“As irreplaceable as Steve Jobs is, Apple has three factors that will keep the company on the right track in the years ahead,” Jason Hiner writes for TechRepublic.
“First, Apple is in great shape in the smartphone and tablet markets, both are which are going to see explosive growth over the next 3-5 years,” Hiner writes. “Even if Apple simply holds its ground at about 20% of the smartphone market and levels out to 50% of the tablet market — both of which are highly likely — it is going to continue to grow sales, sell hundreds of millions of devices, and remain very profitable.”
“Second, Apple and Steve Jobs have been preparing for this for a long time… Jobs has put the right people in key positions to keep Apple moving and innovating in the ways he preferred,” Hiner writes. “Third, as much as Jobs is legendary outside of Apple, it’s even more so inside the company. The myth and legend of Jobs is going to sustain the company for a while. The principles he used in building products, organizing the company, marketing, hiring, and more are much better known inside the company, and they will use that for years to guide decision-making — as long as the current leadership remains in place and keeps everyone united around carrying forward Jobs’s vision. That doesn’t mean there won’t be some minor tweaks to the vision. That will have to happen, and I think it will.”
Read more in the full article here.