What's gonna happen to Apple?
If you don't like Apple, then you might as well say you don't like every other tech company in the universe. The Cupertino-based tech giant has innovated so much in the last 30-some years. And behind all that innovation was Steve Jobs.
For the past 10 of those 30 years, though, he has encountered numerous run-ins with cancer. It has come and gone, just like Jobs from his daily duties at the company. Now, however, Steve Jobs has officially resigned as CEO of Apple.
Before I get into my thoughts about the future of the company, I want to make something very clear: this is not, in any way, a "victory" for other tech companies. No matter how much you hate Apple as a company, you can't argue with the incredible innovation that has come from this man. Please, be respectful in the comments and keep your bad thoughts to yourself.
With that, let's look into my non-existent crystal ball, shall we?
In 1984, Apple released the original Macintosh computer. Easy-to-use graphics were its main feature, along with some fantastic apps to get some serious work done. As time progressed, the Mac only got better. Until, that is, when Steve Jobs was fired from the company. He left to found NeXT, Inc., in 1985, only one year later.
However, Jobs reappeared on the Apple campus in 1996, when NeXT was sold to Apple for $429 million and 1.5 million shares of Apple stock. Steve returned as a consultant at first, then an interim CEO, and finally coming back to the position he once had. During those first years back, Steve paved the way for Apple to bounce back on its feet, as the company, without him, wouldn't be here today.
2001 brought the original iPod, and today, Apple has the greatest MP3 player lineup of any company, and continues to dominate that market. 2007 rolled around and with it came the iPhone, which really needs no explanation. 2010 had the iPad, which, again, needs no explanation.
Apple's former COO Tim Cook will head the company as the new CEO from tomorrow onwards, but I'm not so certain things will be the same. If all of Steve's keynote stories are to be believed, he did most of the innovation and thinking behind the products; his employees did the designing of hardware and coding of software.
Now that Steve is gone, there has to be some amount of products that he overlooked while he was still the CEO, but that stash will certainly come to an end at some point in the future, and when they do, I think we'll know it. Things might not look as polished and keynotes are almost certainly going to be boring.
I also think innovation will continue to decline as Apple takes its new direction. I'm not trying to be a "Debby-downer," but I'm almost 100% sure that it will happen.
I'm not saying that Apple has no talent outside of Jobs, but I am saying that he definitely had the most. I think I speak for the rest of the Pocketables crew when I wish Steve Jobs the best and thank him for the spectacular products.
