Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

yet another steve — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:29:09 -0000

I think I disagree with your premise because the idea that SJ is soooo important as the public persona is inside baseball. Many if not most of the kids with ipods don't even know who Steve Jobs is. They know what an iPhone is (and they've been rediscovering the mac). The products and the marketing are the image. Not SJ.

It is hard to imagine who could have had the vision, and decisiveness to turn the company around. But SJ has been there a long time, the values are ingrained, and they'll continue. Moreover SJ's uncompromising attitude is a mixed blessing--he's not always right you know.

On net, there will be pluses and minuses. On balance I think losing SJ will be a negative for Apple, but not a huge one. The company he rebuilt remains.

Mainly, I just want the guy to be well because he's a human being and the planet is a more interesting place with him around.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Guy Marchina — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:23:52 -0000

It hurts but you are right from the investor point of view. Yet If I invest in Apple and if I buy Apple products it is because there is a part of irrational in them, call it dream or call it revolution whatever it is Steve is part of it.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Albert Lai — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:27:21 -0000

David B: "As soon as you grow up, you start to die."

Awesome. (I'd para-phrase that to: "As soon as you start to grow up, you start to die")

That was the best quote I've read in a long time. I can't find it anywhere else on Google either. I thought maybe it was a line from somewhere.

I can't agree more.

I hope Apple stays foolish and stays hungry.

Long live the Cult of the Mac. =P

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Dave B. — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:03:42 -0000

As soon as you grow up, you start to die.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

justanobserver — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:02:35 -0000

Even though it's tough for a lot of fans to hear, you hit the nail on the head here Mat. Steve has started to believe his own hype which is how the world has ended up with complete flops like AppleTV and Time Capsule. Steve needs to take a long needed rest and go do some other things in his life. That could hopefully help him regain some perspective. This would hopefully spur exec team currently underneath him to find ways to sell the Apple vision of innovation.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

NCIceman — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:28:41 -0000

This headline is designed to bait readers....and it worked.

The undenyable truth is that Apple will eventually have to continue without the guidance of Steve, and there will be a period of uncertainty afterwards, but there is no need for the stock to take a huge hit, as market growth continues to set records.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

old runner — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:53:47 -0000

Mathew, Sometimes heresy-Good! Great ideas=great products. Apple, keep your biz model in place. If you build it...my daughter helped me find Slumdog Mill weeks ago!

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

macFanDave — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:38:18 -0000

The Apple Way is the Steve Jobs Way. The company is so thoroughly steeped in the values that Jobs preached and lived that the company can keep going without the man being present.

One thing I like about him is his toughness in making the unpopular decision. He held fast to the one-button mouse as the standard for a very long time. It forced developers to consider that basic users would only work with the single button and write their software with that in mind. All power users would go out and get multi-button mice, so developers would consign advanced features to the right button.

Also, he made people wait for months until third-party apps could be loaded on the iPhone. This showed people how great the quality of the iPhone was. When they finally got to add third-party apps, people could see that crashes, etc. are rightly due to the apps and not the phone itself.

Before I could say that the company would be better off without him or not, I'd have to see some of the ideas he rejected and projects he killed to see whether he was wise or foolish.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

gosa — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:11:35 -0000

I think you hold a point here, sometimes it is better to not listen to every little wish of the customers and set a clear long-term strategy.
Look at the PC world with all the compatibility problems, the lack of backwards compatibility, the hours passed configuring, installing, de-installing drivers, etc.
You don't buy a Ferrari to complain afterwards that the trunk is too small, you buy it for what it is. Tuning is for differentiating cheap mass-products and people who consider a computer as a hobby. Nothing against that, but when I power-up my computer, I want to use it for a purpose and not because I enjoy tweaking system parameters.
That's the reason I changed to a Mac.
Thank you Steve for not listening to every nerd out there. I hope you or your successors will stick to that policy and continue to deliver great products.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

don — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:05:21 -0000

and this: at p = 90.75 after 1/21 earnings: p/rev is 2.5, p/book is 4.0, non-gaap e/share is 5.82, p/e is 15.6 vs 25-30 normal, cagr of earnings is 48.6 %, cagr of revenue is 25.0%, pegratio is .32, no layoffs vs ibm, dell, msft, hp,

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

GP — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:23:45 -0000

Apple without Steve Jobs is like 24 without Jack Bauer.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Alan — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:35:05 -0000

How would you define "grown up company?" Is Dell a grown-up company? Sony? How about Microsoft? If you think so, my guess is that Apple doesn't want to "grow up" to be like them...

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Don — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:26:45 -0000

"Doubled?" Since Jobs return in 1997, Apple's sales have increased by a factor of 8.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Ross Adams, Wisconsin — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:05:25 -0000

I love Apple. I bought the original MAC in 1984. 400k floppy, 128k ram, no hard disk... how many of you "loyal" Apple fans remember that? I have been an Apple fan since Day 1... even during the dark days of very crappy macs (remember the 6200?).

I agree that Apple need to grow up... quit being manipulated so much by the "rise and fall" of sentiment attached to Steve Jobs.

However, part of what makes Apple so fun to be involved with (as a consumer and stockholder) is that it is more "personal" than the typical "BIG" business.

Apple is my Team! Sorta like The Denver Broncos and John Elway.

Steve Jobs is the Quarterback! I love rooting for Apple and I want Apple to ultimately squash Microsoft in the Super Bowl.

If Steve Jobs fades/retires away to the "front office"... give me another Quarterback that can inspire me, excite me, and give me a reason to stay a fanatical follower and "fan" of my Team--Apple!

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Thierry — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:56:06 -0000

It should be a dream to work there. Keep going this way. Look to the professional market, frankly you have a lot of work to do to gain market shares there. But the potential is huge, thanks to the cleverness of the OSX platform.
You should insure IT managers that you will no more let them alone in the desert, but conduce them on the way to a simpler, much more efficient information management system.
The entreprise culture you describe, if it is deeply implemented, will insure Apple a long, long life, fare beyond ours (I am 53).
Anyway I wish Steve Jobs all the best, may he live many many years, many thanks to him for what he has brought to the world in his field of action.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Toyin — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:44:48 -0000

Nothing to be defensive about, Mathew.

Apple, Jobs' brainchild (conceived with the other Steve, Wozniak), will be 33 in April. If it had been his bodychild, it'd've left home, perhaps started a family. A decoupling of sorts does therefore make sense. Why not "move upstairs" -- assume the post of chairman, for instance?

Toyin, England.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

mudlark — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:14:36 -0000

I think your article makes sense. I'm sure you will get flamed but you make sense. Apple has great products but must move on and become a grown up company and not a bunch of hyper groupies.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Aram Fingal — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:52:04 -0000

I totally agree with this article. Apple needs to compromise just a little on price and add some variety to Mac models so that they can capture some of the more price-sensitive parts of the market. They need to gain as much market share as they can while Microsoft is down. Steve has not been willing to make those compromises. It's true that it's hard to argue with the fact that they have been gaining market share but I think they could have gained more while Vista was such a flop.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Rick — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:06:45 -0000

The one thing that has never changed over the years has been Apple's cult status. It was there in 1984 when I worked at the most highly automated factory in the US in Fremont and it exists today. It's the one constant at the company ..............it's what gave them their start and what's kept them in the game during their down period. A lesser devoted to company would have folded up the tents years ago. I'm not so sure everyone at Apple is interested in "expanding its market reach" either. Sort of the feeling one gets when the band that nobody but you thinks is cool and then all of a sudden it becomes U2. Apple is quite big enough as it is in my opinion and the larger they try to jump the greater the fall might be. They need to be careful at this point in time.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

loupaglia — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:19:07 -0000

Peter, great points. However, Apple must be doing something right and that something is they are innovating and building superior products. Many of the 'soldering iron' complaints are coming from the technologically astute and while that demo is a large demo for Apple, it is not everyone. Does everyone (and the typical consumer) want to increase their memory?

Perhaps there is something to Apple not building their products with everyone's input that is a critical driver for their success to putting superior products in the marketplace. And it certainly is having a positive swing that shows in their revenues.

I cannot remember a more recent example of a company that (at least anecdotally) has households with multiple devices and making repeat purchases that the way Apple prices and distributes its products. The upgrade path that they set consumers on (while many don't like it) is really impressive.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

mathewi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:28:18 -0000

Thanks, Mike -- that's why I said "traditional" marketing. I agree that having good products that people want to use is the best kind of marketing possible.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Mike — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:51:52 -0000

TomB -

All Apple mice have been two-button for years. They only LOOK like a single button. And the software accommodated a right-click for years before that. Most people I know didn't miss the floppy disk, they only thought they would. I was one of those with a 1st-generation iMac who bought a floppy drive. I used it a grand total of three times before giving it away. I agree with you about Firewire (it's vastly preferable to USB 2.0) but Apple's sense for what features to exclude and which innovations to include have usually been more right than not.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Mike — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:46:00 -0000

<< Devotion to Apple products is so intense that the company has had to do virtually no traditional marketing — or at least very little >>

I guessed you missed the hundreds of millions of dollars in iPod advertising, or the award-winning "I'm a Mac; I'm a PC" ads that are so dominant that Microsoft's entire 2009 campaign is based on it. If it was just Steve preaching to the fanboys, Apple's sales and market share wouldn't have doubled (or whatever multiple it actually is) since Steve's return a decade ago.

For the most part, their products generally work out of the box the way they're supposed so and in a way that feels comfortable to use. Compare that to the competition, and THAT'S why Apple's been so successful.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

Scott L — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:43:32 -0000

Some of my friends who buy iPods and iPhones don't even know who Steve Jobs is.

That is why Apple will continue to succeed for many moons to come.

Re: Why Apple might be better off without Steve

mathewi — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:10:13 -0000

That's an excellent point, Peter.