With the departure of Steve Jobs from Apple Inc., the spotlight is now on Tim Cook -- who was until Wednesday the chief operating officer and widely regarded as an operations genius -- to take the reins at the world's largest technology company.

Cook, who graduated from Auburn University with an engineering degree and earned a master's in business administration from Duke University, joined the upper echelons of Apple in 1998 as senior vice-president of worldwide operations.

During his time as VP, the Alabama-native was credited for fine tuning Apple's manufacturing process and solving the company's chronic product delays and supply-chain hurdles. By 2005, the 50-year-old football fanatic rose through the ranks to become Apple's chief operating officer.

Now in his new role, Cook faces one of the toughest battles in corporate history as he fights to keep Apple's position as the world's foremost technology firm.

"Apple is Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs is Apple, and Steve Jobs is innovation," Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research told The Associated Press.

"You can teach people how to be operationally efficient, you can hire consultants to tell you how to do that, but God creates innovation. ... Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing."

Cook, however, is no stranger to the role. Three times over the past seven years, the former Compaq executive has stepped into the role of de facto CEO at Apple when Jobs was forced to take time off due to health-related issues.

As a result of his experience, analysts consider Cook a sound choice given he's been groomed for the position over the years.

In a company-wide email obtained by Ars Technica, Cook wasted no time in reassuring employee's that the company's future remains bright and that Jobs would still offer his continual guidance.

"I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change," Cook wrote to Apple's nearly 50,000 employees.

"Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that -- it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do."

With visionary Jobs gone from his role as CEO, many Apple zealots are now left wondering what the future of the company holds -- especially as the iPhone faces increased competition from Google's Android phones, not to mention Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

But music, of course, will also determine the future of the tech giant. Besides shaping Apple's products, music is an area where Jobs has arguably left the largest imprint. With the introduction of the iPod digital music player in 1996 and then iTunes software and music store shortly after, Apple quickly became the number one music retailer.

However Apple is betting on its iCloud service, where users will have their music libraries uploaded to remote servers. The music can then be accessed anywhere, with various devices. But it depends on consumers still buying music from iTunes.

Some analysts say Apple is betting on the wrong horse. New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones writes that other music services offer consumers free streaming of songs, like a radio station in which they play the DJ. One of those services, Spotify, is gaining much attention in the U.S.

"So the iCloud may hoover up all of your goodies, but a chunk of the world has no goodies and sees no need for them," he writes.

Meanwhile, New York Times technology analyst Steve Lohr said Jobs's role was primarily a taste maker -- guiding and choosing designs that would grab the public's imagination.

He writes that Cook's "greatest skill is as an operations expert rather than a product-design team leader -- Mr. Jobs's particular talent."

However, Terry Connelly, dean of the Ageno School of Business at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, said Jobs has ensured that his talent for design has found its way into the company's culture.

"A company is dependent on its ability to institutionalize that genius in the corporate DNA," he said. "Apple shows every sign of having done that. We will see that when we see how Cook responds to competitive pressure."

Cross Research Analyst Shannon Cross also noted that Cook doesn't have to be a brilliant taste maker like Jobs, because he has other employees to do that for him – namely, Jonathan Ive, one of the company's top designers.

"The bench at Apple is extremely strong," Ms. Cross said. "He has a good group of executives behind him."

With files from The Associated Press