"What Is Apple's Plan If Steve Dies?"
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,7305482.story
Well, it's one heck of an inflammatory story title, but one well worth asking.
Well, it's one heck of an inflammatory story title, but one well worth asking.
Perhaps we'll only learn of any succession plan when the time is right, but investors (nervous Nellies that we are) will not stop digging for information....Jobs' departure isn't anticipated by investors with glee.
No American CEO is more intimately identified with his company's success. Jobs is deeply involved in every facet of Apple development and design, and he's justly admired for his instinct for the human-factor engineering of Apple products. He is Apple's visionary and carnival barker.
If you want a taste of the latter persona, watch the video of the original iPod launch event in October 2001. Jobs' dramatic command is astonishing -- viewing the event recently on Youtube, I was on the edge of my seat, even though I knew how the story came out.
The Jobs role that Apple may find hardest to fill is that of one-man Supreme Court, settling disputes between warring engineering camps by decree. There have been countless battles at Apple over such things as how many buttons a mouse should have and what keys should be on its keyboards. The ultimate authority belongs to Jobs.
Many Apple watchers say the executive team backing up Jobs will have no trouble carrying on without him. Several internal candidates for leadership look like partial Jobs clones. Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer and head of manufacturing, is said to embody his perfectionism and competitive ferocity. Jonathan Ive has been responsible for the physical design of such trend-setting products as the candy-colored iMacs of the late 1990s and the sleek version of today, as well as the iPod.
"Jobs' way of doing things has been institutionalized there," Leander Kahney, the news editor of wired.com and the author of three books about Apple, told me recently. "He could go away for several weeks, even a year, and things would work. He's created a machine that will keep ticking over."
That sounds like wishful thinking. There are signs that the company is nearing inflection points in several of its product lines that could make it especially vulnerable to management turmoil.
Comments
"If you want a taste of the latter persona, watch the video of the original iPod launch event in October 2001. Jobs' dramatic command is astonishing -- viewing the event recently on Youtube, I was on the edge of my seat, even though I knew how the story came out."
I just watched the same video and all I could think was that should lay off the burgers.
here have been countless battles at Apple over such things as how many buttons a mouse should have and what keys should be on its keyboards. The ultimate authority belongs to Jobs.
This only proves Jobs has no clue how to design a mouse. Apple mice are God-awful.
I guess they'll need a plan, but I'd bet Steve is not going to die any time soon. There's still several years left in the old horse. He's too much of an arrogant cunt to die now. He's ego wouldn't let that happen; not when he's yet to announce the Mac touch or the Apple Tele. No Sir-e-Bob
My advice, buy now!
This only proves Jobs has no clue how to design a mouse. Apple mice are God-awful.
This only proves Jobs has no clue how to design a mouse. Apple mice are God-awful.
It is amazing how Apple can design some of the best computers in the world, yet they can't figure out how to design a simple god damn mouse!
It is amazing how Apple can design some of the best computers in the world, yet they can't figure out how to design a simple god damn mouse!
It actually is amazing. Steve or Apple are not perfect. It's more surprising than anything else. If I was Steve I'd be embarrassed by the Might Mouse. There's simply no reason they can't make the thing WAY better.
What they should do is make the top front of the shell touch sensitive, and pressure sensitive. With a line clearly drawn down the middle of the mouse from front to back. And implement this in a way that allows the user to scroll by rubbing or flicking this line (1/8" thick) in any direction. Then when the user presses the left half of the mouse it registers that as a left click using its pressure sensitivity, so you can have your hand over the right side at the same time at the mouse won't pick that up.
Really though it's too late, they should have sorted this 3 years ago.