Apple's Steve Jobs Resigns: UC Davis Students React

Steve Jobs, the visionary Co-Founder of Apple, abruptly resigned from his position as CEO on Wednesday night.

In a statement written to the company Jobs wrote, “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, 56, has been battling pancreatic cancer and has been on a leave of absence for most of this year.

So, what does it mean for the future of Apple?

“Apple’s stock will go down because people will loose faith in the company,” said UC Davis Senior Kate Braham. “Eventually things will turn around because Apple has strong products.”

Braham was correct in her forecast, with the Apple’s stock dropping 5 percent in after-hour trading Wednesday night. They’ve already rebounded somewhat, however.

Brittany Nelson, a junior at UC Davis, is not too worried about the company post Jobs.

“There are more people than just Steve Jobs running Apple,” Nelson says. “The bigger question is who will replace him as the iconic leader of the company?”

Apple has named Tim Cook the new CEO of the company, and made Jobs Chairman of the Board. This decision was not surprising since Cook as been standing in for Jobs during his medical leaves.

It the coming months, all eyes will be on Cook to see if he can be the same kind of “iconic” visionary as Jobs.

Twitter user @kbradnam, who works in tech at UC Davis, had this to say about the speculation that has follows the resignation: 

Jobs resignation has really led to a lot of pointless and worthless speculation and opinion. Too much hyperbole and not enough perspective.

With Apple at the top of its game, it'll likely take a while before we know the effect of the resignation. 

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5 this fall and another version of the iPad shortly after.

Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 at the age of 21. He resigned from the company in 1985 but returned as CEO in the mid 90s when Apple was struggling to remain profitable.

Jobs restructured the company, canceling many software projects Apple was investing in at the time. He focused on what Apple had originally been created for, the hardware of computers. He released the iMac and was able to turn the company around.

By 2007 Apple was a powerful competitor. Job’s innovation and creativity has directed the company, who continually releases the most popular consumer products.

During his time as CEO Apple released the iMac, Macbook, iTunes, iPods, iPhones, and the iPad.