“Apple investors have already been through a period without CEO Steve Jobs at the helm and that didn’t turn out too well,” Paul R. La Monica reports for CNN/Money. “So the news of Jobs’ cancer surgery over the weekend did not sit well with Wall Street. Shares of Apple Computer dipped more than 2 percent Monday morning.”
“‘Steve Jobs has been the hallmark of Apple’s turnaround,’ said Megan Graham-Hackett, an equity analyst with Standard & Poor’s. ‘It would be a blow to the company if he were not able to be as participatory as he has been in the past,'” La Monica reports. “Of course, it seems premature to speculate about a successor to Jobs. Or is it? ‘We have a talented and experienced senior management team,’ said an Apple spokeswoman. ‘Our board of directors has a formal succession plan in place but the details of that are not public.’ But Rod Bare, an equity analyst with Morningstar, said that Apple investors should always be prepared for life without Jobs… ‘Apple does rely on a cult of personality and the stock trades on some of that,’ said Bare.”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews article:
What happens when Steve Jobs dies? – August 20, 2003
The great thing about SJ is that he combines understanding and vision in SEVERAL areas, not just design but also the tech under the hood, marketing, etc. That’s DAMN HARD to find. The WORST thing Apple could do is to get some “general manager” from outside of Apple who thinks they can “manage anything” (if that occurred, I would give Apple 6-12 months to live, tops).
Because M$ is so dominant, Apple has to be twice as good just to survive, and the chances of the Apple board finding and hiring someone that good are miniscule. The only LIKELY long-term hope for Apple is that SJ WINS the battle with M$ before he has to head off into the sunset, and the Apple board then finds someone who is “good enough” (STILL not easy to find) to keep them from losing that advantageous position; improvements in Macs and other Apple products would still slow down, but we’d be a lot better off than with Apple on the rubbish heap of history.
Sorry this doesn’t sound too optimistic about finding another savvy visionary to replace Jobs, but savvy visionaries don’t grow on trees…
Here’s to hoping SJ comes back from this more committed than ever to kicking Billy Gates’ ass.
They will coordinate his return with the announcement of the iMac. Steve will offer to show everyone the tumor they removed from him, a light will shine from above and the new iMac will rise from the stage.