“The thought of Apple Inc. without Chief Executive Steve Jobs spooks many investors, but his absence might not spell long-term disaster for the innovation machine behind the iPod and iPhone,” Scott Hillis reports for Reuters.
“As valuable as Jobs is, respect for the executive team he has assembled runs high, and Apple could quickly bounce back if Jobs were to leave for whatever reason,” Hillis reports.
“Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, whose laconic Southern style distinguishes him from the intense Jobs, has won praise from analysts for his firm grasp of day-to-day operations, and is thought to be a likely successor,” Hillis reports. “Jobs may be the public face of products like the iPod, but it is Apple’s top-flight design team led by Jonathan Ives that is responsible for the iconic shapes of the company’s computers and gadgets.”
“‘Steve clearly is the voice of the company, but it would be a big mistake to state that he’s the only one driving the vision of Apple,’ said Tim Bajarin, head of Creative Strategies,” Hillis reports. “‘While Steve is still by far the most important person in the company, he has created a team of people who understand his vision for today and tomorrow and are fully capable of executing on that for three to five years,’ Bajarin said.”
Hillis reports, “Jobs himself has sought to downplay concerns. ‘Some people say, ‘Oh God, if (Jobs) got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.’ And you know, I think it wouldn’t be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple,’ Jobs told Fortune magazine earlier this year.”
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MacVicta” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Common sense. But, try telling it to investors if Jobs ever did get run over by a bus. It’s not difficult to predict initial panic selling followed by the dawning realization that yes, even without Steve Jobs, Apple can continue to be successful. We presume that smart investors would take advantage of the panic, if God forbid, anything ever happened besides a nice planned transition to a post-Jobs Apple.
I hope he’s right, but jobs is a renaissance man. He makes the final decision on design, business, software, focus, enterprise endeavors, etc. I don’t believe anyone else has his power/influence to make things happen or the understanding of what the consumer wants.
I feel may CEO’s are robots that follow a formula to increase margins. SJ has something very unique. Hate to sound like a fanboi but schools will be studying his company and business model like they talk about Jack Welch and GE’s turnaround.
Call me stupid, but to think that Apple cannot exist with out SJ, is simply terrible thinking. For example, just look at the rumor boards. There are plenty of people on them that create some spectacular mock ups with just PhotoShop. Imagine what some of them can do with the resources of Apple!
Apple has plenty of people in it’s own company that can step up.
@ BiZarRo BaLlmEr,
Many CEO’s follow a formula to increase revenue and another formula to decrease costs. That would increase margins except for the fact that those to formulas are often mutually exclusive. Cutting costs through layoffs for example, is bad for morale which hurts quality and productivity.
It’s almost amusing that CEOs don’t see this, since they’ll be the first to tell you (the consumer) that you get what you pay for!
Arghh! It’s ‘two’ formulas, not ‘to’ 🙁
As I have moved into more of a junior manager role where I am, I find it amazing how STUPID some upper management is (where I am, anyway). Why is it that the formula to most companies is to simply hold meetings. Then they hold more meetings. Then they have six sigma meetings. Then they draw flow charts using Visio or something compatible. Then they print up multiple Excel sheets and present them, along with flow charts, in yet more meetings. However, after weeks and weeks of this stuff, they never actually DO anything.
The fact that Steve seems to work around that nonsense is why NO company, regardless of its industry, will ever match Apple’s success at this point.
MW: Later – Let’s have many meetings now. Maybe we’ll implement those plans LATER.
Just keep clickin’ your heels, Dorothy!
No one at MDN has posted the likely corporate structure chart for Apple once Steve jobs dies, retires, or is excused. Mac fans have been clamoring for a headless Mac, they may soon have to deal with a headless Apple.
Apple, the all-in-none company.
Apple, headless, brainless, and hopeless.
One Infinite Loop, the world’s largest mausoleum.
After all those years of dodging bullets, Apple finally takes one between the eyes.
Apple’s 2009 Macworld feature attraction
Or for the more sentimental fanbois
Duh!
You think?
It’s not like Steve is toiling away in the basement writing code every day. His vision is big enough, bright enough, and forward thinking enough for Apple to last without him, although, I hope he’s around for a very long time.
@dd
Meetings – Where minutes are taken and hours wasted!
He, he. is Afib and Ha, ha. A pointless, demented troll.
With the absence of Steve Jobs, Apple’s top 5 to 7 people will sit down, look at ‘The Next Big Thing’ and say, “What would Steve do?”
They have all been exposed to Steve’s ideas. His likes and dislikes. His desire for a product he, himself would buy. They would know what he would say if the product was ‘Just Good Enough’.
You learn from your teachers, your mentors, your leaders. Some will never be as good as their best mentors but some will actually be better. The top men and women working under Steve right now will be sought after business leaders in their own right in 10 years time.
What better place to learn how to lead like Steve, the best in the business, than at Apple Inc?
This guy stole my post from the other day. I want a consulting fee.
Coulda Shoulda Woulda – But WILL IT? When Steve left the first time history proved that Apple could very well just flounder about, that having a savvy business man at the helm was not all that it would take to make a company like Apple successful.
I’m actually not a huge fan of SJ the man, and when he came back to Apple I was actually quite skeptical that he would turn things around based on the circumstance of his leaving in the first place – I’m very happy to report my skepticism was unnecessary.
However, the unfortunate truth is that Apple Inc and Steve Jobs are indelibly linked in the minds of consumers, investors, analysts, nay-sayers, and etc. When SJ finally leaves, make no mistake, Apple is going to get a black eye in the market place. But that doesn’t mean that Apple can’t continue to succeed. I think that, among many other things, it will be important to recognize, admit and address the charisma that SJ brings to the company that he co-founded, and that his successor will have to have some kind of long runway to take-off on, to get up to speed and be solidly airborne before SJ cuts the umbilical cord. If Jobs’ retirement is really as eminent as the press tries to make it sound, then I’m surprised that we haven’t heard more about who might become the new leader. In this case I really do hope that Jobs does admit to his giant ego, because if he doesn’t it won’t bode well for his successor. If the new leader of Apple doesn’t come with some of the egomaniacal qualities of Jobs and Gate then he/she will have to have something else that will drive the engine that we have come to know and appreciate – Apple.
Sorry to say this but without Steve Jobs Apple is heading for Chapter 11 ..unfortunately.
You cracked me up!
Bankruptcy? With 16 billion dollars in the bank?
What an idiotic thing to say. How about backing up your claims with evidence. Until then, your comment is worthless and moronic.
TomByron–
You’re a moron if you believe that.
If a CEO has to replaced or turns up his toes then it is the board of directors who decides on a replacement. Apple in 2008 is a lot different from the company that he was dumped from (by the board of directors) in the 1990s. No-one is unique and no-one is irreplaceable.
I’m sure Apple has a succession plan. But this is Apple, one of the most secretive companies there is. Besides if they start waving a succession plan around it’ll spook the sheep in the marketplace. I mean what is the logic for releasing such a plan anyway? It would just be interpreted as a company preparing for a change in leadership. Give me a break!
That’s right: a company the size of Apple makes all its moves through one man and when he dies the Empire dies.
That way lies madness. Jobs lays down the vision. Ives and the thousands of people on the myriad levels below him carry out their boss’s wishes.
To assume that there is no-one in the organisation to carry on and develop Jobs’ vision is ludicrous and an insult to those who work in Cupertino.
Apple would continue to be successful without SJ, no question. It’d be far less entertaining to watch such a company though.
Without Steve, Apple would simply slowly slip into becoming yet another average tech company. They would not stop making great products. Another CEO just could not resist the desire to make all the crappy ones too … y’know like a big-ass table.
When i fell in love with Macintosh, there was no Steve around… Sure Apple was declining for lacking a good leadership, but it was there.
Nowadays, nobody is absolutely irreplaceable… the wheel turns, and turns, for every one…
@Brau,
I think you’re right about most CEOs, but I hope your wrong about the next Apple CEO. By the time they take over, there will be a long history of innovation and quality that they will need to match. Hopefully, they’ll be fully aware of not only the innovation, but how it was achieved.
I think the real danger to Apple is what will happen after Microsoft implodes. Without their underdog status, will Apple feel the need to continue innovating?
I think the more pertinent question is…
With the dingleberry a mere weeks from being totally pawned, is Rim up to the jobs? LOL
@Chris:
I believe (<–MDN MW) that Apple will always feel the need to continue innovating. The sole foundation of this company is innovation. It has been since the first day. And it’s slogan defines it – Think Different!
It’s a philosophy – a way of living and breathing and working. I honestly believe that if “innovation” itself was to ever cease – is this even possible? – then yes, Apple would have a problem.
BUT, the Board of Directors even consists of forward-thinking people who, more than likely according to SJ’s final wishes – would be intelligent enough to place an innovator in the “big chair”.
MM
Everyone said that when Walt Disney died, Disney Corp would go under, need I say more?
I have a lot of confidence in the organization Steve will someday leave behind. You do have to wonder how it will turn out in the longer term. The most important thing is that Steve loves Apple. He is not there to suck out a ton of money. He is just passionate about the company. One of his main contributions, I believe, is to cut through the crap and make a decision. As dd mentioned above, groups of people without a strong leader can meander around aimlessly as long as they keep getting a paycheck. Look at Microsoft. I think one of their problems is a lack of strong leadership. It may be that they are too big to be managed. In any event, the result is that after years and years of effort and a couple of false starts they wound up with Vista.
If Apple gets taken over by the financial people that will be the end. Financial people aren’t passionate about the product. They would never have allowed the iPod mini to be retired in favor of the iPod nano while the mini was the best selling product.
Steve Jobs has turned up an ace on every aspect of his business. He is 3 steps ahead of his competition and they don’t even know it. I’m sure after the cancer scare he and his inner circle have prepared a good exit plan. If you’ve heard his commencement speech at Stanford you’ll think so. It may very well be his last ace he’s hiding up his sleeve. We will all just have to see what happens when one day he does leave his very last key note with “One more thing….”
why does everyone think AAPL has 20 billion in cash
let peOPle short for a week then out of the blue 40 billion buy back BOOM LARGEST SHORT SQUEEEZZEE IN HISTORY
Yes, it might well spell disaster. History is replete with examples of technology companies going to pot after their founders retire or die. Check out out Hewlett Packard lost its focus when the “H” and the “P” were no longer with them. It used to be paradise for engineers—which is what both founders were. And engineers are damned important for a tech company. Fluke Corporation has done better, but it wasn’t easy after John Fluke died. I worked with an engineer who was working late in his cubicle at Fluke when John came by. Asked him what he was doing. The two worked into the early morning on it. Technology companies thrive when they have someone at the helm who understands and loves technology. You need more than a track record of selling sugar water. I just KNOW Apple stock will tank when the news is eventually announced the Steve Jobs will no longer be at the helm.
Greg L,
I agree with you about tech. companies thriving when they’re run by engineering enthusiasts, and I doubt that anybody believes AAPL WON’T tank if SJ disappears from the scene.
But the question is, will Apple (and with it AAPL) recover.
I believe it will, because Steve’s ideas are imbued in all the people who work for Apple; innovation and hard work is the firm culture.
There’s no proof of course, but I’m also sure that Steve Jobs has a road plan for the next five years or so and Apple won’t repeat the mistake of letting a finance person and/or a non-tech enthusiast take the helm.
In addition, one of SJ’s greatest talents is choosing the right person for the job and that talent won’t desert him in his choice (probably already made) of a successor.
Steve’s genius is not in coming up with ideas. Those are brought to him. His genius is in recognizing the good ones and making sure that they’re well developed before bringing them to market.
When the time comes, the next CEO at Apple will need to understand that Apple sells to people, not IT departments. Products sold to IT can come with manuals full of arcane information. Products sold to people need to work the way people work.
It is certain that Steve Jobs has a very unusual talent and who come next will have to be of the same breed as Steve Jobs. I can only hope they have found one. If Apple falls I do not think windows will have much of a future with out some one to keep ahead of maybe unix will do this, three years ago I switched to a mac and I have seen xp improve with many new features (not vista) . The industry need more that one to keep thing growing. Ps. I use both xp and mac os using bootcamp and fusion which is great and we need both companies to keep thing growing.
Muffin Man,
I hope you’re right. There will certainly be not replacing Jobs AND his RDF, which can crush Michael Eisner at Disney and make the leaders of record companies nick themselves while shaving in the morning because they’re distracted about how they got corn-holed by Jobs earlier in the year. Jobs didn’t invent the WIMP interface; he just recognized its portent to change the world. And his infectious enthusiasm that Apple’s engineers WERE changing the world when they were developing the user interface of the Lisa and Mac interfaces made him an extraordinary leader. He was once relegated to “V.P. of Bright Technology Ideas” but once he matured, he was able to fuse his love of technology with sound business acumen.
My hunch is that Apple won’t be able to find a single CEO capable of wearing both the technology and business hats. My guess is, that the most likely outcome will be to have a business-minded CEO (a “suit”) at the top, and a super-strong, tech-minded COO (the “black turtleneck”) to keep the company going forward and quell investor anxiety.
“He is not there to suck out a ton of money”
You mean he is not there JUST to suck out a ton of money.
Moving from the abstract “Someone will step up and save Apple” comments, or “Apple has enough good people to survive this”:
Hypothetically if Steve’s skills are so common, which CEO of which company would you plan to recruit to replace him? or which internal employee(s) would you promote?
Apple should make a mechanical robotic Jobs so that all how must believe he is irreplaceable can rest assured.
Apple is far beyond the one man whim type company it was back when it was founded. How knows were Apple would be know if Jobs had never left. I think it was a good thing he left. He got NeXt started, and this is OSX now. Also Pixar so their.
Who knows, not how knows…