Reihan Salam, at the Daily Beast, on the now tired saw that Apple just can’t and won’t be all it can be if and when Steve Jobs someday steps down from the help of the company, complete with the usual tried and true tales of woe…
Apple Inc. might be America’s most beloved company. Led by Steve Jobs, possibly the world’s most charismatic man, Apple bears more than passing resemblance to a 1970s therapy cult. With his infectious faith in the liberating power of technology, Jobs has persuaded countless impecunious hipsters to pay vast sums for his brushed aluminum baubles, even as his control-freakery reaches new heights. His turtlenecked product launches are like tent revivals, only more hushed and reverential. Express any doubt about the superiority of a Mac over, say, a humble PC with identical specs that costs half as much and your blasphemy will be met with sputtering, uncomprehending rage. This is the kind of devotion that is the hallmark of a small, tight-knit group, like the Branch Davidians.?
And…
That, rather morbidly, is the reason I’m guessing the Apple boomlet will end. I hope that Steve Jobs leads a long and happy life. But surely he’ll one day tire of wielding his charismatic authority as CEO of Apple. And there is no woman or man alive who could fill that man’s turtleneck.?
Boomlet? Hah!
I’m always curious to note that those who say that Apple can’t survive with Steve Jobs never say that Pixar can’t survive without the same. They also fail to note that the last time Apple began to fail without Jobs he was ousted in something just short of a coup.
Apple’s rise in market cap such that it’s now worth more than Microsoft has more to do with constantly delivering great products than anything else. The mistake made at the company that Apple has now surpassed in market cap has more to do with Microsoft’s current CEO’s inability to understand the difference between cheerleading and vision.