How do you see Apple in post Steve Jobs time..?

[Lucradia]

...and maybe even see some positive results from people's sympathy.

That'sssssssss sssssssome niccccce optimissssssm you have there. It'd be a ssssssshame if ssssssomething were to--

Yeah well, we can only hope.

[sylar petrelli]

I think Apple will be just fine. I have heard he planned out ideas all the way 2015. However, it's not like he is the only person at Apple that is capable of thinking up new products.

Like another person said, most of the products that are churned out by Apple were not invented by Steve Jobs, they were thought up by product development and engineering departments within Apple.

Steve Jobs was an incredibly talented person, but recently he has became more of a figurehead like Stan Lee is to Marvel Comics.

[KiwiNZ]

Did IBM die post Flint and Watson?
Did Boeing die post William Boeing?
Ford post Henry Ford?

Apple will survive, they may will change and will need to any company that does not evolve will perish. Apple has the Team in place, the cash reserves, the template and mantra for success.

[dpny]

While I greatly respect Steve Jobs, he was mainly just the mouthpiece and visionary for the company. It's not like he was the one who invented and designed every device and bit of software they came out with.

Radical misunderstanding of Jobs' role. He said, more than once, his job was to design an organization such that the corporation didn't get in the way of those talented people doing their jobs. That's what he was better at than any other CEO out there.

I think Apple will be fine for the foreseeable future. Jobs wasn't in denial that he was sick, and he set up a program to codify the way Apple works to make sure it can be passed on. If you read around you will see he had a lot of respect for the "HP Way" which was successful at HP for so long, although some of you may be too young to remember when HP was something other than another Windows vendor.

I also think it's interesting that some people refer to Apple "fans" rather than "customers". Bias like that is one of the reasons no other company can replicate Apple's success.

edit: Apple doesn't make much money on iTunes.

[el_koraco]

I also think it's interesting that some people refer to Apple "fans" rather than "customers". Bias like that is one of the reasons no other company can replicate Apple's success.

That's because of all those fanbois who trawl the internet looking for an opportunity to mention they have a Macbook. Us regular Linux users get a bad rep because of our own fanbois who do the same.

[KiwiNZ]

That's because of all those fanbois who trawl the internet looking for an opportunity to mention they have a Macbook. Us regular Linux users get a bad rep because of our own fanbois who do the same.

Here if one just mentions you like a MacBook you are labelled an Apple fanboy

[earthpigg]

Is the corporate culture at Apple at risk of elevating him to an unnatural status and following his advice even when the modern reality has shifted significantly?

IE: Instead of interpreting his guidance and whatnot as applicable to when he said it and the circumstances faced at that time, it is interpreted as being applicable for all time?

[el_koraco]

Here if one just mentions you like a MacBook you are labelled an Apple fanboy

Yeah, stuff is pretty heated around here. But the forum generally has a bad juju.

[Guitar John]

I think they will do ok. Steve Jobs was not the only smart guy working at Apple.

[dpny]

That's because of all those fanbois. . ,.

All those fanbois? Where's your data?

I"m actually not disagreeing with you. I'm just annoyed by lazy language/thinking. Are there annoying Mac users? Sure, but there are also annoying Linux users, annoying Porsche owners, annoying Yankees fans, and on and on.

I'm also trying to make a larger point, which is saying that Apple has fans rather than customers makes it difficult to have rational conversations, in the same way naming Linux users as fans would. It reduces a large group of people to a simple stereotype.