“Could Jonathan Ive, the publicity-shy Essex boy who started his career designing toilets and combs, be close to performing one of the most extraordinary coups in American business history?” Chris Ayres asks for The Times Online. “Could this 40-year-old gym-toned, shaven-headed, Aston Martin-driving Brit, who lives in Twin Peaks, San Francisco, with his wife, who is a historian, and their twin sons, be the next man to run Apple Computer?”
Steve Jobs “is under growing pressure to name his ultimate replacement, as many fear that a company built on one man’s personality needs a clear succession plan,” Ayres writes.
Mr Ive and Mr Jobs are said to talk at least once a day, and Mr Ive shares his boss’s perfectionism,” Ayres writes.
“Some have suggested that Mr Ive lacks the charisma to become ‘Steve 2.0,’ and that he could never deliver Mr Jobs’s Hollywood-style press conferences,” Ayres writes.
Full article here.
Pardon us if we’re not shocked with the amazingly unique prescience of Ayres et al.:
Leading Apple is a very tricky proposition. Only one man so far has pulled it off successfully. Twice. The key ingredients seem to be a quest for perfection, a passion for the technology and the company, and the ability to relate Apple’s ideas to the world with style. Jobs is truly the charismatic force that propels Apple forward in the face of tremendous odds.
Right now, it looks like Apple’s best hope, and a very good one at that, is Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Vice President of Industrial Design… He seems to work well with the engineers responsible for the hardware. He is obviously a meticulous genius. And he has “that certain something” which, importantly, comes across on camera and in person. Whether he has the extremely rare “vision thing” that Jobs possesses; well, that’s still an open question.
Watch Ive in the Power Mac G5 intro video. Ive first appears about 40% in, at the 2:50 mark of the 6:33 minute video. Note that he is almost wearing a black mock turtleneck already. Contrast his presentation style and enthusiasm with the other Apple presenters. Can you sense the almost Jobsian, call it Junior Jobsian, aura? Ive has “it” while all of the other Apple employees in the video are just nice people talking about a computer. And Ive should only get better with time. Could we be watching Steve Jobs’ successor, Apple’s future CEO, in the 31-year-old Ive?
Jonathan Ive, Apple Computer CEO circa 2025. It has a pretty nice ring to it, doesn’t it? You heard it here first. I think Mr. Ive could pull it off. And I think Jobs thinks so, too; in about twenty years… – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, “What happens when Steve Jobs dies?” – August 20, 2003
I think the only person that can make you drop your jaw when presenting is… drum roll… Ballmer!
This guy has so much energy and passion, developers! developers! developers!
Steve Ballmer. He should be looking for a job soon anyway.
Then you can still get Stevenotes, but now with sweating and chair throwing.
Jonathan Ives will NOT be CEO of Apple. Ives is an incredible industrial designer and should remain in his position. He’s not a business person. Like others who’ve already posted, Scott Forstall is a much better choice than Ives for CEO of Apple.
My money is on Tim Cook, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer.
He is the one that was acting CEO when Jobs was in the hospital for cancer treatment.
I do not see how there can every really be a replacement of El Jobso. He is a genius at this. He loves it. He, it think, controls enough stock that no one can again force him out. Talk about iTV being a hobby. Apple is Steve’s hobby. Like so many hobbies this one can be all consuming at times. How many hobbies can make a noticeable change in/to the world?
No. The will take the reigns from Steve’s cold, stiff hands and it will be over. It will, God willing, not happen for another 30 years.
Ive is certainly a “junior” Jobs. And that’s about as close as we can get, these days. He designed the G4 iMac that Switched my wife, but the final design was far from the original. The first design shown to Jobs rated a “not good enough” and a suggestion they try for a “flower” design. Not a lot of help there, Steve. But, Ive was up to the task.
Tim Cook and all the other bean counters mentioned are merely a disaster waiting to happen. Great at what they do, they could run Dell or HP nicely – thank you. Apple is growing because it is not headed by a bean counter. Jobs respects what the bean counters tell him, but provides leadership beyond their imagination. Bean counters may make great capos and such, but the capo de capo needs to be a different sort of man.
My opinion.
Dave
Jonathan is great, but comments like “not too shabby” (what he said when Steve introduced the iPhone) ain’t going to cut it.
If Steve Jobs can say in charge for the next 20 years, Apple will be able to develop “A.I. Steve” to take over and make all the key decisions, provide the vision, and do the MacWorld keynotes. Then, any number of manager-types could run the day-to-day ops at Apple.
TowerTone, that was great!
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BTW, I don’t know why everyone is guessing – all evidence points to John Appleseed as the successor.
Steve Jobs replacement : Eric Schmidt, CEO of Goopple (Google + Apple).
Steve Jobs’s next position : U.S. democrat candidate for the 2016 election… he will run against Arnold Schwartzenegger.
I’m afraid that Apple is probably going to have to go outside of the company to get the CEO clout necessary to negotiate, mano a mano, with tough execs from Hollywood, music companies and wireless phone carrier companies, for example.
I say leave the excellent executive team in place, as is, sans Steve, and bring in a respected Larry Ellison type executive to strike fear and to intimidate from the top.
Jobs has many qualities that have made him the only person who could have lead Apple to this point, but his leadership style is so wrapped up in his cult of personality and the lingering authority from having been there from the beginning that it will be impossible for any successor to follow completely in his footsteps.
They shouldn’t be expected to, and they shouldn’t try. What they can and should continue is the practice of leading the market in innovation and being a steadfast advocate of the optimal customer experience. They don’t always succeed at it (headaches with one of my 10.5 installs last week reminded me of that), but they succeed often enough and are clear enough with their good intentions that I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Any successor needs to realize that that type of goodwill takes years to earn and is the foundation of the company’s success, but can be lost in a very short time, especially with new leadership at the helm.
Jobs has many documented shortcomings as an individual (don’t we all!), but perhaps the most telling shortcoming that he has as a leader is that he has yet to create an atmosphere that fosters upcoming leaders within his own organization. Other more classic leaders groom up-and-comers to become generals on a systematic basis. One could say that this leads to brain drain and needless churn, but it also seeds potential allies within the leadership of a wide range of other companies.
I say leave the excellent executive team in place, as is, sans Steve, and bring in a respected Larry Ellison type executive to strike fear and to intimidate from the top.
…and to inspire!
I heard God was applying for the job………
Wait, did someone say Ivy had a hip replacement? Jobs NEEDS a hip replacement? Dagnabbit, you kids get off my lawn!
Dougless:
When I glanced at your post, it looked like you were saying something about “jive” and a “hip replacement.” Interesting.
Dagnabbit Krioni, get off my post!
Dagnabbit Uncle Al, it’s Ive, not Ivy you idiot! Learn to type. And proofread.
BERTRAND SERLET, MOFOS! It’s time for another Frenchie to run La Pomme!
At the moment – if the worst happened – you’d have to put Cook in the position, because Wall St. would demand a safe pair of hands; in other words, an execution guy. Neither Ive, Forstall or Schiller could deliver the warm comfort that investors would demand.
However, in seven years time (when Steve should really be thinking of handing over) the pool of available talent might look considerably different and may not even be exclusively sourced from within Apple. In fact, it might come from the games industry, the phone industry or somewhere else.
In accordance with the Gretzky (?) quote that SPJ used some while ago, you don’t skate to where the puck is now but where it’s going to be in the future. Logically extended, you don’t pick your successor CEO to suit where Apple is at this time, but where you want it to be in the future.
scott’s been at apple for years , he even worked at next with steve
he has the proven track record , plus to be on the top tier of steve’s enclave for so long proves he’s got the right stuff
plus just look at his jim carrey like hair !
CHITTTTTYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!
Bet you Jobs has got more energy, conviction and longevity than Rupert Murdoch who is far from retiring…
…and Murdoch is 76.
in 2030 Apple should be in quite strong, commanding even, position!
“is under growing pressure to name his ultimate replacement”
Where is the growing pressure coming from? I have not read or heard anything concerning a replacement.
The reason for the delay in products recently is Apple is designing Jobs replacement. Jobs has been overseeing this project for sometime and will debut the beta version at MWSF. Look for subtle nuances that are un-Steve like.