“A handful of Apple Inc. executives has emerged as the company’s new crop of leaders as expectations grow that Chief Executive Steve Jobs will take a less active role when he returns from medical leave later this month,” Ben Charny reports for Dow Jones Newswires.
“Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who has assumed Jobs’ day-to-day responsibilities since the Apple co-founder went on leave in January, and senior vice president for marketing Phil Schiller, who has stood in for Jobs at several important company functions, are the most visible stars on Apple’s deep bench. Others include Scott Forstall, who runs Apple’s iPhone software operations, and Jonathan Ive, who heads the team that designs Apple’s sleek products,” Charny reports.
“These and other members of Apple’s management team took on new importance over the weekend after The Wall Street Journal reported that Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, had gotten a liver transplant. Jobs is credited with being the visionary behind products like the iPod music player and the iPhone smart phone, which resurrected a once-pioneering computer company that had fallen on hard times,” Charny reports. “Analysts say that giving some of these executives responsibilities that used to be Jobs’ won’t disrupt the company. That’s because the executives have worked with Jobs for years and learned from him.”
Charny reports, “Already, Apple has demonstrated that it can function smoothly without Jobs’ presence. Its latest iPhone, introduced last week, is outpacing sales expectations and has gotten rave reviews. Meanwhile, the company has delivered two quarters of Wall Street-pleasing results. And even without Jobs, Apple shares have surged 75% from a 52-week low hit in late January.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
