Steve Jobs, the Silicon Valley legend, has relinquished the reins at Apple Inc to right-hand man Tim Cook on Wednesday.

The resignation of Jobs was after 14 years in command at a company he brought back from the brink and turned into the largest technology corporation of the world.

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

Jobs, who fought and survived a rare form of pancreatic cancer and revolutionized the technology arena with the iPhone in 2007, is deemed the heart and soul of a company that started in a garage and is today neck-and-neck with Exxon Mobil in the race to become the largest U.S. corporation.

Analysts do not expect Jobs’ resignation — which was more a question of when than if — to derail Apple’s fabled product-launch roadmap, including possibly a new iPhone in September and a third iteration of the iPad tablet in 2012.

But the company’s shares still dived as much as 7 percent in after-hours trade after the industry icon, who has been on medical leave for an undisclosed condition since Jan. 17, announced he will be replaced by COO and heir apparent Cook.

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come,” Jobs said in a brief letter announcing his resignation.