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Steve Jobs...preparing for retirement?

Maxiseller

Maxiseller

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 11, 2005
846
1
Little grey, chilly island.
Presumably by now many of you will have watched the WWDC stream from the Apple Website.

A couple of thoughts come to mind from my perspective: The amount Steve Jobs was actually on stage was very small, especially compared to other events and demonstrations. The Mac Pro wasn't introduced by Steve, nor was Time Machine, Spotlight etc etc...all the best stuff was demonstrated by "others" in the Apple group. At 50 minutes into the presentation, Steve was on stage no more than around 9 minutes.

So; is this just a new way of doing things? Is he preparing for less involvment? Or is he beginning to make a concious move to "opt out" of the public eye, showing us that Apple functions without him; thus, when he retires, there is less of an uproar?

I don't know about you guys, but I did not enjoy this Keynote as I have in the past.

Discuss.
 
I think the reason I didn't enjoy it as much as previous was due to their not being that 'one more thing' element, i miss it *sob*.

He looked quite thin too, I know he was ill but he definatly looked thinner.
 
Yeh -

Ii just got the distinct impression that the entire format had changed...the focal point being taken off Steve was new; bringing on loads of other apple execs (whereas the guests have usually been non-apple emloyees) to highlight features.

I wouldn't mind but the guy demonstrating Time Machine (Scott Forstall) is just plain annoying!!
 
I was actually a bit surprised by all the people on stage and all over the place... if the plan is to slowly introduce more faces and have steve have a less public role its a good stratedgy, the mac community needs to see who is the new person in charge and learn to trust that person, and see that even with steve taking a lesser role that apple will continue to inovate.
 
I thought the format took attention off of Steve but it makes sense. WWDC is all about developers. My guess is that Steve will start reserving his stage time for MacWorld "one more thing" keynotes and smaller seasonal unveilings.
 
Lollypop said:
I was actually a bit surprised by all the people on stage and all over the place... if the plan is to slowly introduce more faces and have steve have a less public role its a good stratedgy, the mac community needs to see who is the new person in charge and learn to trust that person, and see that even with steve taking a lesser role that apple will continue to inovate.
Click to expand...

Yeh, I think it was just the sheer number of faces we are dealing with. 3 people in the space of 40 minutes is a lot to get on board with.

I guess we're just not used to it?
 
None of them have Jobs' charisma, to be sure, but it's not a good idea for a huge company to ride too much on one person's personality (if that's not too redundant), especially as he's getting older and has had health problems. He may also just simply not want to do this any more. Steve's got his fingers in many pots and is amazingly wealthy (assuming he's not off to jail). He may just be getting ready for other interests.
 
He looked a hell of a lot better than he did at the Mac mini introduction earlier this year - he looked pale and ready to fall down back then, much better today.

Remember, Steve isn't a tech-head, he employs people who are to ensure the products are right. It only makes sense for the people who did the work and know their stuff to introduce the new products.

Steve is all about the consumer products - the most visible part of Apple's busines - iMac, MacBook, iPod iTunes etc. MWSF is his comfort zone and it shows.

Of course he's looking towards retirement, he's not in his mid-thrities anymore. It will eventually come, none of the guys on stage today could possibly take over from him. Phil knows his stuff but he's dead boring, Bertrand was funny but kind of odd looking and sometimes difficult to understand and the other guy was just a bit green - promising but needs more time.
 
I haven't been able to watch the keynote. The stupid link doesn't work. I open it up in quicktime and it glitches all over me :mad: Sorry to bombard on this thread. I'm having doubts Steve will retire. I'm thinking he wanted to do something a little different for a change of pace. Instead of Steve being in the spotlight, maybe let some others get some of the credit. After all, this isnt' just Steve's work. It's a group effort.
 
i thought the same thing, i believe that Steve may be looking to retire in the next few years. Phil was very annoying unveiling the Mac Pro and extremely annoying during the iChat, but the other skinnier guy was fine. None are Steve Jobs replacements though :(
 
rockthecasbah said:
i thought the same thing, i believe that Steve may be looking to retire in the next few years. Phil was very annoying unveiling the Mac Pro and extremely annoying during the iChat, but the other skinnier guy was fine. None are Steve Jobs replacements though :(
Click to expand...

Yeh it would be nice if we could say "Gosh he had charisma" but that was not displayed! I agree that Phil is too annoying! :eek:
 
I also noticed he was significantly thinner ... almost believed that it truely wasnt him. He looked sick and the full beard made him look much older!

> well he probably was incredibly stressed out this past few months and not eating. Would be nice to see him at WWDC07 and him being BUFF! :D
 
I had very similar thoughts.

He looked thin indeed, but as already mentioned - better than the iPod Hi-Fi intro...

I really got the feeling that that Scott fellow is being groomed as a replacement.

He's alright, but comes off as a little smarmy... Steve is cool, this guy... he's not so cool... Maybe he'll chill a bit more in the coming years...

And stop knocking Phil all of ya! He's alllllllright... he's just Phil!
 
hob said:
I really got the feeling that that Scott fellow is being groomed as a replacement.

He's alright, but comes off as a little smarmy... Steve is cool, this guy... he's not so cool... Maybe he'll chill a bit more in the coming years...
Click to expand...

You could be right. Of course Steve has to go at some point and I'll be betting its in the next few (couple?) of years. The only problem here is that Scott is just not trustworthy enough...

Steve Wins over the crowds. He's a people person. Scott doesn't do this. You could hear him muttering the jokes under his breath - he hadn't got the audience under his control.

Please don't leave the Company (which is in my opinion at a turning point) to somebody who can't really grasp the role that Steve leaves...:confused:
 
Yes, Steve looked ill.

I think that the other presenters were on stage *in case* a transition in Apple leadership will occur in the near future.
 
no one can induce the RDF like steve. you just hinge on everything he says, then you are immediately excited when he says it, and you feel the need to tell the whole world.
 
I expect Steve is working harder than he ever has, with Disney to save in his next stage of life.

Splitting his time between the 3 companies is probably taking its toll.

Edit: wouldn't be too surprised to see him actually putting in 100+ hour weeks these days.
 
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