[Janichsan]

Source

Seems his condition was a wee bit more serious than Apple deemed to admit.

[teflon]

Im of the "Its his own life, let him be" school of thought. Apple did well, both in terms of looking after themselves (they've shown they dont need him to be there to still make great products) and also his privacy during a rough patch in his life.

I wish Big Steve all the best and hope he continues with his speedy recovery.

[Sneaky Snake]

I'm the same school of thought as teflon

As for Apple without steve - I've been fine with it. They've done fine with product releases. Steve got apple back on track and now its safe to pass on the reigns. If I were him I'd retire and spend some time with family and friends, since I dunno how worse the health is gonna get.

[The Liberator]

Hmmm… well. Apple has seemed fine without him making the choices, but will they be able to stay in form for the long run, or will they slide like they did those many years ago?

Seriously though, although Apple has not become bankrupt without Jobs, will they still be afloat, say… a year later or so?

Liberator.

[Frost]

I think Apple has significant enough forward momentum and the right people in the right places to keep going along. Do keep in mind not all of what Apple is doing is Jobs' brainchild... he just got them back on the right track from being "Dell with a different OS" like Gil Amelio had turned the company into.

[yo-mike]

Philip Schiller did a very good presentation at the Keynote Address WWDC 2009.


-Mike

[Cobra]

I hope Steve Jobs makes a full recovery.
I agree with what teflon has said and will also throw in that it was good business move by Apple as stock value can fall over even the slightest thing.

[Janichsan]

Frost, on June 21st 2009, 03:24 AM, said:

I think Apple has significant enough forward momentum and the right people in the right places to keep going along. Do keep in mind not all of what Apple is doing is Jobs' brainchild...

I'm not that sure, considering that the products that brought Apple back on the track actually all were Jobs' brainchilds – the iMac, iTunes, the iPod and the iPhone. I assume, though, that Jobs put together a decent and creative team. The question is just whether they could come up with another revolutionary product (that actually takes hold – unlike the Newton back then) without Steve's input. His six months hiatus was too short to judge that yet, especially since Jobs still seems to have been an influence in the background and since Apple didn't really come up with something too new in that time: all that products released or announced in the recent six months have been more or less evolutionary steps.

I don't assume Apple will go belly-up mere days after Steve Jobs stepped back, but I'm seriously wondering were they will be a few years after that.

[The Liberator]

Exactly; I think this is one thing we will need to pay very close attention to.

Liberator.

[ehuelga]

John Gruber has an astute analysis of the WSJ's lack of sourcing.

[teflon]

Yeah, an interesting read, and quite an odd set of circumstances which do cast a slight shadow of doubt over this whole thing. Then again, his final points that it could well be Apple that released the info at the right time also makes an element of sense.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see whats really happened.

As for coming up with new products, its not really fair to draw comparisons with Steve's previous exit, since this time round Steve has had near complete control and surrounded himself with people he can rely on to continue with the good work that he's done himself. Last time round that twonk from Pepsi had Steve thrown out and then did his own thing. If Steve were to step down permanently, there is the team that he has created that will carry on.

Also, it feels to me that theres very few new markets for Apple to look to exploit right now. They've had MP3 players since they first arrived on the scene, the hype of which passed onto the iPhone, which has in turn grabbed a sizeable chunk of the smart phone market. The AppleTV is the only product that could really do with an overhaul right now. Perhaps turning it into more of a DVR might be one route they could take with it. Their computer line up isn't going to change any time soon, after which its more down to the external appearance than anything else, which is Ive's forte.

So, aside from games consoles, a cheap mini tower, a netbook or a tablet (and even those 4 are stretching the bounds of reality), I cant really see anything that Apple will bring in the next 3-5 years other than minor revisions to their current product lines. Essentially, I believe that everything is now down to software.

[J'nathus]

teflon, on June 21st 2009, 10:13 AM, said:

So, aside from games consoles, a cheap mini tower, a netbook or a tablet, I cant really see anything that Apple will bring in the next 3-5 years other than minor revisions to their current product lines. Essentially, I believe that everything is now down to software.

I think a games console would be a terrible mistake on Apple's part. Microsoft and Sony are losing money hand over fist on their consoles and the Wii (while popular) seems to be degrading into a joke about mainstream gaming.

A netbook might be an idea, but I thought the Air was apple's answer to the netbook.

The cheap mini-tower is the bit that really interests me. I still think Apple would do well to have a machine between the iMac and the Mac Pro that is more 'mainstream hardware' and more upgradeable. Something to really capture the gaming enthusiast's attention and give them a bit of leeway with hardware configurations and upgrading. I'm sure that users opting for a less expensive monitor wouldn't suffer a greatly compromised Apple OS X experience.

[Janichsan]

teflon, on June 21st 2009, 07:13 PM, said:

As for coming up with new products, its not really fair to draw comparisons with Steve's previous exit, since this time round Steve has had near complete control and surrounded himself with people he can rely on to continue with the good work that he's done himself. Last time round that twonk from Pepsi had Steve thrown out and then did his own thing. If Steve were to step down permanently, there is the team that he has created that will carry on.

Yes, possibly true – but even that twonk from Pepsi released innovative products that were ahead of their time. Innovation alone does not necessarily ensure success. It has to be done right. And that's were Steve Jobs comes in.

I just today read an article about Apple and Steve's role in a german magazine, where they spoke with a couple of people working at Apple. Jobs' perfectionism is still major driving force in the development of new products. Yes, he has rebuilt Apple thoroughly, and yes, he has created a new atmosphere of creativity at Infinity Loop. I'm sure that Apple would continue to make great products without Jobs. But the question remains: is "great" good enough without the edge Jobs provides?

Quote

Also, it feels to me that theres very few new markets for Apple to look to exploit right now. They've had MP3 players since they first arrived on the scene, the hype of which passed onto the iPhone, which has in turn grabbed a sizeable chunk of the smart phone market.

Actually, that kind of speculation is pretty moot: Apple (at least under Jobs) would look into markets that you would not think of. Or would anyone have seriously expected that Apple would start to make MP3 players eight years ago? Or that they would become a major player in the music business? Or would revolutionise the market for smart phones?

[Cobra]

While there is a bit of a split regarding people's views of Apple's future without Jobs, one thing I think we can all agree on though is it'll be really sad if he was no longer part of Apple.

[Sneaky Snake]

He'll definitely be missed, but I don't think he'll be a huge loss seeing as he has built Apple into a company that should now be able to fend for itself.

At times I sometimes think that he had to much power in Apple though. Apple was one man's vision - which is usually a good thing but there is that fact that anything outside of his vision will get ignored. Take gaming as an example. Gaming (other then iPhone/touch) was pretty much shunned by Jobs. It would have only taken a small amount of effort to get crossfire drivers for OS X on the Mac Pro's, a bit of pressure for big games - like Battlefield 2, or help out the few mac game porting houses like Aspyr, Feral, and Macsoft a bit.

[The Liberator]

teflon, on June 22nd 2009, 03:13 AM, said:

…So, aside from games consoles, a cheap mini tower, a netbook or a tablet (and even those 4 are stretching the bounds of reality)…

You are kidding about all of that stuff, right?

J, on June 22nd 2009, 03:24 AM, said:

A netbook might be an idea, but I thought the Air was apple's answer to the netbook.

Yeah, the Macbook Air is the answer, well… except that is is easily more expensive than the (late) Macbook.

J, on June 22nd 2009, 03:24 AM, said:

A netbook might be an idea, but I thought the Air was apple's answer to the netbook.…The cheap mini-tower is the bit that really interests me. I still think Apple would do well to have a machine between the iMac and the Mac Pro that is more 'mainstream hardware' and more upgradeable. Something to really capture the gaming enthusiast's attention and give them a bit of leeway with hardware configurations and upgrading. I'm sure that users opting for a less expensive monitor wouldn't suffer a greatly compromised Apple OS X experience.

It has not happened for the years that Apple's hardware line up has generally stayed the same, so I seriously doubt that is going to happen; no matter how much we want it to.

Sneaky Snake, on June 22nd 2009, 09:03 AM, said:

At times I sometimes think that he had to much power in Apple though. Apple was one man's vision - which is usually a good thing but there is that fact that anything outside of his vision will get ignored. Take gaming as an example. Gaming (other then iPhone/touch) was pretty much shunned by Jobs. It would have only taken a small amount of effort to get crossfire drivers for OS X on the Mac Pro's, a bit of pressure for big games - like Battlefield 2, or help out the few mac game porting houses like Aspyr, Feral, and Macsoft a bit.

It has not happened for the nearly four years Intel Mac have been around, so I do not think it is going to happen any time soon.

Liberator.

[Sneaky Snake]

The Liberator, on June 22nd 2009, 03:15 AM, said:

It has not happened for the nearly four years Intel Mac have been around, so I do not think it is going to happen any time soon.

I don't think that it'll happen either, I'm just saying that there could've have been the tiniest effort from apple to get graphics cards, drivers, and games. For god's sake EVGA, not apple, had to port the latest card

[Atticus]

Although I don't always agree with Jobs' management style and choices, I'd love to see him come back and rip AT&T a new one.

Atticus

[The Liberator]

Sneaky Snake, on June 23rd 2009, 02:59 AM, said:

I don't think that it'll happen either, I'm just saying that there could've have been the tiniest effort from apple to get graphics cards, drivers, and games. For god's sake EVGA, not apple, had to port the latest card

Yeah, that is true. So much could have been done, with so little effort. Oh well, we must not dwell on these stale matters. I wonder how much Jobs has had a hand in Snow Leopard? It would be interesting to know.

Liberator.

[Rev-O]

All this talk about Steve Jobs and his medical infirmities is getting out of hand, seriously. Steve Jobs is so healthy he has the liver of an 18 year old.

He had it put in a few months ago!