5 ms·

I'll be interested to see if 10 years from now Apple has stayed true in hardware quality or if they sink to EMachines-like quality levels.

wmf 15y ago
Why would they do that? I doubt Jobs is the only person who understands why Apple has been successful.
Timothee 15y ago
It's true that the first time Steve Jobs left Apple, it didn't take long for things to go badly for the company, but I feel that this time around (that is, since 1997 when he came back as CEO), Steve Jobs surrounded himself with a great team, making sure that this wouldn't happen again. The fact that Tim Cook is taking over is a good example of that: someone from inside Apple who has been around and key to Apple's success for many years. I'm sure that all the people at the top are very conscious of his legacy and would most likely often think "what would Steve do?".
- kenjackson 15y ago
  Things were going downhill before Steve left the first time. This is a very different scenario where they're at the top of their game.
  - Timothee 15y ago
    True. To be honest, I know of that part of Apple's history from what I've read years after the facts. I still have the impression that, though it wasn't going great when he left, his leaving accelerated the descent. But my main point is that I feel that it was an important lesson for Steve Jobs. In the 80s, he had picked an experienced CEO that didn't know anything about Apple. The current team is all about Apple and I would think Steve Jobs learned that it's more beneficial to groom internal people to take the helm.
    - watmough 15y ago
      A large part of Apple's success is the NeXT heritage in the form of NextStep that was the sapling that has grown into Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and now Lion.
untog 15y ago
It's not like everyone but Steve has been yearning to make cheap, crappy knock-off versions of their own products. He's surrounded himself with a team that matches his 'vision'. I don't expect a lot of change.
watmough 15y ago
Jony Ive is still there right? Look at how he's progressed from the toilet seat portable, to the Pismos, to the Luxo iMac, to the white iMac, to the unibodies. Sure Steve was there, praising and berating, but I doubt Steve himself would have come up with even this aluminum slab keyboard I'm typing on right now, though I'm sure he loved it when Ive and his team brought it in. Apple has likely had long enough to assemble people that share the vision, that Apple design should evolve towards ever greater things. The iPhone was a huge lesson, that even now, and it's always now, there's room to shake something up with better design, vision and software.

wmf 15y ago

Why would they do that? I doubt Jobs is the only person who understands why Apple has been successful.

Timothee 15y ago

It's true that the first time Steve Jobs left Apple, it didn't take long for things to go badly for the company, but I feel that this time around (that is, since 1997 when he came back as CEO), Steve Jobs surrounded himself with a great team, making sure that this wouldn't happen again. The fact that Tim Cook is taking over is a good example of that: someone from inside Apple who has been around and key to Apple's success for many years. I'm sure that all the people at the top are very conscious of his legacy and would most likely often think "what would Steve do?".

kenjackson 15y ago
Things were going downhill before Steve left the first time. This is a very different scenario where they're at the top of their game.
- Timothee 15y ago
  True. To be honest, I know of that part of Apple's history from what I've read years after the facts. I still have the impression that, though it wasn't going great when he left, his leaving accelerated the descent. But my main point is that I feel that it was an important lesson for Steve Jobs. In the 80s, he had picked an experienced CEO that didn't know anything about Apple. The current team is all about Apple and I would think Steve Jobs learned that it's more beneficial to groom internal people to take the helm.
  - watmough 15y ago
    A large part of Apple's success is the NeXT heritage in the form of NextStep that was the sapling that has grown into Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and now Lion.

untog 15y ago

It's not like everyone but Steve has been yearning to make cheap, crappy knock-off versions of their own products. He's surrounded himself with a team that matches his 'vision'. I don't expect a lot of change.

watmough 15y ago

Jony Ive is still there right? Look at how he's progressed from the toilet seat portable, to the Pismos, to the Luxo iMac, to the white iMac, to the unibodies. Sure Steve was there, praising and berating, but I doubt Steve himself would have come up with even this aluminum slab keyboard I'm typing on right now, though I'm sure he loved it when Ive and his team brought it in. Apple has likely had long enough to assemble people that share the vision, that Apple design should evolve towards ever greater things. The iPhone was a huge lesson, that even now, and it's always now, there's room to shake something up with better design, vision and software.