Photos: Steve Jobs Resigns As Apple CEO, Appears In Grave Health

On Wednesday, Steve Jobs, Apple's founder and CEO sent a letter addressed to "To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community", he resigned.  The letter said:

"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"

 Jobs is one of the most innovative and one of the most business savvy individuals of the modern era.  With rumors of both an IPad 3 and numerous IPhone models debuting for multiple carriers within the next few months, many industry insiders were speculating what it was that is causing Jobs to walk away from his baby. Had his pancreatic cancer come back?  Was it something else?  Well,  TMZ got a picture of Mr Jobs this afternoon today, and it isn't pretty.  In fact, it's quite shocking.

As you can see, he's so weak and frail he is having to be assisted with standing at the street corner.  His ankles are wider than the middle of his legs.  He appears to be terminally ill.

When he resigned on Wednesday, I read a lot of articles that essentially talked shit about him.  They talked about how stubborn he was, or about how he was a "my way or the highway" type of guy.  One article reiterated the number of products Apple was responsible for killing (the Walkman, floppy disks, CDs, CD roms).  There was one article though that stood out.  It was actually a post on Google+ by Google Vice President for Social Business Vic Gundotra:

"One Sunday morning, January 6th, 2008 I was attending religious services when my cell phone vibrated. As discreetly as possible, I checked the phone and noticed that my phone said "Caller ID unknown". I choose to ignore.

After services, as I was walking to my car with my family, I checked my cell phone messages. The message left was from Steve Jobs. "Vic, can you call me at home? I have something urgent to discuss" it said. 

Before I even reached my car, I called Steve Jobs back. I was responsible for all mobile applications at Google, and in that role, had regular dealings with Steve. It was one of the perks of the job. 

"Hey Steve - this is Vic", I said. "I'm sorry I didn't answer your call earlier. I was in religious services, and the caller ID said unknown, so I didn't pick up". 

Steve laughed. He said, "Vic, unless the Caller ID said 'GOD', you should never pick up during services". 

I laughed nervously. After all, while it was customary for Steve to call during the week upset about something, it was unusual for him to call me on Sunday and ask me to call his home. I wondered what was so important?

"So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I've already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow" said Steve. 

"I've been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I'm not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn't have the right yellow gradient. It's just wrong and I'm going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"

Of course this was okay with me. A few minutes later on that Sunday I received an email from Steve with the subject "Icon Ambulance". The email directed me to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon. 

Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products. They have been a part of my life for decades. Even when I worked for 15 years for Bill Gates at Microsoft, I had a huge admiration for Steve and what Apple had produced. 

But in the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I'll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.

To one of the greatest leaders I've ever met, my prayers and hopes are with you Steve.

-Vic"

Being a visionary isn't about cutting corners to make an extra 3% profit on a particular product.  People take notice.  That's why they're willing to pay a little bit extra for the merchandise.  Our hopes and thoughts are with you as well, Steve.