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CEOs of large corporations rarely have anything to do with the details of product development. Steve Jobs may have the title of CEO at Apple, but that's not rea
by Samuel_Michon 16y ago
CEOs of large corporations rarely have anything to do with the details of product development. Steve Jobs may have the title of CEO at Apple, but that's not really what he does. In reality, Tim Cook has already been performing most of the typical tasks of a CEO.
I doubt Apple is looking for the next Steve Jobs. They already have a winning team. Tim Cook (COO) and Peter Oppenheimer (CFO) are great at talking with investors and analysts. Phil Schiller (VP Product Marketing) is great at introducing new products to the public. These are people we know, they were put in those positions by Jobs himself. They've all held those jobs since Apple's Dark Ages (the late 90s), and they were just as responsible for Apple's recovery as Steve Jobs was.
- PakG1 16y agoDoesn't Jobs often have his name included on patent filings by Apple? That would indicate to me that he's pretty involved in product development.
- ebaysucks 16y agoThe OP doesn't say he isn't.
- Samuel_Michon 16y agoRight, that's why I said he's mostly a CEO in title. Inventing new technology isn't typically part of the job description of a CEO at a major corporation.
- lukeschlather 16y agoLouis IV of France would make a minor change in every play Moliere wrote under his patronage and add himself as an author. Jobs probably does at least some product development. However, having a single "auteur director" type heightens the image of Apple products as true masterworks, so Apple spends a lot of time focusing on Jobs' larger-than-life genius image.
- philwelch 16y agoThey've all held those jobs since Apple's Dark Ages (the late 90s) Oppenheimer was brought in after the backdating scandal, when Fred Anderson was let go. Anderson actually had a big role in saving Apple under Gil Amelio, since he helped arrange a large bond issue which kept Apple from literally running out of money: The paper also suggested selling convertible debentures, a type of bond, for around $500 million. To help the plan along, Amelio hired Fred Anderson as the new CFO to replace Graziano. ... Amelio started working with Fred Anderson on preparing Apple's debenture sale. They were working an impossible schedule. Mike Townsend predicted that Apple would be insolvent by April. That left only two months for the sale. Typically a company's senior executive would travel around the country making presentations to possible buyers for about three weeks and then set a deadline for buying about a month after the last presentation. Not only did Amelio not have that kind of time (if Townsend's predictions were true), he would not be able to leave the company for that long right after he joined it. http://lowendmac.com/orchard/05/gil-amelio-apple.html http://lowendmac.com/orchard/05/gil-amelio-apple.html
- Samuel_Michon 16y agoTrue, Oppenheimer became CFO of Apple in 2004, replacing Fred Anderson. But he's been with Apple since 1996, when he came on as controller for the Americas. In 1997 he was promoted to vice president and Worldwide Sales controller and then to corporate controller.
- demallien 16y agoOf course, this may well be why Apple has done so well the last ten or so years. Perhaps CEOs should be more involved in product development, and it would be an error for Apple to go back to doing what everyone else does...