The Back Page: Tim out!

Listen up, you primitive screwheads,

Dear beloved team,

Today marks the end of my remarkable—many would say “historic” and who would I be to argue?—tenure as Apple’s chief executive officer. Over the last 15 years, I’ve taken a piddling little tech company from a pair of nerds in a garage to the most profitable company in the world. Or, at least, that’s how I remember it. I’m sure you’ll miss me, and I’ll miss me too.

As I think about where I’m headed, I can’t help but think about how much I’ve done for this company. I cast my mind back to 2007, when I invented the iPhone. It took me months of late nights, hand-soldering the motherboard with one hand while building iOS from the ground up with the other. There were times I thought the world just wouldn’t be ready for such a world-changing device, but I persisted. Because that is what Apple is all about.…