Wednesday, August 24, 2011 will without a doubt be a day Apple fans around the world will not forget for a long time - it's the day that now former Apple CEO Steve Jobs stepped down from his position after 14 years at the helm. Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer back in 1976. For a short amount of time, Jobs left the company to begin another computer business, only to end up back at Apple following an acquisition.

You've likely heard the story of Steve Jobs coming back to Apple, but we thought it would be best to quickly recap it. Following Jobs leaving Apple in 1984, the company began to have its struggles - poor sales and poor innovation led to near bankruptcy. Story has it that Jobs returned to Apple with just 90 days to go before the company filed for bankruptcy. Of course, we all know the story from there - Jobs took over and brought Apple to the top with the iMac and iPod, later followed by the iPhone and iPad. 

And now, we are here today in the post-Steve Jobs era at Apple. What's going to change at Apple? Nothing all that much. Jobs, for those of you who don't know, has been on medical leave since January 2011 (his second in two years). To give a little background of that story - Jobs was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004. He then underwent a liver transplant in 2009. Jobs has appeared at several Apple keynote presentations, including the Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 and the introduction of the iPad 2, despite being on medical leave. 

Short-term changes at Apple are expected. We all know that Apple's stock price will plummet over the next few days (it's already down about 5% in after-hours trading just today). We can also expect that it will take time for Tim Cook, the now former COO of Apple and current CEO, to get acquainted with his new position (despite the fact that he's been acting CEO for months now). 

As far as long-term changes, don't expect Apple to stop doing what they've been doing for the past few years. The company is going to continue to innovate, with or without Steve Jobs at the helm. There's still going to be the iPhone and iPad (with new models expected to be released in the coming weeks and months). There's still going to be the Mac and iPod lineup as well. We don't see Apple and Tim Cook changing all that much, if anything at all, - the different product teams actually developing the hardware and software haven't changed at all. 

What do you think? Do you believe that there will be major changes following Steve Jobs stepping down as CEO of Apple? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!