Steve Jobs resigns: Can anyone fill the void?

By Shafey Danish, (NVONews.Com)

So Steve Jobs has resigned. The poor man had been looking gaunt and emaciated for a long time now, and really he deserves to take the backseat and see some sunsets. Though, it does not seem that he is very eager to take the backseat yet, he is still going to continue as the Chairman of the board of directors. This post is effectively the most powerful in the whole organization, even if he would not get to go hands on anymore. So those who have been sobbing into their iPhones better had better dry their eyes. Jobs has merely switched jobs.

Now, many have been wondering out loudly as to what will happen to Apple, without Steve to hold it in the palm of his hands will rivals gobble it up? Will as canker set in its heart? Will it continue to grow and thrive? What about the auteur bit? Will someone else fill that role, or does that role go out of the Windows with Stevie wonder?

In the near term there is not going to be much of a change, Those Who Know, are saying. But in the long term? Well, Apple will not be Apple. If its patent wars are signs of things to come, it may just be Inc. As it is it seems the company had been waiting for decades to blame someone for the chunk missing in its logo, and now having got a suitable platform and the right scapegoats it is bent upon having its piece back.

So Apple, in the days to come may behave more like just another big company throwing its weight around. And if you have seen Ratatouille you would know that those who come after great innovators follow their innovations, instead of innovating themselves. That sadly maybe the case for Apple. Tim Cook its new CEO is known as “Atilla the Hun” of inventory. That does not sound too encouraging a title for someone leading a company that thrives on great design and innovation.

All this is in the future, by the way. Jobs for now is still very much there. And if you were in any doubt whether ‘Apple is Steve, and Steve is Apple’ you just need to read his resignation letter and the board of director’s reaction to it.

I am resigning immediately, said Steve, and so he did. Tim Cook should be my successor, Steve opined (strongly). And the board wasted not a minute to do his bidding. Tim Cook it is. I would like to be chairman of the board of directors, the ever modest Steve modestly asked.  And the Chairman presumably fell out of his chair immediately. Steve is the new chairman.

No, I don’t begrudge the man his power. If there is any man who deserves to be credited for singlehandedly creating a company, it is Steve.

But I want someone to go and ask the ailing messiah, O great one, what after iPad? It is in the answer to that question that the survival of Apple will hinge.

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Posted by admin on August 26, 2011. Filed under opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry