Steve Jobs, the visionary co-founder and chief executive of Apple Company hasn’t exactly been in the best shape for a while now. Mr. Jobs, 55, who recovered from pancreatic cancer after surgery in 2004, has not appeared at public events since October. He appears considerably skinnier these days & now he’s taking time out.
Steve Jobs sent out an e-mail message to all Apple employees saying that he is taking “a medical leave of absence”, so that he can focus on his health. He says that he will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company; only, he’ll do it from home. This is the third time he is taking a step back in less than a decade. Whether Steve Jobs returns or not, he will definitely be hard to replace; it was because of him & his extremely talented team that the company succeeded over the past years.
Steve Jobs’s perseverance, management style, innovative qualities, creativity, outlook on design, charisma, and overall business “know how” can’t simply be replaced. His unique & great qualities have made him the technological guru of his time and of technology today.
Steve Jobs kept the development of products like the iPhone 4 and iPad on track, increased Macintosh computers sales and improved Apple’s financial performance during an economic downturn; his performance has always been a heavy dose of reassurance for the investors. He succeeded many negotiating grounds because of the strength of his personality. The persuading & negotiating role that he has is very important, as Apple seeks to become a bigger power in media distribution. It would be hard for anyone in the industry to have a comparable level of influence as Steve Jobs does.
Of course no one expects Apple to suffer in the short term, as the company has a long product cycle. But we don’t know what will happen over the long term if Mr. Jobs does not return. The problem here isn’t the operations of Apple and their ability to keep doing what they’ve been doing; the problem here is that Steve Jobs’ inspiration is irreplaceable. With all his unique characteristics and talents, and the breakthrough innovation he introduced to Apple, we are not sure if anyone can fill his shoes.
He changed many lives for the better. We hope he’s back on his feet soon and returns to work at Apple.
On October 20, 2010 Apple held an event called “Back to the Mac” at which Steve Jobs, Apple CEO revealed the upcoming Mac technologies.
This event boldly showcased Apples focus on mobile technology; revealing their move to unify their mobile offerings with their Macs. The newest sensation was the hijacking of the AppStore for the Mac, which was a bold confession of just how important iPhone applications have been in Apple’s success of grabbing larger shares of the Smartphone markets. Bringing FaceTime, the VideoConferencing capability from the iPhone and iPad to the Mac was just another affirmation of the power of their mobile technology in Apple’s overall success; which in essence is turning into their strategy.
Further proof of mobile playing even a larger part of Apple’s marketing strategy was revealed by the introduction of Apple’s next generation MacBooks, the all new MacBook Air, inspired by the iPad (“MacBook meets the iPad”). MacBook Air is simply a more sophisticated version of the iPad, sleek and neat, with more computing talent but naturally slightly less mobile.
The product lineup, features in the new operating system and the Mac AppStore all seem to point to a direction that has mobile focused at its core. Just two years ago many believed that Apple had no right entering the very saturated phone (device manufacturer) market and today the iPhone technology is helping pave the path for their core Mac business.