After Jobs, Apple faces uncertainty

Steve Jobs is stepping down as Apple's CEO after boosting the company's shares by over 9000 percent since 1997. He leaves the company he co-founded in the hands of trusted deputies, to prove that they can keep building best-selling products that change how people compute and communicate. Analysts say Jobs' resignation is unlikely to jolt Apple's market position, but die-hard fans will definitely miss the creative and corporate visionary, and his blue jeans and black turtleneck. That day has come. The iconic CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, who has been battling a debilitating form of cancer for some time now, has hung up his boots. This marks an end to his 14-year reign at a company which largely owes its phenomenal success to his relentless pursuit of thinking beyond the ordinary, and constantly pushing the limit. Jobs, who revolutionized and integrated the spheres of communication, technology, music and media with his iPhone, iPod and iPad inventions, is perceived as the heart and soul of the company that started in a garage. Though Jobs' health worsened over the years, his indomitable spirit saw him coming out of medical leave twice this year to unveil new Apple products. He rolled out the iPad 2 in March. Then, in June, he resurfaced to show off Apple's iCloud music-syncing service. "Done." Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple said. Jobs' replacement, Apple Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, is highly-respected within the industry, but little known outside it. For all his corporate savvy and proven track record of success, Cook doesn't come close to inspiring the fandom of his predecessor. Jobs, with his signature blue jeans, black turtleneck and wire-rimmed glasses, was the public face of Apple. Be it media events for iPhones, iPads or Macbooks, it was always a one-man show, with Jobs taking center stage. Analysts are putting on a brave front for now - with new iterations of the iPad and iPhone in the pipeline, Apple's short and medium-term future looks secure. But without the man variously described as a "visionary" and the corporate equivalent of "an unusually gifted and brilliant orchestra conductor", the company faces many challenges and uncertainties ahead.