Is Steve Jobs Preparing for his Retirement?
(I wrote this after the Worldwide Developer’s Conference last year, and since then this story has picked up legs, with some of the rumor sites suggesting that at the Macworld Expo this year, Steve Jobs may announce that he is taking a leave of absence… Food for thought for all those speculating on what goodies Apple will have for us this year.)
Steve Jobs has pulled off some of the most audacious advances at Apple. Single-handedly creating the digital music revolution (sure, he didn’t invent the digital music player any more than Al Gore invented the Internet) with the massive success of the iPod, Jobs has morphed Apple from a “mere” computer company to a digital media empire.
Transitioning Apple’s computers from PowerPC chips to Intel processors was a far greater achievement, and shifting the entire product line to the new chips in a mere 210 days is truly astounding. Getting Mac OS X from a fledgling Unix-with-a-GUI to a powerful, reliable operating system with now (according to Apple) 19 million users, is another feather in his cap.
But Steve Jobs has also faced the predicaments that show how tenuous life actually is: his brush with pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago was certainly a major blow to this man who is driven to “change the world”, and, while he had the “good” kind of pancreatic cancer–the kind that can be cured–this certainly brought him down to earth.When the CEO of a medium-sized Mac software company suggested to me, about a year ago, that Steve Jobs was going to retire soon, I laughed. He gave me several good reasons, though, the most salient being the shift to Intel processors. It was easier to find developers who could handle low-level programming for these chips, this person said, and there’s a more reliable long-term road-map for providing processors to future Mac models. He also sold off Pixar, realizing a huge profit on what was a very small initial investment. Steve’s brush with cancer may have awakened in him a desire to enjoy life, realizing its impermanence, and the Intel shift would be a way of ensuring his succession.
The recent keynote address at the WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) had a few surprises. Steve shared the stage with three other Apple employees–he’s done this with Phil Schiller in the past, and Schiller even stood in for Jobs when he was recovering from his cancer, giving the Paris Apple Expo keynote. But this time, the presence of other Apple employees was surprising. Usually, when it’s time to take a poke at Microsoft, Jobs is the one who enjoys ribbing Redmond; this year he picked a Frenchman with an Inspector Clouseau accent… Jobs seemed more like an emcee than the charismatic presenter he has always been.
Jobs also looked gaunt and tired on stage. He has grown a short beard, which almost seems to be there to hide his haggard face. He looked much older than he did at the January Macworld San Francisco keynote, and he didn’t even have “one more thing” to present at the end. I certainly hope all is well with Steve, but is he unwell? Is he planning to step down from Apple?
But what would Apple be without Steve Jobs? Not that the company hasn’t gotten along without him in the past, but after Jobs came back to Apple in the 1990s, the company became innovative, creating totally new products (starting with the first iMac, and moving through to the iPod and the latest Macs), a new operating system, and a host of professional applications. Losing such a media presence would be a huge blow for the company, though it will happen eventually, and someone will have to take over the reins. However, Steve Jobs does have a vision that transcends mere computers; he sees things in a way most others in the industry don’t even imagine. His vision allows him to look far ahead, rather than just at the next quarter.
Let’s hope that Steve stays around for a while, but the time has come to wonder if that will be the case. Let’s hope that whoever eventually replaces Steve will have just a bit of his foresight and vision. If Steve is really going to step aside, let’s hope that Apple has what it takes to continue without him.
Posted: 1/8/2007 by kirk | Filed under: Apple & Mac OS X | 2 Comments »
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"Steve Jobs does have a vision that transcends mere computers; he sees
things in a way most others in the industry don’t even imagine. His vision
allows him to look far ahead, rather than just at the next quarter."
True. In part, it came from the unique ferment of the times he grew up in–a
mix of social and technological developments. He and I are the same age,
and have spent most of our lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was into
computers and electronics as a teenager; I don’t know if Jobs was, but if not,
he got into it not too much later, at least when he met Wozniak. For what it’s
worth, we both associated with at least one or two of the same people at the
time. My brother met Wozniak at the Home Brew Computer Club, when he
was asking if anyone was interested in this breadboarded computer he’d built
(soon to be called the Apple I). There’s a lot more to it all, but we all knew
the potential for computers to change the world if done right. He had a lot of
help, and mostly served to see the potential in other people’s technical work
(in addition to having a few of his own technical contributions, like seeing the
potential in changing the text we saw on the early computer screens, from
monospace to fullblown leading, kerning, etc.). It was a heady combination
of technology, social awareness, art, friendship, and other things. And
though that still exists now with many other people, it will still be difficult to
find someone with Jobs’ combination of all that, plus his savvy in many other
areas (dealmaking, the ability to turn a phrase, etc.), notwithstanding Jobs’
spectactular mistakes–in fact, it’s been his stick-to-it-iveness despite his
blunders (and things beyond his control) that’s been one of his primary
driving forces–whoever he chooses, if he’s good, I hope he’s not
discouraged by the inevitable mistakes and unforseseen problems that will
occur. And I hope that person has some flair, but isn’t the wrong kind of
egotist. In fact, someone who stays out of the limelight, just gets things right
more often than he gets things wrong would be preferable to someone who
tries to imitate Jobs. It would be interesting if Jobs called on someone from a
place like MIT’s Media Lab, but I think he’s already got his list of successors
picked out. There’s been speculation for a few years that close to the top of
the list is Jonathan Ives, head of Apple design (?), designer of most of Apple’s
cases since the original iMac, but I suspect he’s considering several people.
He likes options.
MIT Media Lab, just to give you an idea:
http://www.media.mit.edu/research/