Jonathan Ive

First, Apple's Jonny Ive, the man credited with being the design genius behind the company's products, got a knighthood. That's Sir Jonny Ive, thank you very much.  Now the British designer has received another honor from his home country: a Blue Peter badge. To which U.S. readers may ask: "What's that?"  QUIZ: Test y our Apple knowledge Good question. "Blue Peter" is a children's TV show that has been running in Britain for about 50 years. The badge is presented to people for inspiring kids.

Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs - and so far, that hasn't been a problem for Apple Inc. It has become the world's most valuable company, adding about $265 billion in value since Cook became chief executive 13 months ago. Shares have soared 76% and profits continue to rise. Investors feel valued with Cook lending them an ear and handing them a dividend. But all that may not be enough. With Apple poised to announce the long-awaited iPhone 5 on Wednesday and reap heavy sales from it, analysts and software developers are looking beyond the product launch to whether Cook can set his own course at the company after the death of its co-founder.

Apple Inc. is so secretive about its unreleased phones, tablets, computers and -- potentially -- TVs, that you could almost say that the phrase "notoriously secretive" has become an unofficial Apple slogan. But it's not quite true that Apple keeps everything in a lockbox. The flip side of the company's obsession with secrecy is that its leaders have learned how to use the fact vacuum to their advantage. While the company never discloses product details ahead of time, its executives do drop not-too-subtle hints about upcoming gadgets, sparking weeks of speculation until the next morsel is dropped.

Candles flickered outside Apple stores, where bouquets of flowers encircled photos of Steve Jobs. Thousands of online mourners replaced their Facebook photos with the black Apple logo. And tributes flooded in from world leaders and industry pillars, including Apple's most bitter rivals. The outpouring of sentiment -- the kind usually reserved for pop culture icons like John Lennon or Michael Jackson -- was unprecedented for a corporate executive. Why so much adoration for Jobs?

The decision by Apple Inc. boss Steve Jobs to take a medical leave after learning that his health issues were "more complex" than originally thought renews questions about the succession plan of a company whose fate has been closely linked to its charismatic leader. On Wednesday, only a week after assuring investors that he felt fit to lead the Silicon Valley giant, Jobs wrote in an e-mail to employees that he would pass day-to-day management duties to Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, until the end of June.

Looking for unmistakable evidence that Apple has awoken from its long slumber to reclaim its identity? The most striking sign I've seen is the industrial design of the iMac, the new machine for the consumer and education market, due out in August. Innovative industrial design--a term that refers to how a machine's parts fit together but primarily denotes the look and feel of a device--has historically been one of the Mac's trademarks.

It was a rough day on Wall Street for Apple Inc., which saw its shares decline as much as 2.7% on the first day of trading since the company announced a sweeping management shake-up. Shares fell as low as $587.70 on Wednesday morning. They recovered slightly, closing down $8.68, or 1.4%, to $595.32. Apple shares have slid more than 15% since reaching a high of $702.10 on Sept. 19. On Monday the Cupertino, Calif., tech giant announced the departures of John Browett, Apple's head of retail, and Scott Forstall, who was in charge of the company's widely panned Siri and Maps app products.

Apple found a way to divert attention from Chief Executive Steve Jobs' health Tuesday ? a blowout $6 billion in profit. A day after Jobs stunned investors and employees alike by announcing he was taking medical leave for the third time in seven years, Apple Inc. crushed analysts' estimates with record first-quarter revenue and earnings. The company's stock rallied on the report, buoyed by impressive sales of iPhones, iPads and a pipeline of consumer gadgets. Shares fell a less-than-anticipated 2.2% to $340.

Apple Inc. has pulled off a string of runaway hits ? like the iPhone and the iPad ? that have revolutionized every industry they touched. It has become the world's second-most-valuable company, worth more than $300 billion. But when shareholders meet Wednesday at the company's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, the buzz will not be about Apple's next sleek new gadget or soaring profits. Much of the talk will be about Chief Executive Steve Jobs and what Apple would do without him. The secretive Apple has been reluctant to talk publicly about Jobs' battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer and a liver transplant.