Legendary Steve Jobs has decided to step back from Apple's CEO post. That does not come unexpected to those who followed his health situation, but it now brings the company closer to its faith for the „post-Jobs era“.

Apple, which according to Samsung took-up ideas from Kubrik's Films and translated those ideas into real-life products, had become one of the largest consumer product companies in the world. Apple's secret is to be found in a monopolistic position as hardware provider whereby its uperior profits are generated on the software and content side. That would allow Apple to offer its top notch hardware products at a price close to production cost at any time, a threat to any potential competitor trying to enter their market. Apple's leadership thereby derives from the short development cycles and its ability to deliver new fancy hardware products with astonishing regularity. Most of which Steve Jobs provided vision and guidance.

The integration of Soft- and Hardware is the theme which made Apple famous, but its rigidity and closed application and hardware policy also upset many users. We remember the law suit against Apple for the short termed life of its first Mp3 players'. Despite all of that, Apple had overcome those hurdles and the seemingly planned obsolesence of its first products were certainly a motor for its growth. Users have to have the new gadget at any cost and as a consequence competitors have very limited time to enter a market in which Apple is already designing and pushing new products.