You make it sound like a new installment of Lord of the Rings..

Maybe it is, 80 billion dollars, 300USD a share. Not exactly a bumblebee racing a blue whale :-)

Good news for some, bad news for others.

For those of us who have come to enjoy what Apple has become in recent years, lets hope that the others in Apple have learnt enough from Steve over the 10 years about how to do PR.

I have macbook air and an iphone. two useful tools. With the newest macbook air Finalcut pro X could function quite well. I need to do some more experimenting to say this with weight. 

In other news: Commander Taco resigned today from premiere nerd news website Slashdot. This, too, is significant. What will they do..

No idea. 

I think it's pretty significant for Apple; Jobs was known for his eye for detail and his perfectionist standards. He also was a highly inspirational figure in the company. Having said that, people could see this coming for ages; he's been sick on-and-off for the last few years. The company has many other talented people who can take over his role.

The big question for me is if they can come up with 'the next big thing'. The 4 products that made Apple big (iPod, iTunes, iPhone and iPad) were all brilliant in concept and design, but Apple needs to stay innovative to stay ahead of Android and other competition. I don't think Steve Jobs' departure impacts this innovation; they may already have something in the pipeline; that would definitely boost investors' confidence in the company. But I have no idea what this 'next big thing' would be.

I think short term they will see a hit in confidence from investors and I expect to see a stock price drop. It might be a good investment opportunity if one believes the other good people in Apple can take over. Because then the stock prices would become high again.

Just carry on :). Personally I feel like slashdots' prime has come and gone now for a number of years