Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

What is Apple Without Steve Jobs?

Posted by Zonk on from the different-colored-apple dept.

necro81 writes "David Pauly at Bloomberg has written a piece that asks 'Does Apple Inc. Have a Future Without Steve Jobs?' He writes in the context of Jobs' latest success in launching the iPhone, set against the backdrop of stock backdating troubles. In Pauly's worst-case-scenario, the SEC prosecutes Apple, and the board is forced to oust Jobs.Even without resorting to such scenarios, it's an interesting question to ask the fanboys and detractors out there: could Apple succeed and continue to innovative without Jobs at the helm?"

6 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. Investor confidence by kongjie · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I guess there's a few questions in there. The article suggests that investors' confidence is based on Jobs. So if he goes, so will they.

    For me the more interesting question is how much of Apple's success can be ascribed to Jobs' leadership style. Perhaps that should be in quotes because he is rumored to be an asshole to work for. Did his uncompromising behavior and standards create the iPod? Would it have been less of a hit if his vision didn't push it in the right direction? Or did it require a perfectionist?

    Clearly he won't settle for less than best in him employees--but viewing from the outside, it's hard to say if that helped or hindered Apple's success.

  2. Jonathan Ive by Andy_R · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Jobs is certainly a more charismatic figurehead than Gates or Ballmer, but plenty of companies do just fine without a reality distortion field, so why shouldn't Apple? I believe the key man behind Apple's current run of success may well be Jonathan 'Jony' Ive, not Steve Jobs.

    --
    A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
  3. Re:We already know the answer by Zaurus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Even more convincing, Pixar with Steve didn't do so bad.

  4. Re:Apple needs a superstar CEO by The+One+and+Only · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Apple had another CEO like that once. His name was John Sculley. Visionary, charismatic superstar...Sculley was even seated between Hillary Clinton and Alan Greenspan at Clinton's first State of the Union, for God's sakes! Long story made short, he burned out and made some mistakes, and Apple fell into the disaster that was the mid-to-late 90's. Jobs has been CEO longer than Sculley was, and he never made that mistake. (One crucial difference: like Jobs, Sculley had visionary ideas. One of them was the Newton. Unlike Jobs, however, Sculley was no perfectionist, and the Newton shipped prematurely. Sculley was also nowhere near the control freak Jobs is, and engineering fell out of his influence and under Gassee's.)

    --
    In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
  5. Re:they'll find a way by winkydink · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No CEO would take the job under those terms. In fact, that's how Steve moved from iCEO to CEO... nobody wanted the CEO spot with Jobs in the picture.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  6. Willy Wonka by Pengo · · Score: 5, Interesting


    It is actually exciting to live in a time where we have a CEO like Jobs. He's the only example of a true living Willy Wonka in my lifetime.

    I can't think of one more individual like Steve that inspires me to not only pull out my wallet and hand over thousands of dollars, but do it with a smile.