@Blackberry
You wrote: ”...unless all of Apple’s ideas came from him…”
Maybe not ALL but I think 95% would not be far off.
On Nightline this evening they presented a few salient figures comparing the price for a single share of Apple stock both pre-Jobs and after he resumed leadership of Apple years and years after the board stupidly forced him out.
I don’t have the figures down to the penny, but it wasn’t far off from
1997 selling price was around $5.73 per share.
Todays price $347.00 plus change per share.
The facts speak for themselves. Prior to Job’s return, it was pretty rare to be able buy single songs. Everything was entire albums.
Then came the iPod followed shortly by the iTunes store @$.99 after he singlehandedly managed to convince the major companies in the recording industry how profitable this would be for them. Then Amazon and others hopped on the train and $.99 per song downloads are taken for granted nowadays But just recall pre-iTunes days to realize how much just this one visionary concept affected almost all of our daily lives.
But that wasn’t all. The fruit color iMacs which debuted in the early 80s made personal computers cool again and the 3–4 step easy process to accessing the Internet within 15 mins. of purchase certainly boosted the explosive growth of the www exponentially.
And let’s not forget the iPhone which forever changed the shape of the entire Smartphone industry. The majority of cellphones today
mimic the basic form and function of the iPhone. Prior to that the vast majority were flip phones without the ease of touchscreens. Now it’s the other way around.
Jobs actually came up with a smartphone which didn’t require a degree in Engineering or Computer Science to operate :)
That’s another revolutionary idea and concept which changed the everyday lives of millions.
And how many companies were producing convenient tablet computers prior to the ipad? My guess is one or two mostly for business use, inventory, building projects etc.
Nowadays there’s at least a dozen companies with more being added each day.
His legendary reputation for attention to detail, tendency to micro manage and retain control of every aspect (both for himself and the comany) and obsessiveness about perfection is mostly what caused the board to force him out all those years ago.
But his innovative and creative mind tied to those other qualities were the chief strengths which resurrected Apple following his return.
Yes, there are competent people to run the company now that he’s retired, but who is there to come up with even a fraction of his creativity and innovation ?
Hopefully one or more of his successors will have some creative ideas for future growth. But he really was a one-of-a-kind visionary coming up with totally unique and groundbreaking concepts and products which others have only succeeding in duplicating.
But he was the idea guy, the risk taker. What would have happened if the iPod, iPhone, or iTunes store failed to catch on ? He’d have been the one with egg on his face and financial losses for Apple.
Are there any others willing to take that enormous a chance betting on innovation? There weren’t among any of the CEOs preceding his return; that’s for sure. Will there be any in the future of Apple post-Jobs?
That remains to be seen.
But Apple will be a different company without him at the helm. Will it be better without him? I seriously doubt it. It wasn’t the last time.
But I understand his reasoning and he really needs to focus upon his health. I wish the best for him. Hopefully he’ll still be available to the creative and development teams as a consultant and they’ll actually listen to him.
