A ‘business superhero’: Tech leaders praise Jobs following resignation

Steve Jobs’ resignation as Apple CEO heralds the end of a more than 30 year association with the tech giant. No more polo necks, no more “one more thing” at the end of his now famous keynote speeches. Reactions from the tech world have ranged from shock to heartfelt tributes.

Memeburn takes a look at how some of the industry’s leading voices have responded to the announcement through social tools like Twitter and Google+:

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who initially left his company after being diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, made direct reference to Jobs’ health, saying:

Ethernet co-founder Bob Metcalfe added to the witty puns surrounding the incident, before calling Jobs “My Hero”:

Innovator and serial entrepreneur Bill Gross hailed Jobs as a “superhero”:

PC World editor, Lance Ulanoff was among the commentators who initially registered shock at the announcement:

Harry McCracken, editor of Time’s tech blog Technologizer spoke about the magnitude of Jobs’ effect on the tech industry:

Cisco’s “Tweeter in Chief” John Earnhardt chose to quote Jobs on the value he placed on his colleagues at Apple:

Former MySpace co-president Jason Hirschhorn urged the twitterverse to stop treating Jobs’ resignation like a death:

Salesforce CEO and Chairman Marc Benioff called Jobs “The greatest leader our industry has ever known”:

Jeff Clavier, Managing Partner of SoftTech VC compared Jobs’ resignation to being orphaned:

Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanian felt that Jobs had earned the rest his resignation would afford him:

Google’s Senior Vice-President of Social Business, Vic Gondutra, used his Google+ profile to record a very specific tribute to Jobs, speaking about how Jobs had sent him an Apple employee to get exactly the right gradient of yellow in the Google logo for the iPhone. Reflecting on Jobs’s career, he says:

…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.

Former chief evangelist at Apple, Guy Kawasaki posted, “No CEO in the history of mankind has done more for his customers, employees, and shareholders than Steve. I consider it an honour to have worked with him”.