Apple without its core.

Steve Jobs quits as CEO of Apple. Leadership passes

to Jobs' hand-picked successor, Tim Cook, while Jobs to stay on as chairman.

 
Steve Jobs is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the past century, founding or co-founding Apple, which revolutionized personal computing (iMac, iPad), consumer electronics (iPod, iTunes) and telephony (iPhone); Pixar, which did the same for animated motion pictures; and several other firms.

Jobs' withdrawal from Apple leadership has come in stages, starting most recently with his medical leave earlier this year, and now his move up to the non-executive role of chairman. (There was an medical scare and leave of absence in the 2000s.) There can be little doubt that Jobs will sooner than later quit the firm altogether.

Bill Gates took a similar, staggered leave from Microsoft, moving from CEO to chief technology officer before leaving to focus on developing-world charity activities. But Gates was not ill, as Jobs is, and his departure, no matter how gradual, couldn't disguise Microsoft's transformation from a growth company to an stolid utility that has met with little success outside its founding Windows franchise and whose stock has flat-lined for years.

Apple has considerable executive bench strength, tremendous brand recognition, many dominant product franchises, and an enviable presence in a diverse yet related group of industries centred on must-have gadgets. For all that, though, one could have said the same of faltering Nokia a few years ago, when the Finnish giant ruled cellphone design standards.

Jobs, shown right in a 1981 cover story, fit the stereotype of tyrannical impresario, an arrogant and egotistical monster on occasion, and only barely tolerable in polite company at the best of times. Which puts him in league with confectioner Forrest Mars, Henry Ford, Charles Revson, Gates and Silicon Valley rivals Larry Ellison and Scott McNealy, among others.

But Jobs inspired loyalty and creativity in one of the industries least forgiving of inattention to dynamic change, not only in technology but consumer tastes. Jobs anticipated and reacted to the latter better than anyone. Intel's Andy Grove is credited with the Silicon Valley slogan "Only the paranoid survive," but Jobs lived the maxim out loud. Investors and consumers benefited equally. At a time when America is in a despond about its slipping leadership in inventing and making things, the decline of Jobs' own health seems an apt parallel.

My guess is that Apple's best days are in the past. Apple really is a case of an institution being the lengthened shadow of one man, as Emerson had it. Jobs himself, asserting his importance, got it right, I think, in a long-ago interview:

"Lots of companies have tons of great engineers and smart people," Jobs told Businessweek in 2004. "But ultimately, there needs to be some gravitational force that pulls it all together. Otherwise, you can get great pieces of technology all floating around the universe."

Apple, briefly the world's most valuable company earlier this year, will do fine for awhile. Then it will begin to coast. Rivals will emulate its strengths and exploit its blind spots, as they've begun to do already. Without a daring genius to constantly reinvent the firm, Apple will become ordinary, as Microsoft has, no longer the trailblazer attracting the best and brightest talent.

Related

The life and awesomeness of Steve Jobs. (Dan Frommer, BusinessInsider) (photo gallery)

What becomes of Apple without Steve Jobs? (James Temple, San Francisco Chronicle)

Jobs: A real-life Willy Wonka with an eye for detail, beauty. (Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)

 

Comments

[Darwin O'Connor]

Give Steve Jobs some credit. He didn't revolutionalize the PC industry twice. He did it four times: Apple II, Mac, iMac and iPad.

[Matt J]

The first half of the article was okay but the second half just had so much pessimism. I would say it's premature to allude a parallel to Microsoft. He's not gone for good, he's still part of Apple so innovation is still possible.

As a columnist I'd do more research to make your "definitive" claims. Plenty of innovation down the pipeline if you make an effort to look around the internet.

[Red Herring]

Darwin, you are forgetting Pixar. Five times at least!

And Mr Olive you are wrong: great companies attract great people - and somebody will emerge, not Steve II, but say, Walter I.

On the contrary, Microsoft always was a gross company, never a great one.

[Bob]

Someone didn't read Jack Layton's letter.

[dork]

I agree with Olive on this, aapl's faith rests in the hands of jobs and he does not look well, regardless of him taking on another position I can see him bowing out sooner then we are lead to believe. You can teach someone the day to day operation of a business but you cannot teach someone vision and innovation, that is what Jobs has that many dont. I would be dumping aapl at this point as I dont see much more happening, they do have a lot of cash on hand but unless that is deployed in the right way, fugetabutit.

[Drew]

David Olive, you are an idiot.

[Thomas Bell]

Jobs left behind a very deep management team who's combined expertise can lead the company into the future. The $76 billion dollars in cash will help and as Darwin wrote, Jobs is part of the company as Chairman so his influence will be felt for years to come.

[Lauren]

Pixar has never made a movie that was not a hit at the box office, and I feel like Steve Jobs will come back eventually.

[Matt]

This is pretty presumptious. There are other people at Apple who have the potnetial to step in and provide leardership. We will see in the next few years how it comes together but to say that it's "doomed to fade" is pretty out of control. Remember, Jobs provided vision but he didn't design the devices nor did he engineer the software and these men and women he has been grooming to take up his mantle when the time comes.

[Ivan]

Yes Steve Jobs having to leave as CEO will hurt, but his ability to mentor and attract quality individuals should not be under estimated. Apple will continue to do well as long as they do not now to quick fads and always keeps the end user in mind:)

[Joons]

Remember that Jobs was also responsible for some dogs - remember Lisa the ultimate PC that almost bankrupted the company?
Nothing is ever simple in technology and although Apple has managed to dodge a few bullets being on the bleeding edge is impossible to maintain, they have some good products but their design is the result of Jobs' thinking and even he was and is fallible.
His absence from day to day product meetings will result in some interesting changes and changes there will be.

[Regg]

We can only be so lucky in Canada since RIM A CANADIAN COMPANY with Canadian jobs needs all the help it can get. However, Steve Jobs also had many failures as well that everyone seems to forget. Also not sure I admire a person who was ultra paranoid, basically did anything to squash the competition and yelled at his staff. Yup true leadership to be admired...............

[Jefferson Dunderponiferous]

'Business columnist' is right up there with 'high school business teacher' in terms of knowing what you're talking about. As the great one says, "Boom."

[Matt J]

Love how other people think they know something just because they heard a snippet of an article in Fortune.

I'm getting closer and closer to ditch reading the Star everyday with the quality of articles. I'll stick to Huffington Post thank you very much. I could have written this article to a better degree than David Olive.

[Gerald Brummell]

One difference between the Apple Steve Jobs left under Scully and the Apple which now sits atop the tech world, is that the NeXT generation of executives, which now control this amazing company, were all children who grew up in the Apple paradigm.

They love what they do. They manufacture the finest items in the tech world.... In concept; Design; Manufacture; Marketing; Sales; Support; ..... Apple is the king. Everyone else tries to steal a piece of that pie. (iPad, iPhone, Macbook Air clones).

People talk like Steve mines the glass, manufactures the A5 chips, designs the frames, solders the boards, and writes the software for the iPad........ Pick up an Apple product and feel it. That magic comes from thousands of amazing people who love what they do.

Steve Jobs greatest achievements were not all tech based. He has always managed and inspired Apples greatest assets....... "The Humans" who have turned The Macintosh Way, into the axiom of the worlds understanding.

Here is to wishing the man who gave us the personal computer, the laptop, the PDA, the iPod, the iPad, the smart phone, the APP store, a music business where the musicians are rewarded for their product - not the record company, virus free and crash free computing, the HTT in HTTP://www.experience project.com, and Woody and Buz enjoys a long, healthy and happy retirement.

Apple is in good hands.

You'll see....

[Nerd Hurdles]

I'm not a big Apple fan, but I think it's absurd to give Jobs all the credit for Apple's innovation and to say with his stepping down (from a relative figurehead position) will bring about the end of Apple's best years. A company as huge as Apple has more in their think tank than one man. Employees drawn to, and more importantly hired by, Apple are going to be a certain type of thinker.

[Richard Armin]

... reads like a review of Brittany Spears ...

[Albert Ngai]

Mr. Olive, I've always found your column interesting, except for today. Your narrow perspective is disappointing and ignoring a lot of signs that are already out there. Did you forget that Apple has had its two best quarters under Tim Cook? Someday soon, you're going to be eating your words.

[David]

Steve Jobs, love him or hate him, was to Apple what Michael Jordan was to Nike; the ultimate salesman that America trusted and followed. Steve Jobs did not hand make the IPOD anymore than Jordan made the shoes he sold. They were, however, both gifted at selling of the products to Americans (and us Canucks) that may or may not have been the 'best' in terms of quality but deemed cool by association. Just as Nike survived Jordans retirements (both of them) so too will Apple; but both companies will have to survive on merit (a reality that was a luxury when they relied on their best salesmen).

[Joe]

David Olive = nattering nabob of negativism

[Dominic Bevilacqua]

I purchase an IPAD the same day Steve Jobs left Apple. Is this coincidence or what. I was going into futureshop to look at new laptops but the IPAD was irresistable and futuristic. Suddenly laptops looked outdated in my eyes.

[Darwin O'Connor]

If Steve Jobs was easy to replace then there would be lots of companies with the long term repeated success and influence that Apple has had. There aren't.

A CEO who never designed a computer from scratch can never be as good as one who has. While Steve Jobs helped design the Apple 1 and II thirty years ago the principles hasn't changed that much since then. He doesn't design computers himself anymore he would have a much deeper understand of the issues involved and their solutions then other CEOs, so he would do a much better job of balancing them to come up with the best product.

[Kevo]

I'd say it's a possibility that Apple will stall out... every big company stalls out and can only survive by buying out other smaller companies to keep new things coming. Just remember that Apple was failing horribly until NeXT was bought out and Jobs was brought back into the company, that's why the stock markets are so sensitive to the news.

Apart from this, while Apple was a leader in aesthetic design and marketing, it otherwise didn't come out with firsts in many areas where their fanboys say they did (touchscreen phones, tablets, desktop application dock, PDAs, Personal Computers, GUIs, mouse) and its hardware specs are below average for the price paid (if a $300 premium for looks is your thing, by all means buy one). You can also thank the virus free/crash free computing on free and open source software on which Mac OS uses for its kernel - BSD.

[Red Herring]

A year ago when I visited Harvard I noticed that all the students in Science Building had clever faces - and used Macs. At some moment I was taken to the Business Centre - they have a better eatery - and noticed that the students used only PCs and had rather stupid faces. I can understand why US science is in the good shape - and economy is in a deep "shape".

[a.a]

lol at all the butthurt apple fanbois when something negative is said about apple