“Apple is the world’s definitive 21st-century company, harnessing like no other the possibilities that exist in the digital age. Earlier this month the firm produced truly startling results. Sales leapt by 48 per cent as consumers the world over bought music from the iTunes virtual music store to play on their iPod media players,” John Naughton and Nick Mathiason write for The Observer.
Naughton and Mathiason ask, “But what will become of Apple when its all-powerful chairman, Steve Jobs, eventually decides to spend more time with his billions? Can it withstand growing competition and are we witnessing the end of the Californian dream?”
Naughton and Mathiason write, “Microsoft without Bill Gates seemed unthinkable until last month when he announced he was stepping down. In retrospect, we can see that a good deal of planning went into it. There’s no equivalent to Ballmer or Ozzie at Apple.”
MacDailyNews Take: That’s a Good Thing™. Ballmer is a buffoon and Ozzie’s main claim to fame in the much-despised-by-users Lotus Notes.
Naughton and Mathiason continue, “Or, if there is, the public has never seen them. Whenever there is a spotlight on Apple, Jobs is in the centre of the beam. His regular keynote speeches at Mac Expos are more like rock concerts than corporate events. If there are cool new products to be unveiled, the chairman is the one who does the demos. ‘He’s absolutely integral to the success of company,’ said Conrad Roeber, partner at media consultancy Mediatique.”
MacDailyNews Take: Surely, of all people, Steve Jobs understands planning for the future. Just because a successor hasn’t been named publicly, doesn’t mean there is no successor.
Naughton and Mathiason write, “In the last 10 years, he has transformed Apple from a failing computer manufacturer into the most innovative company in the industry. Just as, decades earlier, he spotted the possibilities of desktop publishing, in 1996 he recognised the importance of computers as devices for creating and handling multimedia content. The result is that Apple now has an apparently unassailable lead in these areas, and its computers come with excellent onboard tools for storing, editing and manipulating images, audio, movies and music. And last quarter’s results, the second best in its history, underscore the extent of the transformation: 45 per cent of Apple’s revenues now come from music-related products.”
“All of this is very largely Jobs’s doing. But it raises the awkward question: What happens if he falls under the metaphorical bus? Not so long ago, we thought he had – he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August 2004. Fortunately, it turned out to be a rare non-fatal variety,” Naughton and Mathiason write, “…In grown-up companies, one of the responsibilities of the CEO is to find and groom his successor. Jobs tried to do that once and got Sculley. He has given no sign of wanting to repeat the experience. In the end, the Apple board may have to do it for him. Let’s hope they get it right second time around.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Jonathan Ive? More on that idea here.
Related articles:
What happens to Apple when Steve Jobs quits or dies? – March 24, 2006
What happens when Steve Jobs dies? – August 20, 2003
There’s no doubt it’s Ive. Time Magazine last Apple story made that (or should I say Apple/Steve did) real obvious.
Johnny iPod would be the logical choice.
Vote for Pedro!
Jonathon Ive is a great designer, not a businessman.
This is a blatant attempt at FUD.
Someone (MS, Dell,…) is seeing Apple’s stock price rise and they are trying to take some of the momentum out of the stock.
There are hundreds of companies that have a visionary leader in other industries. This is always a concern but to bring it up now just before the WWDC looks to me that someone or some company is looking to drive Apple stock price down.
I don’t think it will work, but it shows there are many (MS, Dell, etc) who are afraid of Apple.
My 2 cents.
Apple is a Product driven company and thus Phil Shiller would take over Steve. Forget Jonathan, he’s a designer and has nothing to do with business. Shiller understands design and would let Jonathan do his things. There’s no way the finance guys or Sales guys would take over. They are good at what do and that’s it.
The only other candidate would be the iTMS guy, Eddy Cue. He’s on top of his thing. Web distribution (read Home Center) is the next big thing for Apple. Eddy’s the perfect candidate fur such business.
Apple’s legacy is assured, no worry. It won’t be the same thing but that’s not such a bad thing neither.
PS: By then MS will be split in three and will not be the threat they once were.
I think it perfectly valid to discuss Apple’s succession policy, given that SPJ is in his fifties and has had a brush with a disease that – fifty years ago – may well have been inoperable.
That said, there is no way that Ive is the right guy for the job: Apple’s culture demands a multi-disciplinary visionary, someone who understands computers, entertainment, design, marketing and a whole load more. In reality, this is far more likely to come from the games industry or some other part of the mass media than anywhere else.
But here’s something to chew on whilst you think: as things stand whilst I type, Apple is the second most highly-valued vendor of personal computers on the planet after HP (IBM having left the field) and Dell is currently $6.6 billion (11.5%) behind in third-place.
Another year of Mac unit growth (if they can’t hit 1.5 million units this quarter – compared to 1.236 million for the same quarter in 2005 – I’ll be amazed) and some more developments in the iPod arena might see Apple exceed HP as HP, Dell and Lenovo indulge in a three-way death roll to see which can kill the other, all the while hoping that Vista might actually ship and some demand for new machines might materialise.
Compare that prospect to where Apple was when SPJ came back and Apple was pretty much the gang who couldn’t shoot straight.
Tiger Woods
This is something that has always worried me. Apple’s has never been succesful w/out Jobs (except for a very short lived period under Sculley). I think SJ has maybe 10 good years in him. After I’d think he’ll want to do something else. It is human nature
Ive is no CEO material. While he is very good at his job he is just a designer
This is an idiotic article based on nothing but spin. MDN, as a “news” site should know how spin works. What the media does is speculate and try to cause a stir so that people and outside news sites get all sweaty and worrisome.
There has been no sign of Jobs leaving Apple – not after having to come back and save his company from ruin – not after watchng his company finally start on the road to overtaking the Goliath. The company is too vulnerable at this point for him to leave and I am sure that he knows it.
MDN is correct in stating that, “Just because a successor hasn’t been named publicly, doesn’t mean there is no successor.” Steve Jobs doesn’t have to tell anyone anything. He is not obligated too. He may have a successor in mind for when that time comes. At this point who really cares other than the speculators? I am too busy enjoing their products and waiting to hear what news comes out of the WWDC (and enjoying my Mets victories).
I’ll do it!!
(and enjoying my Mets victories)
Best comment in the whole thread.
; )
What happens when Steve Jobs leaves Apple?
Answer: Apple is dead or then soon to be bought out.
That is problem with having a company run by a cult (Apple) figure.
Al Gore
“much-despised-by-users Lotus Notes” ?
I use Notes every day – its not a bad application. Sure, there’s room for improvement, but I don’t get the “Despised” sentiment :b~
I think Gil Amelio did some good work. He wrote the strategy paper on what Apple needed to get healthy again but it was Jobs who was able to rally the employees around it and create sexy computers again. Also credit to Jobs and the employees at Apple for all the innovations and great strategy over the past 10 years =)
I had to use Lotus Notes at my last job and it was a God awful piece of software. Cumbersome to use and weak email client. Not intuitive at all. I don’t think I have ever met a person that actually likes Lotus Notes.
Like his namesake hal seems not to be able to think straight. Give us a song.
“Ive is no CEO material. While he is very good at his job he is just a designer”
And you are basing this on what? A couple of videos of him talking about his designs?
IMHO, the only person who seems to be getting groomed–at least getting face time with the public–is Phil Schiller.
I’m guessing when his Holiness steps down a lot of the posters here will be jumping out of 10 story buildings without a parachute.
From: ccap1 – Al Gore:
I thought the same thing, although I’m not sure he’d want it since he’s on his Global Warming tour.
I’m not really sure he’s had much influence on Apple since he took a seat on the board. Other than showing up in an iChat demo he’s pretty much been invisible.
Lotus Notes is one of the more miss understood programs out there.
Unfortunately the power of Lotus Notes allows bad developers to create bad application designs. It’s these bad applications that stick in peoples minds. Far too often people try to use Lotus Notes for things it was never intended to do. (Like a transactional database)
Yes the older versions didn’t have a mail template design that was anything to write home about but have you seen any of the latest versions? And if you still have issues with the latest versions you can always create and customize your own mail template design. Try doing that with outlook.
I’ve thought about this too, but the timing is very suspicious. I do know that SJ is no idiot, and Apple usually has their plans well-oiled before they reveal them publicly. They do that with software and hardware; did you expect something different when it came to succession plans? Duh!
Apple = Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs = Apple.
There is no substitute. Even Steve knows it – he was there, he left; the company fell apart, he came back and Apple is thriving.
When Steve is gone, Apple is gone.
(I see it being bought by Intel…)
The universe implodes, so what does it matter, the world as we know it will no longer be worth living in anyhow.