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Resigned

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Re: Resigned

#51

Post by jsz0 »

ryandvm wrote: post #26

I, apparently in agreement with Apple's investors today, have a little trouble with the notion that Steve Jobs stepping down will have no effect on Apple's success. I'm afraid the Apple faithful are playing a little fast and loose with logic on this one. Let me see if we have this straight... 1) Steve Jobs was absolutely and almost singularly responsible for Apple's meteoric rise over the last 14 years. His vision, h…

Over the last 5-8 years or so there's been a formula to what made Jobs such a successful leader of Apple. Smaller, faster, focus on human usability, make it look nice, control the supply chain so you can build it cheap and make lots of money, let your competitors make the mistakes and swoop in with your own product with what you learn from their failures, don't bother building cheap low margin junk, etc. It's almost a science at this point. Like any good scientist Jobs surely has a lot of disciples within Apple who will carry that tradition on and move it forward. Astronomy didn't die with Newton did it? Apple will undoubtably change but if they continue to follow the values that Jobs has drilled into them for the last decade they should be fine. Success is the best teacher after all.

Since they've had some time to prepare for this transition I would expect that Jobs put much focus and intensity into thinking about how you move forward without him. That shift in focus may be a large part of why he stepped down last year. If he's been working on a new product then it's not a new iPad or Mac but instead it's how you build Apple to last another 20 or 30 years.

Re: Resigned

#52

Post by runevault »

wtallis wrote: post #44
mcrady wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Just look at Microsoft after Gates. Or Intel after Grove. In both cases, they turned things over to operational, #2 types in Balmer and Barrett and in both cases, the companies stagnated.

And in both cases, the transition was right before the industry-wide dot-com bust, and in both cases, the company is still huge and profitable and nearly a monopoly. So Apple's probably not doomed. They just might stop being the source of the next big thing. Apple's exponential growth has to end sometime, and somebody's going to be unlucky enough to be CEO at that time.

The difference is while apple has made a ton of money, they don't have the dominant control of a market the way a company like MS did when Gates stepped down. Monetarily sure they're stupid successful but it's still quite easy to leave most of their platforms, the biggest exception probably being iTunes due to people being used to using it to manage their music, no matter how shitty the app is.

Re: Resigned

#53

Post by tjogin »

runevault wrote: post #52
wtallis wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And in both cases, the transition was right before the industry-wide dot-com bust, and in both cases, the company is still huge and profitable and nearly a monopoly. So Apple's probably not doomed. They just might stop being the source of the next big thing. Apple's exponential growth has to end sometime, and somebody's going to be unlucky enough to be CEO at that time.

The difference is while apple has made a ton of money, they don't have the dominant control of a market the way a company like MS did when Gates stepped down. Monetarily sure they're stupid successful but it's still quite easy to leave most of their platforms, the biggest exception probably being iTunes due to people being used to using it to manage their music, no matter how shitty the app is.

Apple aren't even trying to make it hard to leave their platforms, they're trying to make you not want to leave them.

Re: Resigned

#55

Post by cookiecaper »

ryandvm wrote: post #26

I, apparently in agreement with Apple's investors today, have a little trouble with the notion that Steve Jobs stepping down will have no effect on Apple's success. I'm afraid the Apple faithful are playing a little fast and loose with logic on this one. Let me see if we have this straight... 1) Steve Jobs was absolutely and almost singularly responsible for Apple's meteoric rise over the last 14 years. His vision, h…

Do you know Tim Cook and have some reason to believe that he is not half as good as Steve Jobs or are you just playing off of an assumption that Jobs is at least 2x better than everyone else?

Re: Resigned

#56

Post by cookiecaper »

MikeCapone wrote: post #29

I thought that the Slaughterhouse-Five reference at the end was appropriate. Stuff happens, we need to deal with it as best as we can and keep looking ahead. That's what Steve always does.

Ah yes, I can tell that Steve has this personal quality because of the layout of the iPhone.

Re: Resigned

#57

Post by eftpotrm »

tjogin wrote: post #53
runevault wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is while apple has made a ton of money, they don't have the dominant control of a market the way a company like MS did when Gates stepped down. Monetarily sure they're stupid successful but it's still quite easy to leave most of their platforms, the biggest exception probably being iTunes due to people being used to using it to manage their music, no matter how shitty the app is.

Apple aren't even trying to make it hard to leave their platforms, they're trying to make you not want to leave them.

Well, they're definitely failing with iTunes. It's the one Apple program I use and, bluntly, it's rubbish.

Re: Resigned

#58

Post by Tichy »

I have to say, I am more concerned about Steve Jobs than about Apple. Today's news made me sad because the world will miss contributions from a genius.

I am confident that we will have nice computing hardware in the future. Even today, Apple are not the only ones to deliver.

But there is/was only one Steve Jobs.

Guess I am one of the few on HN who doesn't own Apple stock, so I am free to just worry about the man and not the company.

Re: Resigned

#59

Post by j_col »

Tichy wrote: post #58

I have to say, I am more concerned about Steve Jobs than about Apple. Today's news made me sad because the world will miss contributions from a genius. I am confident that we will have nice computing hardware in the future. Even today, Apple are not the only ones to deliver. But there is/was only one Steve Jobs. Guess I am one of the few on HN who doesn't own Apple stock, so I am free to just worry about the man and…

Totally agree, lets hope the man makes a full recovery. While I'm not a fan of Apple, I do appreciate his profound impact on this industry.

Re: Resigned

#60

Post by rahoulb »

kenjackson wrote: post #33
sabat wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will gladly bet $100 on that Apple, without Steve Jobs' help, will create a new product in the coming decade that'll revolutionize Maybe, but skeptics will probably be right to doubt it. Many had similar hopes as yours when Steve was fired from Apple in the '80s. The company ambled along for a few years, then started its famous nosedive. Expect the same this time.

Except in the 80s Jobs didn't hand pick his successor (at the time of his succession).

And he's spent the last couple of years building "Apple University" to ensure that the traits he thinks are important continue in his absence.
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