I think anyone that believes Apple will grind to a halt should Steve Jobs leave the business (for any reason) is amazingly naive. The overall business is in much better shape than when he was forced out previously - the company has evolved and is much stronger than before.
The board of directors, which have been assembled are clearly competent, creative and diligent individuals. Together they are an awesome team. I'm sure that they are influenced and managed by Steve Jobs but my impression is that they are responsible for their actions and innovations. I feel that Jobs' takes a proactive role overseeing their work but largely isn't involved with their day-to-day activities.
Again it would be naive to imagine that Steve Jobs micromanages every aspect of this organiziation. As such, if he leaves the business it will continue to be innovative and cutting edge. The new CEO, would have to share Apple's strategic vision and desire for innovation, delivered with clear thinking. These candidates already exist within Apple.
Steve Jobs and Woz's DNA course through the veins of Apple. History has shown that if the company deviates from this ethos it will fail... The shareholders and the board won't make these mistakes again.
Disney
Ford (up until the last few years)
Microsoft
Are just a small number of influential 'global' businesses, which have survived the passing of key / original figures in their business Apple will be no different - it's time to change our mindset that suggests otherwise...
Ford is doing pretty good in the Asian markets, but poorly here & in Europe to a lesser degree.
You forget that Disney was all pretty much BUNK and ready for serious sales until Jobs was in charge!
Many former members from Apple that shared in the vision of Steve Jobs are no longer there. Jon Rubinstein, former head of hardware engineering & executive staff. Mike Bell, vice president, CPU Software, in the Mac Hardware Division - being a part of Apple for 16years involved in Airport product line, and low-level software for all Mac hardware products. Talk about vision! Both of them work at Palm, Inc now.
Sure there is Phil Schiller, very passionate of Apple and a die-hard Apple Geek if I've ever seen one, but does he have the gusto to inspire others at Apple to go forward? Who's that young looking dude that introduced to us Time Machine? Forestall? He's the person that I think can inspire innovation & the right emotion to put flames into employees to think beyond their desks, inspire others for new innovations and deliver a speech that invokes positive emotions from those at a trade show - recall how uplifted you felt with Time Machines introduction?!! Recall the Push-Service?!
Apple's business will not grind to a halt, they are completely liquid in terms of assets & have NO DEBTS! they can operate in low sales numbers for many months ahead and still deliver great products - but CAN they without proper direction?!
At the heart of Apple is innovation, but delivering products on the cutting edge I'm not so sure of. Let me explain.
Many of Apple's products we & the industry all love mostly because of the elegant design - in the physical part of the product & in the software design. The MacBookPro, MacBook, and Mac Pro are all cutting edge now, but their product cycles are TOO long to continue this perception before the next hardware update. Dell, HP, Acer, Voodoo all of products that expand beyond the consumer lineup and their product cycles are updated every 6mths; beating Apple by 2-4mths. If we look at the iPhone, the original when delivered, hardware wise it was not cutting edge, software definately was! It took 1 full year for Apple to overhaul that business to offer 3G, more availability with larger distribution and initially great hardware warranty support! However, again in less than 8 mths we've only seen a memory storage size double, and a few firmware updates. This is NOT being on the cutting edge, especially with a piss poor camera - don't argue saying the camera is not important if it wasn't Apple would NOT have offered one in ALL models to begin with and if it wasn't they'd offer a model without one at a slightly cheaper price. I have my own opinions about the iPhone - not favorable - but I'll admitt it demonstrates software innovation & display of technology embracing the end user. Problem is, multi-tasking still isn't truely there! What happened to the Push-Service that Forestall offered? Has Apple forgotten about it, or is there a patent licensing issue they are still working out!??
MacBooks never where cutting edge nor showed much innovation until the unibody's. Pricing was always great which helped its viability in the marketplace.
I think its time Apple push for OS X Server and the Xserve, MBP, and Mac Pro more for business' truely highlighting capability, lower total cost of ownership if they can, and the widely available software for business! Excuses like AutoCAD not being available - Apple Software Development team should have a small group tailored to offering & working with large software company's to create software for OS X so that this is no longer an excuse for most company's.
The new CEO, would have to share Apple's strategic vision and desire for innovation, delivered with clear thinking. These candidates already exist within Apple.
And who are they? Tim Cook is a great executive, with clear thinking, but does he share Apple's strategic vision & desire for innovation, not just organizational management?!
