The 5th of October, 2011 can be termed as a dark day in the fast-paced world of information technology. That was the day when the American businessman and visionary inventor, Steve Jobs lost the battle of his life at the age of 56.
The Legacy of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was a pure inventor at heart, with an eternal passion to take huge risks and create highly-successful products. He was equivalent to the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison of our times. Some people even compared him with the great Albert Einstein for his ability to innovate and his deep intellectual understanding of technology.
Throughout his life, he was involved in launching a series of top quality electronic products, rethought the way several industries do their business, and single-handedly made Apple into the most successful company ever with a total profit of US$ 25.922 billion as of fiscal year 2011.
Steve Jobs was the face of Apple and the overall technology industry. People of all ages and from different countries and cultures knew who he was. Back in 1982, Time Magazine selected him for the ‘Person of the year award’ and described his personality as ‘the most famous maestro of the micro’.
In September 2011, just a few months before his sad demise, Steve Jobs was ranked at # 17 on ‘Forbes: The World’s most powerful people’. A former PepsiCo CEO who was also involved with Apple in the 1980’s once said that the company’s plan was to become the most successful consumer electronic products company and that this plan was absolutely ridiculous.
Back then, Apple was a computer manufacturing company. Fast forward to 2012, and Apple is a multi-national corporation and the #1 leader in highly successful consumer electronic products.
What does the future hold for Apple without Jobs?
Greatly regarded as the best CEO of all times, Steve Jobs resigned from his position at Apple in August 2011; just a few months before his death. The million dollar question however is whether Apple can continue to grow with the same exponential success and keep on providing ground-breaking new inventions and products for their loyal followers. Or will Steve Job’s death put the brakes on the highly profitable roller coaster ride that Apple experienced in the last decade.
Effect of Steve Job’s death on Apple
Steve Jobs was a committed CEO, with a reputation for keeping a firm grip on every step of the entire product creation process. From idea generation to the final polished product, Jobs would make sure that his invention was not to be tampered with in any way. This strong resolve allowed him to produce products like the iPod, the iPhone and finally the iPad, which have all been mega successes in their respective time periods.
But Apple, as seen in the past, has had to operate without Steve Jobs at the helm. In January 2011, when Steve Jobs took his medical leave for the third time, many people were sure of the fact that he would not be returning to the company anymore. That however had no effect on either the investor’s confidence or the customer’s loyalty for the company and its products.
And even after Steve Jobs died in October 2011, Apple’s stock market ratings as well as the customer confidence remained high if not higher. The iPhone 4S sold at record levels because of the untimely death of Jobs. People swarmed in to get their hands on the iPhone 4S because they wanted to cherish the last invention ever by the maestro.
The future of Apple Inc.?
Apple has always had a bunch of new products waiting in the pipeline ready to be thrown in to the works. Of course, the company can expect to have short term problems with the development process of their new products. Steve Job’s absence will surely be felt among all departments of the company. But now with him not present, Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook is more than capable to handle the rough seas and keep the company’s direction in the right way.
Yes, Apple will never be the same without Steve Jobs, but the future holds much promise for the company and consumers have a lot of expectations particularly for the new iPhone and the iPad. It is safe to say that under the guidance of fresh visionaries and strategists, Apple will continue to have success in the future as well. However only time will tell if that success is anything compared to that of the Steve Jobs era.
Written by Frederic, freelance writer, web blogger and data recovery software consultant.
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