Jagansindia, Inc Remembers Steve Jobs

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being

Q&A - What happens to Apple after Jobs?

Steve Jobs, Apple Inc's co-founder and former CEO who died Wednesday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, created a series of seminal electronics products, reinvented several industries, and built Apple into a $350 billion juggernaut.

Widely hailed as one of the greatest CEO's in history, Jobs handed the reins over to longtime operations chief Tim Cook in August, and many analysts believe the company is well-positioned for the future. But his death still leaves many questions.
Q: Can Apple succeed without Jobs?

Jobs was famous -- some say notorious -- for keeping an iron grip on every step of the product development process, from conception to execution. The Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad all shine with his distinct design sensibility. Still, investors and consumers alike had grown accustomed in the past year to the idea of Apple without its visionary leader. Since January 2011, when Jobs went on his third medical and Cook again took over, most observers expected that Jobs would not return to full-time, active duty. Yet investors and customers remained confident in the company.

Apple has plenty of new products in the pipeline, and there should be few bumps in the short term. But it's not clear if Jobs' brilliance -- both as a product visionary and a super-salesman -- was ultimately transferable. The lukewarm reaction to Cook's first big product introduction on Tuesday could be seen as a warning sign.

Q: What will happen to Apple's share price?
Jobs' health had been an issue with investors for years (he was diagnosed in 2004), but that has not stopped Apple shares from marching higher. The stock moved little when Jobs announced in August that he was stepping down as CEO, and it moved little in after-hours trading after the announcement of his death Wednesday.

The biggest factors affecting the stock currently are the reliability of its iPhone and iPad product pipeline, and how well the company wards off smartphone challenger Google Inc and burgeoning rival Amazon.com Inc.

Q: What is Jobs' legacy?

Jobs is counted among the greatest CEOs in history, mentioned in the same breath as Henry Ford and other historical giants of corporate America. One of his most unique achievements was vaulting Apple to world leadership not just once, but twice. After co-founding the company with Steve Wozniak in 1976 and giving the world the Apple II and the Macintosh, he was famously pushed out in a clash with his hand-picked CEO, John Sculley. When Jobs returned in 1997 the floundering company's survival was in doubt, but he proceeded to radically transform an ageing computer-maker and take it in a new, and wildly successful, direction. There are few examples in any field of such a brilliant second act.

Along the way, Jobs in 1986 also bought Pixar, which was then little more than an experiment in digital animation technology. The company ultimately became a juggernaut of its own, and when it was acquired by Disney in 2006, Jobs became the largest shareholder of the entertainment giant. Again, there are few examples of a CEO turning a side project into a world-class innovator and business success story.

Jobs' few critics say the Macintosh was mostly borrowed technology, and beyond that all Apple gave the world was a sleek cellphone and an improved music-player. But many people -- in the tech world and beyond -- believe his impact on society and culture was monumental. He prompted millions to embrace digital technology, online media and mobile communications in ways they never did before.

Q: Will Apple change under Cook?
While both Cook and Jobs have earned reputations as hard-driving perfectionists, Jobs' successor is considered easier to work with. While Jobs was infamous for chewing out employees -- multiple stories have him firing workers in the elevator -- Cook is said to be better at forging consensus.
Whether and how Apple will transform under his stewardship is an open question. But Cook's success at Apple is due in large part to his sharing many of his boss's traits: a demand for perfection, an exhaustive attention to detail, and a hard-nosed attitude at the negotiating table.

In Cook's early days, insiders say, his boss occasionally had to step in to get tough media-content negotiations going again. But after years of wringing concessions from Asian production partners and three stints running the empire in Jobs' absence, Cook has a lot of credibility, and confidence in his leadership runs high.

Who else is important to the company's future success?

Design guru Jonathan Ives, marketing chief Phil Schiller, and mobile-software head Scott Forstall are three of the most important players. Schiller filled in for Jobs on several product launches, and with Cook being more low-key by nature, Schiller may gain a higher public profile.

Q: What will be Apple's "Next Big Thing"?

There's no shortage of speculation on what direction Cook will take Apple in, and whether Jobs had already laid the foundation for Apple's "Next Big Thing". For now, industry speculation centers around some sort of concerted attempt to shake up the living room, and TV. Apple has delivered results in the past by diving into fragmented, stagnating industries -- notably music and telephones -- and re-imagining them through technological innovation. Many experts say TV and its confusing array of options is ripe for an Apple-like "simple is beautiful" makeover.

Source: Reuters

Apple's Steve Jobs, visionary leader, dead at 56

Steve Jobs, who transformed the worlds of personal computing, music and mobile phones, died on Wednesday at the age of 56 after a years-long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The co-founder of Apple Inc, one of the world's great entrepreneurs, was surrounded by his wife and immediate family when he died in Palo Alto, California. Other details were not immediately available.

His death was announced by Apple and sparked an immediate outpouring of sadness and sympathy from world leaders, competitors and other businessmen including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The Silicon Valley icon who gave the world the iPod, iPhone and iPad had stepped down as chief executive of the world's largest technology company in August, handing the reins to long-time lieutenant Tim Cook.

He was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve," Apple said in a statement.

"His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

Apple paid homage to their visionary leader by changing their website to a big black-and-white photograph of him with the caption "Steve Jobs: 1955-2011." The flags outside the company's headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop flew at half mast.

Jobs' health had been a controversial topic for years and his battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer a deep concern to Apple fans and investors.

In past years, even board members have confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, was not being forthcoming enough with directors about the true condition of his health.

Now, despite much investor confidence in Cook, who has stood in for his boss during three leaves of absence, there remain concerns about whether Apple would stay a creative force to be reckoned with in the longer term without its visionary.

Jobs died one day after the consumer electronics powerhouse unveiled its latest iPhone, the gadget that transformed mobile communications and catapulted Apple to the highest echelons of the tech world.

His death triggered an immediate outpouring of sympathy.

"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come," Gates said. "For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely."

Outside an Apple store in New York, mourners laid candles, bouquets of flowers, an apple and an iPod Touch in a makeshift memorial.

"I think half the world found out about his death on an Apple device," said Robbie Sokolowsky, 32, an employee for an online marketing company, who lit a candle outside the store.
Cook said in a statement that Apple planned to hold a celebration of Jobs' life for employees "soon".
APPLE, NEXT, IPHONE

A college dropout, Buddhist and son of adoptive parents, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in 1976. The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer.

But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry, culminating in a 1980 initial public offering that made Jobs a multimillionaire.

Despite the subsequent success of the Macintosh computer, Jobs' relationship with top management and the board soured. The company removed most of his powers and then in 1985 he was fired.

Apple's fortunes waned after that. However, its purchase of NeXT -- the computer company Jobs founded after leaving Apple -- in 1997 brought him back into the fold. Later that year, he became interim CEO and in 2000, the company dropped "interim" from his title.

Along the way Jobs also had managed to revolutionize computer animation with his other company, Pixar, but it was the iPhone in 2007 that secured his legacy in the annals of modern technology history.

Forbes estimates Jobs' net worth at $6.1 billion in 2010, placing him in 42nd place on the list of America's richest. It was not immediately known how his estate would be handled.

Six years ago, Jobs had talked about how a sense of his mortality was a major driver behind that vision.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life," Jobs said during a Stanford commencement ceremony in 2005.

"Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Source: Reuters