The only thing surprising about Steve Jobs's resignation—which Apple had telegraphed several times already—was the timing. Why now? Because of health concerns, maybe. Or maybe because now, right now, is the perfect time for the company to transition. 
 
 When I say now, I'm not talking about the dusky timing of the press release; the cardinal rule of bad news is that you bury it as late as you can. I mean now in the broader context of Apple's future. And if the company's going to not just survive but thrive without Jobs, he couldn't have left any sooner. And he definitely couldn't have waited. 
 
 Apple has literally never been stronger. A month ago they reported record quarterly earnings in a period with no significant product releases, no back to school or holiday boost, all amid what turned out to be a grotesquely challenging three months for competitors like Dell and HP. They were, for a brief period, the most valuable company in the world. Incredible. 
 
 And a month from now? They'll be releasing their next iPhone on America's three major carriers. And very possibly something altogether new: an affordable iPhone, a handset for the masses. If that device does emerge, Apple will have transitioned from yuppie luxury to unprecedented populist value. 
 
 So that's where Apple sits now, cratered between two mountainous achievements. If they'd waited any longer, the iPhone 5 announcement would've been fully shrouded in memories of Jobs; with a month's distance, new CEO Tim Cook has a chance to stand on his own. He can bask in the reflected glory of the iPhone instead of languishing in Jobs's shadow. The company will feel like it's in good hands. Because it is. 
 
 What's easy to forget is that companies have long, long product cycles. The iPhone 5's been done for months; ditto, likely, iPad 3. And iPhone 6 plans are well underway. They'll all have a touch of Jobs in them. Even products with a longer horizon, future generations of MacBooks with sick-skinny bodies and flash storage and no optical disc, AppleTVs teeming with apps, will have Jobs's imprimatur. Especially since, uh, guys? He's staying on as Chairman of the Board. He's involved. 
 
 So yes, there is a chance that Steve Jobs is resigning now because his medical situation has become so severe that he has no other choice. But we certainly hope not. And sincerely don't think so. Because this feels calculated, in the best possible way, to happen at the best possible time. Now. 
 
 You can keep up with Brian Barrett, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. ||||| 1 of 23. Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks in front of an image of an iPhone 4S at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California October 4, 2011. 
 
 CUPERTINO, California (Reuters) - Apple Inc's newest iPhone left Wall Street and fans wishing for more than a souped-up version of last year's device, igniting a rare storm of criticism and disappointment on the Internet. 
 
 Newly minted CEO Tim Cook ably helmed his first major product launch without former boss Steve Jobs, but failed to ignite the sort of excitement and buzz that the charismatic Apple co-founder once did. 
 
 Expectations were high at this critical juncture, when Android phones by Samsung Electronics and other rivals are closing in on Apple's lead and the important holiday shopping season gets started. 
 
 Investors and fans, looking to be blown away by some amazing surprise, sent the shares down as much as 5 percent before they recovered with the market to close down 0.6 percent. 
 
 Cook, who took over from Jobs in August, and his executive team showed off a device that comes with voice recognition and a better camera, but looks identical to the last phone and does little to lift the bar for smartphones. 
 
 While the gadget wasn't as tricked out as some had hoped, analysts liked its voice-enabling technology that helps users vocalize everything from stock price searches to sending messages -- more easily than on Android phones or Research in Motion Blackberries. 
 
 "It's been 16 months and all you've got is an A5 processor in the existing iPhone 4," said BGC Partners' analyst Colin Gillis. "It's a mild disappointment, but they're still going to be selling millions of units." 
 
 Some shareholders and analysts hoped for a cameo appearance by Jobs, now chairman. The pancreatic cancer survivor, who took his third medical leave in August, did not appear. 
 
 In some ways, Apple may have been a victim of its past success. Its launches are some of the hottest events on the tech calendar. Tuesday's "Let's talk iPhone" show marked Cook's unofficial debut since taking over from Jobs in August. 
 
 Analysts say it is more crucial than ever to sustain the popularity of its aging iPhone 4. Apple sold more than 20 million units in the third quarter ended June 25. 
 
 "It's kind of funny -- if they have gone and called it the 5, the stock would have been fine, but they're calling it the 4S, which is a disappointment to some," said WP Stewart portfolio manager Michael Walker. 
 
 The iPhone, which accounts for more than 40 percent of Apple's sales, has been a success since it came out in 2007, making Apple into one of the world's leading consumer electronics companies. 
 
 INTENSIFYING COMPETITION 
 
 On a brighter note, the company would seem to be making inroads into potentially pivotal new markets. 
 
 It said more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies are testing or using its iPhones and iPads, expanding its presence in a corporate market dominated by RIM. RIM shares trading on the Nasdaq stock market slid nearly 3 percent before ending 2.4 percent higher. Google shares finished 1.3 percent up. 
 
 The two-generation-old iPhone 3GS will be offered free, as long as users sign a contract. Analysts said that would help to expand its market in lower-end Asian and developing markets. 
 
 "Apple is hitting Nokia when it's vulnerable. How many billions of people in emerging markets would love to have an iPhone? These are a growing demographic," said YCMNet Advisors CEO Michael Yoshikami. 
 
 Tuesday's iPhone event took place at Apple Central -- the same venue where the iPod first was introduced years ago -- versus the larger, splashier venues of more recent choice such as downtown San Francisco's Moscone center. 
 
 Heading in to the event, many on Wall Street had questioned Cook's ability lead the company as Jobs did. In terms of stage presence, Jobs was a tough act to follow, but analysts say Cook acquitted himself well. 
 
 Twitter users were not impressed with the phone, though. 
 
 "Please note I will be selling some 'S' stickers for $0.99 so iPhone 4 owners have a cheaper upgrade option," wrote HAL9000 on Twitter. 
 
 Tomlinsonr tweeted, "I'll have a double helping of 'meh' with a side of 'whatever'." 
 
 The latest version of the iPhone comes as the economy slows and competition intensifies. People activate more than 550,000 Android-based devices -- including tablets -- each day. 
 
 Nielsen data shows the iPhone was No. 2 in the United States with a 28 percent market share, with Android at 43 percent. 
 
 Globally, iPhone shipments rose 9.1 percent in the second quarter while Nokia's plummeted more than 30 percent, handing the top spot to Apple with a market share of 18.4 percent, according to IHS iSuppli. Samsung, whose shipments grew faster, is coming on strong with a market share of 17.8 percent. 
 
 Despite disappointment online, analysts said the phone is superior to many rival offerings. 
 
 "Voice recognition has been on Google and Blackberry devices for years, but Apple will make it much more usable," said Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Noel Randewich, Alistair Barr and Sarah McBride in San Francisco, and Sinead Carew and Liana B. Baker in New York. Writing by Edwin Chan. Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Robert MacMillan) ||||| ANALYSIS 
 
 He may still be chairman of the board, but in the eyes of the world Steve Jobs has ceased to be the heart of Apple. 
 
 The succession plan, one of the most closely guarded secrets this side of D-Day, is running. As it has been running for at least two years; the date of Jobs's departure may not have been known, but that it was approaching most certainly was. 
 
 These past couple of years have been the strongest test yet of Jobs's famous reality distortion field, his ability to convince everyone he works with that what he says is either true or can — must — be made so. But some realities are not to be denied. 
 
 Apple without Jobs is now one of them. Like any empire without its Caesar, what the next Apple will be, what it does and how it does it, depends on which of the factions within gains control. 
 
 Many Apples 
 
 For there are many Apples. One is that of new chief executive Tim Cook, who is as much responsible for Apple's success as Jobs was. He turned the business of actually making the goods into an imperial machine, controlling suppliers and manufacturers with unmatched ruthlessness. Making close to 100-percent margins on consumer electronics in an austere, hyper-competitive market is as miraculous as anything ever demonstrated in a keynote. 
 
 Then there's the Apple normal people know and write about, a company capable of producing an endless stream of new products with pitch-perfect cadence. It is a marketing powerhouse — for how else do you account for Apple's coronation as king of all things technology, when all it makes is a mobile phone now on its fourth incarnation, a mutant mobile phone too big to put in a pocket, and a few laptops? Put that way — a valid analysis that seems heretical — Apple's success is even more miraculous, more reality defying, than if it had been more like Sony with its huge range of products. 
 
 And there's the innovatory Apple, which lives well beneath the radar. With the exception of the ghostly presence of Jonathan Ive, this is an invisible and unknown force. The products and services appear, companies are swallowed up, and the star players leave. The big decisions are no longer what chip to use, what new hardware features are too cool not to have, but what deals can be done with media companies, what marketing advantage can be gained by rounding up which supplier. 
 
 Success through control 
 
 The signs are strong that Tim Cook's Viking armies will prevail, and without a struggle. It's where the money comes from, and where any attack is to be resisted by any means necessary. Apple of late has become self-righteously litigious, a terrible temptation for any company with fewer ideas and far more money than once it had, but nearly irresistible for one that's learned that success comes through control. If you can't out-think the competition, then it can be controlled through lawsuits — and if you lose a few, it doesn't matter. The damage has been done. And Apple of late has been run by Cook. 
 
 Apple of late has become self-righteously litigious, a terrible temptation for any company with fewer ideas and far more money than once it had. 
 
 Looking beyond the iPhone and the iPad, both of which can only be refreshed so far, there is only uncertainty. Apple in the cloud is Apple unproven. Apple as innovator without Jobs is Apple unknown. Apple in a market where everyone else can do what it does, but can do it cheaper, is unApple. 
 
 Apple will play to what strengths it has, and that looks like a marketing-led, litigiously-active, cash-rich giant determined to protect what it has over building out what comes next. 
 
 For with Jobs, there was always a 'next', even if we didn't know what it was going to be. As one part of the company's history was maturing, Steve Jobs would always be there on stage, unveiling just one more thing: the Mac, the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. 
 
 That won't happen again. Apple's future depends on the new next, and the longer we have to wait to see what happens, the less likely it will happen at all. ||||| FILE - In this April 28, 2003 file photo, Apple Computer Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs gestures during Apple's launch of their new online "Music Store" and new iPod in San Francisco. Apple has become... (Associated Press) 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple has become the world's first publicly traded company to be valued at $1 trillion. 
 
 The milestone marks the triumph of stylish technology that has redefined what we expect from our gadgets ever since two mavericks named Steve started the company 42 years ago. 
 
 The peak reached Thursday seemed unimaginable in 1997 when Apple teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, with its stock trading for less than $1. 
 
 To survive, Apple brought back its once-exiled co-founder, Steve Jobs, as interim CEO and turned to its archrival Microsoft for a $150 million cash infusion to help pay its bills. 
 
 Jobs eventually introduced popular products such as the iPod and iPhone that subsequently drove Apple's rise. The stock has been surging this week as anticipation mounts for the next generation of iPhone, expected to be released in September. 
 
 Apple hit the $1 trillion mark when its shares reached an all-time high of $207.05 around midday in New York. The shares are up 22 percent so far this year. 
 
 Jobs' vision, showmanship and sense of style propelled Apple's comeback. But it might not have happened if he hadn't evolved into a more mature leader after his exit from the company in 1985. His ignominious departure came after losing a power struggle with John Sculley, a former Pepsico executive who he recruited to become Apple's CEO in 1983 — seven years after he and his geeky friend Steve Wozniak teamed up to start the company with the administrative help of Ronald Wayne. 
 
 Jobs remained mercurial when he returned to Apple, but he had also become more thoughtful and adept at spotting talent that would help him create a revolutionary innovation factory. One of his biggest coups came in 1998 when he lured a soft-spoken Southerner, Tim Cook, away from Compaq Computer at a time when Apple's survival remained in doubt. 
 
 Cook's hiring may have been one of the best things Jobs did for Apple. In addition, that is, to shepherding a decade-long succession of iconic products that transformed Apple from a technological boutique to a cultural phenomenon and moneymaking machine.
– Steve Jobs revolutionized Apple in his second go-round with the company, taking the stock from a split-adjusted $6.05 per share in 1996 to $376 today. But with Jobs resigning as CEO, everyone is wondering what the future holds for Apple. Some reactions: What will change? Not much, write Nathan Olivarez-Giles and Thomas Suh Lauder for the LA Times. In his role as CEO, Jobs had to answer to two groups: shareholders, and the board of directors. Now he's at the helm of that board. It was the perfect time to go, writes Brian Barrett for Gizmodo, noting that the coming release of the iPhone 5 and more affordable iPhone 4 should buoy the company and give CEO Tim Cook a chance to step into the spotlight. "If they'd waited any longer, the iPhone 5 announcement would've been fully shrouded in memories of Jobs. ... This feels calculated, in the best possible way, to happen at the best possible time. Now." Apple has lost its core, writes Rupert Goodwins for ZDNet, and only time will tell how this plays out. The iPhone and iPad can only be updated so many times, and with Jobs "there was always a 'next.'" But "Apple as innovator without Jobs is Apple unknown." Its future "depends on the new next, and the longer we have to wait to see what happens, the less likely it will happen at all."