Apple plus Willy Wonka Jobs equals cult

Stan Beer
Sunday, 19 October 2008 11:08

Opinion and Analysis

Many Apple users will argue that this is nonsense because they don't think of Steve Jobs when they consider buying an iPhone, iPod or Mac. However, would the iPod, iTunes or iPhone even exist without Jobs? Would the Mac have morphed into the iMac on Intel?

How much of Jobs is behind the technology being produced at Apple? Well, given Apple's past history without Jobs, it's a fair bet that he's the grand architect and the key driver behind most of what's being produced.

Jobs' love of music and his association with the movie industry through Pixar and Disney are well known. Would the iPod, iTunes or the iPhone have come into existence without him?

Mac OS X incorporates elements the NeXT operating system OPENSTEP.

As far as the chain of command flows, it is pretty apparent to anyone in the media how that flows.

To get a comment from Apple about anything from anyone is well nigh impossible unless it has been packaged and sanitised and approved from the very top. In fact, it's a dismissable offence, as some have found.

There is of course a huge upside to this Apple-Jobs personality cult phenomenon. While Jobs is around, oozing charisma and a razor sharp sense of where he intends to take the market next, Apple will continue to prosper to an extent that few other companies can match.

The downside of course, Apple without Jobs, is extremely uncomfortable for stakeholders to think about. But think about it they must. Apple is not supposed to be a cult; it's a company. And all good companies need to have a succession plan.