What if Steve Jobs isn't deathly ill?

Jobs Succession

It is absurd to believe that the Apple board has not long ago put in place a succession plan, and updated it regularly. This is SOP for any company, especially a public company. This would also include other key executives.

Jobs is special, but he's not irreplaceable. There are plenty of companies where the founding CEO has had a major role in the growth of the company, but steps aside once his "systems and vision" have been encapsulated in the company. Bose is one - Amar Bose hasn't run that company in 20 years. Nor has Ray Dolby. Sydney Harman. These companies all continue in the tradition of the founder, without the founder being involved anymore.

The Jobs era has ended. Life goes on.

Jobs Health and Lack of Suitable Successor

Greetings:

I have been an Apple user since pretty much the beginning (1978). Back then, Jobs was a visionary about what was possible.

When Jobs decided to bring in someone else to help run things, he was removed. When he had the opportunity to get back in the company, he decided to make himself indispensable. That worked well for 10 years, but now it's to the detriment of Apple.

A company cannot function without a true visionary at the helm. Schiller and Cook are not viable replacements for Steve. Sure, they have a crew of brilliant people coming up with ideas, but Apple needs someone like a Richard Branson running them. Someone that isn't trying to be the next Steve Jobs, but someone that has a global vision like Steve Jobs.

As an Apple stockholder and as an Apple Consultant, I believe that there are numerous investors who are involved with Apple just *because* of Steve Jobs. There are investors who want to be part of a company that has an inspired, global leader at the helm. That's what they're investing in. They're not investing in market share, product line, cool factor, or anything like that. They are investing in a person's vision.

That makes Steve's health very public. Apple can argue all it wants that they can run without Steve, but that's complete B.S. Too many people are ultimately investing in Steve's vision.

I used to work at Microsoft (as a Mac guy, no less). Back in the late 80's and early 90's, Gates' vision was to have a computer in every home, on every desktop, running Microsoft products (namely, Windows). When Gates started to make the transition out of his visionary role and move "out" nearly a decade ago, the stock went flat. Microsoft has not done anything stellar for at least a decade. They cannot function without a visionary at the helm. Sorry, but Ballmer is NOT a visionary. They are trying to do business as usual, and that's not exciting.

Besides, Apple made all of the exciting innovations in the last 30 years, and only in the last decade started to figure out how to market them.

The reason people are investing in companies like Virgin Group is because Branson is a global (and even universal) thinker. That's what people are putting their money in.

Apple had better wake up to the fact that they almost died without Jobs, and will do so again - UNLESS they have a very suitable replacement. Ives is the only real "visionary" I've seen in the public eye, but I don't know if he's the right visionary leader for the company - they need to find a younger person who can see what Apple is going to do for the next 50 years - otherwise they DO slip from being an extraordinary company to an ordinary one.

Jobs health/whipple

Survivors after a Whipple procedure for cancer are few and far between, and quite lucky.

The procedure removes part of the the pancreas and survivors typically suffer poor digestion and metabolism (sugar, fats, proteins). Throw in the possibilities of other complications related to abdominal surgery, and who else knows (his private records are private).

Jobs will soon step down

In 2003 Jobs learned that he had a malignant tumor in his pancreas - a large gland behind the stomach that supplies the body with insulin and digestive enzymes. The most common type of pancreatic cancer - adenocarcinoma - carries a life expectancy of about a year. Jobs was lucky; he had an extremely rare form called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor that can be treated surgically, without radiation or chemotherapy.

Obviously Steve Job’s condition is getting worse each day because it was never completely cured. He should have stepped down before launching the iPhone then nobody would have noticed his current condition. Apple’s stock is going to tank when he leaves the company, this day will come soon.

luckyincome.blogspot.com

Steve had a Whipple Procedure...

...do some research first, please. If you read up on it, you'll see that 5 to 10% weight loss is a common complication. As a result a 2nd procedure is often prescribed, a reverse jejunem, to slow digestion, and increase nutrient absorption. According to Nocera's article, Steve had a 2nd procedure. The pieces fit with the known facts, no need to make up new wild rumors. Steve will always be thin for the rest of his life.

Steve's health

I don't know the exact date it occurred, but at some point in our culture most people decided it was their business to know everyone else's business. I think it reached critical mass during the Phil Donahue, Sally Jessie Raphael, Oprah Winfrey (dare I say 'Jerry Springer'?), Maury Povich, et al epoch. Sticking our noses into other people's lives is now both 'our right' and an addiction...fed all too eagerly by the proliferation of what are called 'journalists' (of various types).

I am here to report that this new dogma did not always exist to the extent that it does now in our culture. Sure, it has always been there to some degree, but a much smaller one. We used to have more respect for people and their privacy. Change isn't always for the better.

Overzealous intrusiveness, using controversy to increase one's popularity, stock manipulation or an effort to cause trouble for a competitor...all are valid motivations for the unscrupulous or the unprincipled. And none of them is a valid argument for Steve to reveal to any of us the state of his health.

When Steve had his close call with cancer, lots of 'experts' and concerned members of the media said Apple was negligent for failing to establish a succession plan. They said Steve should start selecting and developing people to take his place which, of course, he's done. And now that he has, it's a sign he's terminally ill. So the concern expressed by those in the press, and in the industry, wasn't genuine. It was merely agenda-driven drivel. Hmmm...no surprise there.

So, my advice to all is, "Mind your own business." And leave the guy alone. He owes you nothing. He's given all of us so much. Is it too much to ask to give him the respect he's due? I think not.