It had to come. If not now, later, but the end always comes. Steve Jobs resigns, handing Apple over to Tim Cook. You can read Steve's own short resignation letter here.

The computer world, the consumer electronics world...aye, the whole world...is worse off for the resignation of Steve Jobs.

You know he wouldn't resign if it wasn't for his health. The body gives out long before the spirit and that just drenches this news with a rain of sadness.

Across the world, an outpouring of emotion washes across the internet--much delivered via the now-famous devices that Steve built.

It was 1976, actually on April Fools' Day, that the two Steves-- Wozniak and Jobs-- created a new computer circuit board in a Silicon Valley garage. I actually remember their first press release later that year...and I discarded it as insignificant at the time. How would you have ever known? The electronics trade press that year were full of the rise of Sony's Betamax, boomboxes, and personal computers were not yet.

Why do we love Steve Jobs so much?

Among the announcements of HP wanting out of the PC business lurks another piece of news-- HP kills its webOS device business. 

Specifically, the TouchPad and all webOS phones (such as the Veer and the just released Pre 3) are on their way to the mobile graveyard. 

webOS itself might still survive, should an interested buyer appears-- maybe a disgruntled Google partner is looking for an Android alternative?

HP acquired webOS from Palm last year for $1.2Bn, in a (one might say failed) attempt to break into the mobile device business with an iOS/Android rival.

The webOS dumping is only part of HP's great Garage Sale, where the company also seeks to sell off HP Personal Systems Group (its PC busness)-- if not its surely-valuable patent portfolio. 

Go HP's Official Garage Sale Announcement

Go Out of the PC Business: HP's Garage Sale

RIM wants small businesses to manage their BlackBerries on the cloud-- through its newly announced BlackBerry Management Center.

The free online service will allow businesses with up to 100 company- or employee-owned Blackberry devices to manage and protect business-related content the smartphones might carry. 

Commercial users wanting the service need to access email via either ISP or web-based services and have devices running on BlackBerry OS 4.6 or later. 

Its offerings include automatic wireless data backup (on a daily, weekly or monthly basis), content protection (via remote locking or data diping) and lost BlackBerry location. 

Blackberry Management Service is already available through link below. 

Go Blackberry Management Service 

HTC gets its 5th acquisition for 2011 with a 51% stake in US-based high-end headphone maker Beats Electronics.

Beats is best known publicly for its partnership with rapper & music producer Dr. Dre-- and best known inside the CE for Monster's role as maker & exclusive distributor.

HTC says it will release products carrying Beats technology by this year's end. But why is this mobile phone giant acquiring a headphone company?

As smartphones become more and more the multimedia devices of choice, HTC is looking for ways to distinguish itself. Embedding the Monster-driven audio technology will help HTC product-wise but displaying the Dr. Dre (and Lady Gaga) driven celebrity brand will help even more.

HTC believes this "cool" brand image will boost its appeal in markets beyond its home Taiwan-- and turn HTC into more of a lifestyle brand within the youth market.

HTC is not to be underestimated...any company that can enter the mobile phone business where giants compete and still rise to the 7th top seller (very close behind RIM and ahead of Sony Ericsson) deserves respect.

Go HTC Acquires Beats

Photo: Lady Gaga launches "HeartBeats" at IFA 2009 with Noel Lee (Head Monster) and Dr. Dre.