SlashGear Japan
An article in the NYTimes this past Saturday is sparking controversy. You know how everyone’s been speculating about Steve Job’s health? Did the cancer come back? Why is he so thin? He owes stockholders the answers to these questions. Or, at least, that’s what some are posturing.
Even so, it seems like an invasion of privacy. And while PR reps for Apple continuously said, “Steve’s heath is a private matter,” Jobs set the record straight himself, though off the record, with NY Times columnist Joe Nocera. Jobs called up the columnist and said:
This is Steve Jobs,” he began. “You think I’m an arrogant [expletive] who thinks he’s above the law, and I think you’re a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong.
Yikes. I don’t know what I’d do if I got a call like that. But nevertheless, Nocera seemed to have kept his cool and reports that while Jobs had more than a “common bug” his condition was not life threatening and he was cancer free. This is all good news, right?
Definitely. I’m glad that Jobs is okay. After all, he is more than just Apple’s CEO. He is the spirit that drives Apple. He thinks like a consumer, not a programmer. He builds computers and devices that he would want to use. It sounds simple, but it’s such a revolutionary idea in the world of tech. In some way, Steve Jobs is just like all of us that love technology, but he has the tenacity to make something out of that love.
So what’s the point of all of this Steve praise? It’s interesting how ever since last Monday’s conference call, Apple has been on the tips of everyone’s tongues. From Job’s health to the mere mention of products to come, Apple is more in the mind’s of computer savvy folk for what they didn’t say than what they actually did reveal. And while stockholders and investors in Apple may feel they have a right to know about Job’s health (because they recognize that whole “He is Apple” thing, too), it seems to me Apple has everyone wrapped around their brushed aluminum fingers. By speculating, we’ve played right into their hands. And I know the next tiny hint leaked from Apple will cause the same sort of fervor across printed and web media like. And though the subject matter of what’s to come is unknowable, I know one thing for sure: I’ll be speculating right alongside the rest of them.
3 Responses to “Editorial – Jobs Really Is Apple”
Constable Odo July 28, 2008
I’m a long investor and when I bought stock in the Apple company I never dreamed that I’d be investing money in just one man. This revelation is really starting to anger me. Some analyst speculation says that if Steve Jobs leaves Apple, kiss 25% of the Apple’s value goodbye. Just like that. Forget fundamentals, sales, stores, margins and growth. When Steve leaves, 25% of Apple goes with him. Investors will just sell off. It’s really incredible. The point is that he can never be replaced. Nobody even has chance of being an equal successor let alone a better successor. Even a planned succession plan won’t be good enough to hold Apple’s value.
My only hope is that Apple might get to $300 a share and if 25% goes byebye, I’ll still come out way ahead. Of course, at the rate Apple’s stock is moving now, it seems like a long, long, long shot. Everyday new FUD arises to mire the stock in heavy mud.
As an investor, I never realized Steve Jobs is Apple. I honestly believed that CEOs could come and go and the company would stay healthy for at least a few years.
+1Lesley Hunter July 28, 2008
The truth is Jobs has so much control on day to day operation and not letting other execs in his own circle really hurts Apple in a long run. I agree with Odo, a company should not be too dependent on its CEO especially its a publicly traded company.
NeutralBrenda Stokes July 29, 2008
It isn’t a good thing when the CEO is so firmly attached to a company’s image and success. However, it would seem that Apple’s resurgence is due to Jobs’ return. He reinvigorated that company and investors seem to recognize that.
Neutral