The news that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is stepping down sent a jolt through the company's stock prices on Wednesday, but analysts say the dip likely won't last for the world's most valuable company.
Apple shares were down 2.5 per cent to US$366.85 in early trading in New York, and had earlier dropped 5 per cent in after-hours trading Wednesday evening after news broke of Jobs' resignation.
BNN's Martin Baccardax said the market's reaction to the news is not surprising.
"Investor nervousness about his departure is perfectly understandable because he's been the focal point of that drive for the last 14 years," he told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel.
On Thursday, shares closed down less than one per cent at $373.62 and outperformed the major stock indexes.
Jobs, 56, announced in a letter Tuesday night that he is resigning as CEO of the company he started and instead will take on a role as company chairman.
Jobs, who has survived pancreatic cancer, gave no details about why he was leaving but has long maintained that he would only do the job so long as his health permitted.
"Years ago he said he would continue on as CEO as long as he was able to maintain the duties and responsibilities of the role and as soon as he was no longer able to do that he would step down," said technology analyst Carmi Levy.
"The language of the letter he posted yesterday is entirely in accordance with that. He's only following through on what he said he would do for years."
While the loss of the Apple visionary will be felt sharply in the company -- and on Wall Street and throughout Silicon Valley -- Levy told CTV's Canada AM the company is well prepared to carry on without Jobs.
"I think in the short term there will be some suppression. I think investors are understandably skittish but we've seen this before every time Steve Jobs stepped away temporarily... the market did exactly that, went down a little bit, 4, 5, 6 per cent in the days following and then it bounced back."
Levy said the company is well positioned to move forward under the leadership of Tim Cook, Apple's COO who will now take over as CEO.
Though more of a background operator, Cook has been responsible for creating the massively successful Apple Store franchise, running the supply chain and effectively enacting Jobs' vision for the company.
"If Steve Jobs was the front man, the pitch man for the company, then Tim Cook has been the heavy lifter for the better part of 10 years," Levy said.
Simon Cohen, technology editor for Sympatico.ca, agreed Apple still has a bright future despite the loss of its CEO.
"They have an amazing product road map, hitting on all cylinders with so many strong products right now -- everything from the iPhone to the iPad to iTunes. There are really very few weak points in their portfolio," Cohen told Canada AM.
Some financial analysts estimated on Wednesday night that as much as 20 per cent of Apple's stock value is directly tied to Jobs himself.
"If that is the case today could be very ugly for Apple shareholders but I have a feeling that's not going to be the case. I don't think it's going to take a huge hit," Cohen said.
He said Apple has planned for Jobs' departure for years. The company even started an internal training program called Apple University, with the goal of teaching staff to think like their leader.
"His legacy is going to be that people start to ask themselves all the time, 'What would Steve Jobs do?' And hopefully they'll be able to answer that," Cohen said.
Regardless of how bright the company's future may be, however, there is little doubt that Jobs' departure from the top job will be sharply felt.
The man who started Apple in his Silicon Valley garage with a high school friend has revolutionized the entire industry, changing the way people buy and listen to music, popularizing the tablet and essentially creating the smart phone market.
He also transitioned Apple from a niche label for technology hipsters, to a powerful and ubiquitous brand on the cutting edge of the industry.
Jobs' ability to think outside the box and drive consumer trends, rather than react to them, will be difficult to replace.
Cook simply isn't that type of leader, Levy acknowledged.
"But that isn't a knock against him because no one is the visionary that Jobs is. He is a once-in-a-generation kind of leader. We're not going to see his kind again for a very long time, if ever."
It isn't clear yet what role Jobs will have as chairman. But one analyst argued the company simply can't continue its seemingly unstoppable upward trajectory without him at the helm.
"Apple is Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs is Apple, and Steve Jobs is innovation," Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, told The Associated Press.
"You can teach people how to be operationally efficient, you can hire consultants to tell you how to do that, but God creates innovation. ... Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing."
