So we’ve finally got the breaking news from computer giant Apple that we’ve all been expecting for a long time: the sad announcement that Steve Jobs is to step down as CEO because of his deteriorating health condition.
Shares in Apple Corp fell sharply immediately following the company statement, amid fears about the long-term direction of the business without the senior figure that transformed a tiny garage-based operation into one of the world’s largest technology companies.

But the reality is that, during the six-month period in which it had to do without its charismatic leader on sick leave, the company has if anything gathered even more business momentum.

This therefore suggests that Jobs’s departure is highly unlikely to halt the continued progress of a company that not only has an enviable wealth of creative, technological and engineering talent at its disposal, but a raft of exciting and innovative products already in the pipeline.

So why then have investors reacted so unfavourably to what was the inevitable news of Jobs’s resignation?

Well, the answer simply comes down to a matter of PR.

Steve Jobs not only built up a vast business empire from scratch, but also established himself as everyone’s favourite computer nerd.

He has been the familiar face of Apple, in his trademark jeans and casual jumpers, at the launch of some of the world’s best-selling and most iconic products.

And the question playing on the minds of both city investors and PR professionals is how his successor, Tim Cook, is going to step into Jobs’s shoes and make the same kind of impact at those now-famous Apple product launches.