Group (UMG) and the man behind Atom, apparently resigned "to pursue other interests." Intel Architecture Group's Mike Bell and Dave Whalen will co-manage UMG in Chandrasekher's stead -- and that's about it for sordid details. His resignation isn't apt to be marked by a Mark Hurd-style scandal, and we have a feeling this is a pretty straight forward changing of the guards, but, then again, we said the same thing when Dirk Meyer left AMD.
RIM's chief marketing officer resigns
We won't read too much into this, but it comes at an interesting time -- with only a month left before RIM is expected to debut the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the company's chief marketing officer has resigned. The Wall Street Journal reports that RIM CMO Keith Pardy (formerly with Nokia) will leave due to "personal reasons" after a six-month transition period is up. The publication's anonymous sources add that Pardy actually made the decision a month ago, and that the move "reflects larger turmoil" within RIM -- as opposed to any sort of knee-jerk reaction over the iPad 2 launch, we suppose. To be frank, we're a little worried about the fate of the PlayBook if it's indeed close to launch -- when we tried a prototype at the Game Developer's Conference this past week in San Francisco, the hardware was still pretty solid, but the software was a bit sparse, and what was there felt like it needed more than a few coats of polish. [Thanks, Jonathan W.]
Martyn Brown quits Team17 after 20 years
After two decades at the helm of annelid annihilators Team17, Martyn Brown has left the Worms developer to work as an independent video game consultant, according to a post on his (private) Facebook page, as noted by Eurogamer. Brown co-founded Team17, which got its start developing games for the Amiga (before your time?). "I had an amazing 20-year ride and whilst it's the end of a truly enjoyable period of my life, it equally signals the start of a really exciting new one," Brown posted before swinging away on a grappling hook, throwing a grenade, falling on that grenade and blowing himself up.
Frogster CEO resigns
Andreas Weidenhaupt, CEO of Frogster, has announced his impending resignation from the company. Weidenhaupt will be stepping down in April of this year to focus on other projects but will remain a consultant with Frogster afterward. Weidenhaupt has been one of the most public faces of the company, particularly for Runes of Magic and TERA. Frogster's chairman of the executive board Christoph Gerlinger had this to say about Andreas' departure: "We thank Andreas kindly for his job performance of the past years, the amicable co-operation with the executive board colleagues and for his significant contribution to the success of Frogster. In the course of last year, Andreas managed to fill the Frogster product pipeline with excellent titles for the next years in advance." You can read the full announcement over at Frogster Interactive.
WSJ: AMD's Meyer lacked vision, ousted accordingly
We thought the story behind former AMD CEO Dirk Meyer's resignation wouldn't be as juicy as that of HP CEO Mark Hurd, but they've actually got something in common -- neither had a visionary strategy for entering the smartphone and tablet markets. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Meyer's hesitation, particularly towards tablets, may have cost him the job, and that the company pressured him into resignation after he showed disinterest in mobile devices at this year's CES. Sounds familiar to us, but we still don't expect any sex scandals or fraudulent reports out of this one.
Nokia's MeeGo device chief quits
The VP in charge of Nokia's MeeGo Devices has resigned. Ari Jaaksi confirmed to Finland's Talous Sanomat that he resigned last week. According to a Nokia spokesman his departure does not affect MeeGo's rollout schedule which had called for a first device to be delivered before the end of 2010. We've confirmed this with Nokia as well, who tells us that an "update on MeeGo" (note the wiggle room in that phrase) will be announced before the end of the year. In case you're keeping track, Jaaksi's departure follows the high-profile exits of Nokia's former CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (replaced by Stephen Elop) and the head of Nokia Mobile Solutions, Anssi Vanjoki. Notably, Nokia's MeeGo team picked up Palm's Peter Skillman as the head of MeeGo User Experience and Services during the same period. It's also worth noting that just yesterday Mobile-Review's Eldar Murtazin said that Nokia's N9 hardware is "near perfect" but the MeeGo software build is "not so good at the moment." Given all this, we can't see how Nokia could possibly ship its first MeeGo handset -- a device Nokia hopes to position against the iPhone 4 and best Android handsets in the US -- in 2010, do you? [Thanks, JJ Ehto]
Sprint execs leave Clearwire board out of an 'abundance of caution'
Well, it looks like Sprint and Clearwire aren't taking any chances when it comes to some of the new antitrust rules now in place. Clearwire has just announced that the three Sprint executives now on its board will be resigning out of an "abundance of caution" -- that includes Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, along with division presidents Keith O. Cowan and Steven L. Elfman. Not many more details than that at the moment, but Sprint does still hang onto the right to appoint members to the Clearwire board, and the four Sprint appointees currently on the board will remain in place. As The Wall Street Journal notes, however, the move would seem to clear the way for Clearwire to potentially make another deal, although no one involved is saying anything publicly at the moment beyond what's in the brief press release after the break.
Disney Interactive Media president resigns
Steve Wadsworth, head of Disney's Interactive Media Group -- better known to us as "the guy in charge of Disney's video game arm" -- has stepped down. According to a New York Times report, Wadsworth issued a late-night missive to his staff last Thursday announcing his resignation. "I have been thinking about this for quite some time, and while it is difficult to leave a great company, an exciting business and a wonderful group of people, my desire and excitement to pursue other opportunities is too great to ignore." Disney confirmed the news and offered an official statement from Wadsworth: "While there is never a good time to leave a great role at a great company, for many reasons now is the right time for me to move on. I am extremely proud of the huge progress we've made at Disney Interactive Media Group, and am confident that the business is well-positioned for continued significant growth." The split appears to be amicable, with Disney CEO Robert Iger offering only kind words about Wadsworth (found in full after the break). The NYT also heard from "people with knowledge of the matter" that a replacement should be revealed "shortly," with Playdom head John Pleasants allegedly being eyed for the position (a social game developer that Disney acquired earlier this year).
Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki resigns, the search for a new smartphone chief begins
Holy moly, it's all gone topsy turvy over in Nokia's camp. After Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was given his marching orders on Friday, this week it's the turn of Anssi Vanjoki -- who only recently became the company's Mobile Solutions leader -- to announce his departure. Anssi has handed in his requisite six-month notice along with the following statement: "I felt the time has come to seek new opportunities in my life. At the same time, I am one hundred per cent committed to doing my best for Nokia until my very last working day. I am also really looking forward to this year's Nokia World and sharing news about exciting new devices and solutions." It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to recognize that Anssi's sudden desire to explore new opportunities is at least in part motivated by Nokia's choice to install Stephen Elop as its future CEO at the expense of good old OPK. Still, you've got to think there could've been a better time to announce such heart-stopping news, maybe after your company's most pivotal Nokia World convention in recent memory? [Thanks, Ted]
Majesco's CFO gets out of the kitchen
Financially troubled publisher Majesco recently announced the resignation of its chief financial officer, John Gross, who will be replaced by an interim executive when he leaves August 20. For what are likely his final official remarks at Majesco, Gross leaves with these words: "We have worked as a management team to put an operating plan in place to continue to improve the performance of the company and grow profitability. I wish the company and the management team all the best in the future." IndustryGamers notes the company lost another $1.6 million in its second fiscal quarter. Also, with a little under a month to go, the company is coming dangerously close to hitting its Nasdaq stock exchange delisting deadline. Come on, Majesco, have Cooking Mama bake up some compliance again.
IGDA executive editor resigns after first year
International Game Developers Association head Joshua Caulfield has resigned from his position after approximately one year and three months on the job, reports the organization's blog. This follows the recent departure of chairperson Brenda Brathwaite, and just before another rumored loss from the board of directors. For its part, the IGDA has said it's "not falling apart, though it may appear to be." According to the IGDA spokesperson, the resignations are reflective of changes at the organization on the whole. "The 'old' IGDA served a smaller industry in a different time, and some of the 'old' things have to fall away for real change and growth." After leaving the organization, Caulfield will head up the executive editor position on an architectural board. He characterizes the split as mutual and amicable. "It's just time for the next step in my career. I think the IGDA is headed in a great direction, and I look forward to helping to make this a smooth transition." Caulfield's last day with the IGDA will be sometime in August, though the organization has already begun seeking a new leader.
Craig Zinkievich leaving Star Trek Online's bridge
We'll take "things we didn't see coming" for 5000, Alex. What would that be? Well, in a nutshell, Craig Zinkievich, Executive Producer on Star Trek Online and seven-year vet of Cryptic Studios, has announced his plans to step down. The long open-letter posted on the Star Trek Online official site is titled "What you leave behind" and indicates that his intent is to "take a break" allowing him to enjoy "hanging out with [his] kids over the summer, walking [his] goat more and taking care of [his] bees." As to just what his plans for the future are, and whether or not they may involve a return to Cryptic Studios in the future, he does not say. In the meantime, Daniel Stahl will step into his position as Star Trek Online's new Executive Producer. According to both Zinkievich's note and Stahl's own profile on the STO site, the game's future trajectory appears to be in capable hands. We wish Zinkievich the best with his children and his goaty kids -- and may he especially never wind up covered in bees.
