“You all know that Steve Jobs has resigned as chief executive of Apple Inc. The San Francisco Bay Area news organizations, without exception, have made it sound as if Jobs is on his deathbed and that things are going to change at Apple overnight,” John C. Dvorak writes for MarketWatch.
“If Jobs divorced himself from the company and gave up his chairmanship, then I’d be more concerned. But he did not,” Dvorak writes. “He is still chairman. He still has oversight capability and can maintain that for some time to come.”
Dvorak writes, “The general scenario in the media is an exaggeration, and the decision for Jobs to step down may have a simpler, more logical explanation than just his being critically ill. The reason is Tim Cook.”
“Everyone in Silicon Valley would love to hire this guy, and from his perspective, his title as “acting” chief executive gets old fast when you are actually running the company,” Dvorak writes. “Jobs has been on extended leave for months, so what’s going to change with this announcement? Nothing, that’s what — except the title itself. And this is what is important.”
Read more in the full article here.
Its Dorkrak. Right or wrong, I don’t care what he says.
Wow, Dvorak making sense…that explains all the excessive natural disasters lately.
this is the first time I’ve ever said I hope Dvorak is right.
I said it on the Fortune reverb, but I want to repeat it here.
I think the premise is interesting but incomplete.
It is no accident that Steve Jobs resigned when he did.
After all, he did it……
on the 24th day of the month, an auspicious day in the Jobsian calendar;
when Apple was without doubt at the peak of its history and climbing ever stronger and more energetically;
after AAPL became (briefly for now) the most valuable company in the world;
at a time when Apple is astonishingly solvent and profitable (cash and near-cash balances, debt-free);
after Apple became a business ‘stool’ perched on four robust legs (and more arriving rsn) when, a mere 10 years ago, it teetered on just the one leg;
after giving Tim Cook ample time, free rein and many opportunities to demonstrate that he was ready to lead Apple – a truly safe pair of hands at the wheel, with results continuing to astonish;
when the world, including the Shylocks of Wall Street) was ready for an orderly succession;
after setting up the Apple University which struggles with the enormous task of codifying his maverick, visionary thinking as well as sketching out and documenting the architecture and chemistry of the DNA he has implanted into Apple;
when Apple was demonstrably ready and able to stand the chatterati fallout of his move to another place on the chessboard;
at a time when it was right to do so: for himself, for his family; for Tim cook AND for his beloved Apple too;
and so on …. much more to add here fellow MDNers.
This was a painful but nevertheless a carefully considered move. Inevitable really. But it was well done.
As COB, Director and employee, Jobs remains wholly engaged and influential with and at Apple … minus the stresses of daily decision-making on the corporate stewardship side. He is now free to be the true visionary – wandering the Infinite Loop and the Toroid; foot-loose and baggage-free. Free to dream without the noise of commerce.
For him, that must be akin to having Heaven in the palm of his hand. All the fun and future-thinking of Apple and no direct responsibility for managing the stock of paperclips.
True stewardship. Genius timing.
Chandra Coomaraswamy