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Steve Jobs steps down from Apple

Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs resigned today as chief executive officer from Apple. His place at the top of the company will be taken by Tim Cook, previously Apple's chief operating officer.

Jobs has been dogged by a string of health problems in recent years that forced him to take periodic leaves of absence from the company. Jobs announced in January that he was taking an indefinite medical leave from Apple--his third in recent years--and handed over day-to-day responsibility to Cook. He told his employees in January, "I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can."

In January 2009, Jobs said that he was suffering from a hormone imbalance that was impeding his body's ability to absorb certain proteins. In April of that year, Jobs underwent liver transplant surgery and returned to work by early July. In August 2004, Jobs underwent successful surgery to treat a rare form of pancreatic cancer, which sidelined him until September of that year.

In a separate note to Apple's board members and the Apple community today, Jobs said that he was no longer up to the job of CEO.

"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.

Jobs concluded by saying that "Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it," and that he looks forward to contributing as Apple's chairman of the board, director, and as an Apple employee if the board allows it.

Cook, 50, joined Apple in 1998 and was promoted to COO in 2004. He has long been Jobs' right-hand executive, heading up shareholders meetings and earnings calls with Wall Street investors, and acting as a figurehead at product introductions. … Read more

Motorola CEO: 'Completely open' to Windows 8

Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said his company is open to Windows 8 as a platform and expects an aggressive roll out of new Android tablets in the second half.

"We're completely open to Windows as a platform," he said when speaking at an Oppenheimer Annual Technology & Communications Conference today. The conference was streamed via Motorola's Web site. Its stable of devices such as the Droid 3 and Droid X2 smartphones and Xoom tablet currently all run Google's Android operating system.

"We're not leading the charge on Windows 8, but as we become … Read more

EA CEO claims iPad is fastest growing platform

In yet another victory for Apple in the mobile arena, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitello claims that Apple's iPad is the fastest growing platform for EA development.

The report from gaming industry Web site IndustryGamers interviews Riccitello concerning the role of consoles in today's gaming climate. Riccitello holds that while the standard operating procedure for console makers was to release new hardware every few years, nearly in unison, that model no longer fits.

"Consoles used to be 80 percent of the industry as recently as 2000. Consoles today are 40 percent of the game industry, so what … Read more

Lowell McAdam to take over as Verizon CEO

Verizon Communications said today that Lowell McAdam will officially take over as chief executive on August 1.

McAdam takes the reins from longtime Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg, who will retain his chairman title. McAdam was widely known as the heir apparent when he was promoted to president and chief operating officer in October. He previously ran Verizon Wireless, which is jointly owned by Verizon and Vodafone Group.

"His stellar leadership of Verizon Wireless and his outstanding 28-year career in the telecommunications industry have positioned Lowell to understand the potential of our company and the actions that need to be … Read more

AMD: Finding a CEO a top priority, the timeline isn't

AMD's second-quarter earnings report was overshadowed by one massive question: when will the chipmaker find a chief executive.

The company is now nearly pushing eight months without a CEO. In January, AMD CEO Dirk Meyer resigned. CFO Thomas Seifert has been acting CEO this year. While current management has hit its targets and delivered new products, the company needs a leader at some point.

According to AMD General Counsel Harry Wolin the "search for a new CEO remains a top priority." However, AMD isn't going to be roped into any deadline. "The board is pleased … Read more

Report: Board members discuss Jobs' successor

Members of Apple's board of directors have talked to outside headhunters about a succession plan for the company, if it needs to replace Chief Executive Steve Jobs, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

The Journal cited unnamed sources in the story, who said the conversations with recruiters were not aimed at replacing Jobs, who went on medical leave last winter, but rather were more informal conversations regarding the company's options. The Journal also said the members of the board who approached recruiters were not doing so at the behest of the entire board. It's also unclear whether … Read more

RIM investors pull proposal to split CEO role

An investor push for Research In Motion to split its dual-CEO structure was unexpectedly withdrawn today after an agreement was made with RIM.

RIM announced today that after discussions between the two groups, Northwest & Ethical Investments will withdraw its shareholder proposal before RIM's annual meeting.

In exchange, RIM will set up a board of directors committee that will look at the necessity of having a lead director on the board versus a chairman, whether co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie need to have "significant" board-of-director-level titles, and provide guidance on whether to continue with the jointly … Read more

More calls to split RIM's CEO, chairman roles

The calls for Research in Motion to reconsider its current executive structure are getting louder.

Today major shareholder advisory group International Shareholder Services (ISS) added its voice to the mix, telling clients they should support a proposal to split the company's CEO and chairman roles. Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie are co-CEOs and co-chairmen of the Waterloo, Ontario-based mobile computing company.

"The board's mandate is to represent the interests of shareholders through overseeing management and instilling accountability...Conflicts of interest may arise when one person holds both the Chair and CEO positions," ISS said today, according to Bloomberg. … Read more

This Day in Tech: Obama appoints Twitter CEO, plus Google foes

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Friday, May 27.

Obama appointing Twitter CEO to advisory group Twitter chief Dick Costolo will join the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Microsoft's Scott Charney and McAfee's David DeWalt will be appointed too. More

Microsoft to showcase new tablet OS next week? Software giant reportedly plans to take the wraps off a new operating system next week, perhaps running on hardware using Nvidia's ARM-based Tegra processor. More

Zuckerberg: Privacy anxiety is fleeting New features may initially give … Read more

Bitly gets a new boss

AllThingsD

Bitly has raised $14 million in a few years, and shrinks more than 8 billion Web addresses a month. And it's done all that without anyone running the company full time.

Until now. Technology vet Peter Stern, whose last start-up ended up being acquired by Facebook, is Bitly's first official CEO.

He's taking the reins from Betaworks CEO John Borthwick, who helped hatch Bitly as one of his incubator's projects and has overseen it since, while juggling lots of other balls at the same time.

Stern founded Zenbe, an e-mail start-up that Facebook "acqhired" last fall, … Read more