NEWS ANALYSIS
Steve Jobs has resigned as chief executive of Apple Inc.
There was no computer apocalypse; our MacBook laptops did not wilt and our iPhones did not explode. Life as we know it still goes on.
But in Silicon Valley, the departure of one the industry’s most visionary leaders, innovators, and marketers signals the end of an era. Perhaps no one, with the exception of Bill Gates of Microsoft, has had a bigger impact on the way we navigate the digital world.
The skinny guy in the black turtleneck won’t be leading Apple’s day-to-day operations—in fact, he had already passed that role on to Tim Cook—but Jobs will still be an Apple employee as chairman of the board and a director of the company.
It’s hard to fathom how far Apple has come. Jobs, along with his former pal Steve Wozniak and two others, built their first personal computer, the Apple I, from Jobs’s garage. Few would have thought their venture would eventually become the second most valuable, and most admired, corporation in the world.
Its next PC, the Apple II, was a hit with consumers, and Jobs’s personal profile grew in the industry as an innovator, as Apple PCs became more successful than any that came before.
When a power struggle caused Jobs to leave the firm in 1985, the innovator went on to have other successes, including building up Pixar Animation Studios to become one of the most successful animation firms.
Jobs rejoined Apple in 1997, and three years later, appeared on stage to introduce a little white device called the Apple iPod.
Game Changer
I remember when my college roommate was one of the first people to tote around an iPod. The minimalistic piece of white plastic, at the time, looked nothing like all the other music players on the market.
Back then I still kept my trusty CD player, but soon I saw the difference between the iPod-toting crowd and the non-iPod crowd. I finally caved in 2003 and purchased my first iPod, which felt like a brick, and I spent an entire afternoon loading music onto the device.
Little did I know that device was the beginning of a digital revolution—the iPod was arguably the most important technology product release of the 2000s, and inspired a decade of Generation Yers to flock to Apple for every new release.
The iPod, along with iTunes, went on to change the way consumers purchased and listened to music. In the words of Jon Bon Jovi, iTunes “killed the music industry.” It did not begin but expedited a shift in consumerism from albums and CDs to single song MP3s.
After the iPod, a slew of Apple products followed, each more successful than the last, including the iPhone, one of the most popular smart phones, and the iPad, the best selling tablet computer in the world.
Apple Vision Intact?
“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it,” Jobs declared in a letter announcing his resignation to the board and Apple stakeholders.
One of the fears of analysts and pundits for Apple, post-Jobs, is a lack of vision and new products, what Jobs in the past dubbed “magical devices.” As CEO, Jobs was known to be a perfectionist and was involved in some of the most minute technical decisions and design elements.
But over the years, Jobs hired a leadership team who came to embody his vision under his instruction. They include chief operating officer and new CEO Tim Cook, who embodies Apple just as much as Jobs.
Even without Jobs, Apple products are here to stay.
The iPod is probably at the end of its product life cycle—about 10 years after its 2001 release. However, more Apple products have replaced it, including the iPod touch and the iPhone, a product that is still gaining market share. The company’s iPad tablet has been a category dominator and is still growing. All of these products are just beginning to tap the vast emerging markets that Apple seeks to dominate.
In other areas, Apple is just starting to enter the market. The Apple TV, if properly executed, could revolutionize the television and entertainment industry. And the iCloud cloud computing service is a product that lends well to the usability of the company’s many other products.
Continued: Cook is known in the industry as an operations guy
Technically Sound
According to a statement from Apple, Cook has worked in supply chain management, sales and operations, service, and support for Apple. He was handpicked by Jobs in the company’s succession plan and served as Apple’s CEO during Jobs’ two leaves of absence over the last two years.
Cook is known in the industry as an operations guy. Jobs’s sales pitch and product launches dazzle, but Apple’s gargantuan earnings and profitability are mostly the work of Cook, who fine tunes the company’s supply chain. Cook also oversaw Apple’s transition from IBM processor chips to Intel and its introduction of the recent unibody aluminum laptops.
“Tim runs Apple, and he has been running Apple for a long time now,” an ex-Apple manager told Wired Magazine during Jobs’s leave of absence in 2009.
“Steve is the face of the company and very involved with product development, but Tim is the guy who takes all those designs and turns it into a big pile of cash for the company.”
In a letter to employees this week, Cook wrote: “I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values.”
“Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA.”
