“Apple announced stellar fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday in a report that was tinged with sadness over reports of its founder’s ebbing health,” Jon Markman reports for MarketWatch. “The company’s amazing journey over the past three decades reminds us of the mythic Greek story of Marathon, in which a triumphant long-distance runner falls exhausted into the arms of a grateful city after completing an epic task.”
“The success of virtually every arm of Apple in the past quarter has been detailed elsewhere, but what jumped out at me was how different this could all have turned out. The company’s commercial victories were anything but pre-ordained, and if you swing the clock back 10 years I don’t know of many people who would have forecast [today’s Apple Inc.],” Markman writes. “If you just started to invest in the past five years, it may be hard for you to imagine but Apple for years was always like the loner, snooty, hipster kid at school that the in crowd mocked.”
“How did the Apple miracle occur? You have to point to one man, and that is Jobs, who may have sacrificed his well-being to bring his company to this height,” Markman writes. “Strip away the numbers, and what’s left is one person’s vision, taste, engineering, ambition and charm that created two multibillion-dollar success stories — animated film maker Pixar, sold to Disney awhile ago, was the other — that defied conventional wisdom and Wall Street expectations at every turn.”
“Jobs will go down in the history books as the equal of Thomas Alva Edison, who founded General Electric; Henry Ford, who founded Ford Motor; John D. Rockefeller, who founded Standard Oil; and J.P. Morgan, who started a certain eponymous bank. None of these gentleman had their success handed to them on a silver platter, but persevered with a vision and business proposition that was uniquely suited to their times,” Markman writes. “All these companies survived their founder, and so will Apple.”
Markman writes, “In the meantime, we are lucky to have had an opportunity to witness Jobs emerge, grow and cast his spell in our lifetimes, and I certainly wish him a speedy recovery. And as for the stock, well, Apple has been one of the few great holds of the past few years. Yet it also regularly provides new entry points. The next buying opportunity should emerge this quarter.”
Much more in the full article – highly recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “iWill” for the heads up.]
Well said. I wish the best health and spiritual hope and blessings for Steve Jobs and his family.
Steve, the entire Apple family is with you and your family. We wish all of you the very best.
Onward and upward!
History is the making… Soon a “trillion” company will emerge… And that will be APPLE !!!!
I hate some of these articles that seem to put Steve in a past tense. He has survived Cancer……and a liver transplant. I think he’d be tired…..plus he has been putting time in at Apple, and all the other things he does. Most of us would be lucky to survive Cancer let alone a liver transplant and then running Apple and being on Disney’s board…..
So, Steve, take a break. You deserve it. Come back when you can.
“in which a triumphant long-distance runner falls exhausted into the arms of a grateful city after completing an epic task.”
And dies!!! Bad analogy.
Steve Jobs: The Modern Hero’s Journey
The old MDN would have torn the writer a new one for some of the fallacies/inaccuracies presented in the article. Half baked complimentary pieces never deterred MDN before from being zealously critical with facts. Maybe MDN is getting soft.
Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for the official word from Connie Guglielmo.
I always imagined Steve as a Tesla type. Someone who could see far beyond what the current technology could even achieve. I’m sure he has product ideas on the shelf that are still waiting for the technology to catch up – that’s true visionary.
“and if you swing the clock back 10 years I don’t know of many people who would have forecast [today’s Apple Inc.],”
I did!
<waving arm in the air>
In fact, Steve has been responsible for THREE major-league success stories – Apple, Pixar AND Microsoft. If Bill Gates hadn’t “stolen” the Mac GUI all those years ago and spun it into Windows, Microsoft would just have been a twinkle in someone’s eye.
The miracle is that all these millions of sheep are finally waking up from the decades long techno nightmare called Windows PC.
Still 85% are fighting hard to not be woken up.
@Abdullah
100% correct!!!
@ Cubert
Me too! Of course I’ve only been screaming at everyone I know about Apple for the last 17 years. Do they listen?
They are listening now.
@ Abdullah
An by extension, Steve is responsible for the brief and soon-to-be waning success of Android.
The past tense nonsense for Jobs is as callous as it is baseless.
This article has a sad tinge to it. Makes it sound like it’s over for SJ.
My thesis: most all the organizations in the world today are run by people who are good at one thing and one thing only, namely, getting into and retaining positions of power.
Jobs, and therefore Apple, are the exception that proves the rule.
I wish him and his family the very very best, and I hope others will start to learn from his example(s).
@Cubert, @ C1
Me three! All the way back to my first 128k Mac bought on Jan 24, 1984! And I put my money where my heart is too. Every penny I could scrape up, even borrow! And today I’m smiling alla way to the bank.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
The word “Miracle” is so often misused, it’s lost its value.
A miracle is the occurrence of something that would seem impossible.
To use the word miracle to describe Apple’s success, is to diminish the work and drive, and, yes, good taste, that resulted in Apple’s prominence today.
It’s not a miracle that Apple survived and prospered. Apple didn’t succeed due to luck, branding, marketing, or divine intervention.
Apple’s success is based on work, work, work, innovation, perseverance, iconoclasts, courage, vision, and finally, more work.
These qualities are certainly found in Steve Jobs, and I’m sure in many, many others involved in the machine of Apple.
The only thing I find disappointing with Apple’s story, is that Apple seems to stand alone, high above other tech companies, instead of shoulder to shoulder with other like companies, all striving to reach Apple-style lofty goals without copying, theft, or riding of coattails.
I believe Steve Jobs and Apple deserve every ounce of respect and success they have, because they’ve earned it.
– Not because of some fallacious miracle.
Tonight, finally by the fire, with my feet up and the snoring dogs curled by my side, I’ll toast with a California Red, Steve Jobs, and all the talent at Apple.
Over the years, Apple and Steve Jobs have given me so many reasons to raise a toast, I may soon have gin blossoms.
May my life’s product, and yours, be as quality-bound as Apple’s.
We’ve been talking up Apple and Macs since we bought our first Mac, an ’89 SE.
This year we’re celebrating 22 years of malware-free computing using nothing but Apple products.
Thank you, Apple.
I just don’t know what to say anymore! I am left speechless … Get well soon Steve Jobs!
One Sunday last October, my wife and I decided to drive by Steve Jobs’ house. We were going south on a beautiful tree-lined avenue parallel to Steve’s street. There was nobody out walking, except for two men strolling slowly along the sidewalk. To our amazement, one of the men was Steve Jobs.
Black pullover, Levi jeans, New Balance sneakers.
We had the top down on our roadster, and it would have been easy to take a picture, or to yell “Hey, Steve! You’re awesome, man!” But in that moment, the idea of intruding was unthinkable.
Steve Jobs is wicked famous and crazy rich, but that’s not what he’s about. He’s not a celebutard. As he has stated, he just wants to do the work he loves, and to have a good life with his family. I hope he gets to do that for decades more.
I doubt if Steve Jobs gives a crap about bloggers and analysts speculating about him 24/7. I think by “privacy” he simply means “Leave me and my family alone.”
That’s not too much to ask.
@Abdullah
Well said my Friend, Well said.
Don’t make it sound like SJ’s life is over. He will come back and surprise us for another 20 years.
@ Cubert
@ ChrissyOne
Too funny, I too feel like waving an arm and say: “Me too, me too, I did! I’ve also been screaming at everyone I know about Apple for the last 16 years (converting quite a few in the process).
And well, yes, they are sure listening now, and ChrissyOne has a year on me.
: )