Apple Chairman Says It's "Weird" Without Jobs, But Last Quarter Was Still "Phenomenal"

It's been roughly 16 months since the passing of Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, and the chairman of the company's board of directors, Arthur Levinson, says that it's been "weird" not having Jobs around. Even though the company has released several new products since the co-founder's passing, such as the iPad mini and the iPhone 5, Levinson says that it's been tough to ignore Jobs's absence.

Levinson has been on Apple's board of directors since 2000, and was a close friend of Jobs. He says he's still not to the point where he walks into boardroom and doesn't miss Steve. He even admits that he can't even finish Jobs's biography, saying that "the Steve Jobs that was in the public eye was not, for the most part, the Steve Jobs that [he] knew."

However, Apple reported $13.1 billion in profit and $54.5 billion in revenues last quarter, in which Levinson describes as "phenomenal." And while the board gets to see products anywhere from 6 to 18 months before their launch, Levinson says that the board doesn't really have much say into Apple products, saying that "ultimately, the board is there to hire and fire the CEO."

Of course, after such a great quarter this time around, it doesn't look like Apple has any plans to fire its current CEO, Tim Cook. Jobs left Apple in great hands, being high up on the executive list, Cook was a good choice to take over the Apple helm, and has so far led the company as well as anyone would've expected.

[via Fortune]