It’s probably with a great sigh of relief that Mac users read today in the news that Steve Jobs has returned as CEO from his medical leave. The CEO’s absence for this six month absence has been somewhat of a mystery. It was clear that Steve was looking thin in his last public appearances, plus his bout with pancreatic cancer was reason enough to wonder if Steve’s health was beginning to decline.
His consequent liver transplant and return to work is both a relief and cause for concern. How dependent is Apple on his continuing leadership? There’s no way to tell exactly. His leadership at Apple as CEO has imposed a stamp of quality, aesthetics and engineering that seems likely to define Apple for as long as the company is making computers.
OS X as a technology has such robust underpinnings that Apple can mine its opportunities for the next decade without missing a beat. Certainly the company already has products and services in the pipeline to do just that.
My thought is that Apple can function just fine in Steve’s absence. His genius, focus and drive would certainly be missed but Apple is no longer the leaderless corporate craft it had become prior to his return.
Jun 30
