Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Tomorrow Today is Steve Jobs' 55th birthday. Many happy returns Steve. Steve Jobs was born February 24, 1955."

Happy Birthday Steve!

"Fast Company co-founder Bill Taylor has sparked a bit of a controversy on his Harvard Business Review blog by suggesting the heretical idea that — shock! — Steve Jobs might not be the best role model for other business leaders. Apparently, it’s deeply offensive to suggest that what makes Steve great are the exact qualities that typically make for bad management at most companies. He micro-manages every aspect of Apple, has been known to fire people with minimal cause, and perennially runs the risk of out-shining his company — which is particularly problematic when his health problems continue to cast into doubt his long-term prospects as CEO."

And yet Apple continues to thrive, proving yet again that when you run a company (instead of blathering on in a blog or newspaper about those who do) you follow your guts not some pre-defined formula for success. That's why Steve Jobs is the success he is and Apple is the company it is. In the article, numerous times, Bill Taylor mentions the saying "Trust the art, not the artist." I say it's the artist that makes the painting, not the theory of the painting that makes the artist.

The truth is, there's nothing about Bill Taylor that equates to real-world business experience. Unlike Jobs, Taylor has never been a CEO of a company. In his own bio he calls himself a writer, speaker, and entrepreneur, although except for founding the massive flop Fast Company which, as far as I know, no one outside of Silicon Valley reads at all, none of his business ventures have brought him any great successes otherwise he wouldn't be blogging for a publication.

He may be a successful writer, but he's not been a successful CEO, proving that he's probably spent entirely too much time talking about business theory and not enough time actually doing business. At least he's good at linkbaiting, though.

Jobs succeeds because he broke the mold. That's the whole point. He does things his way. Anyone who claims to know business should understand that. Maybe that's the way business should be done, not trying to see how to fit school training into the real world.

"Is the fascination with Steve Jobs's health morbid? As surely morbid as it is necessary. Jobs has not stepped down as Apple's CEO. After the surgery report surfaced, some blogs reported Jobs had been at Apple for meetings. Is he in? Is he out? This nonstop dance has the effect of keeping Jobs at the center of any talk of Apple even when he's ostensibly removed himself from its daily affairs. Only someone with an overweening sense of self-importance would allow this to continue. Unfortunately, that describes Jobs."

While I don't think Steve Jobs' health is anyone's business but his and his family's, I do see where Owen Thomas is coming from here. The constant drama surrounding Jobs' health (much of it media created and related) is a distraction to Apple's business and a drain on the share price as every little hangnail becomes reason to go running from Apple's stock. I'm not one to tell people what to do (except in certain un-family friendly ways) but maybe Owen Thomas is right. Maybe it's time Jobs stepped down and let the company move on without him. As much as that terrifies me and leaves me worried for the future of Apple, maybe it should happen now while he's still healthy enough to help out and steer the company as an advisor.

Of course, I'm a big huge monster Steve Jobs fan so it would really mean me locking myself in a dark room and weeping uncontrollably for weeks if such a thing were to happen, but maybe that's what's best for Apple in the long run.

Thoughts?

"CUPERTINO, California-December 16, 2008-Apple® today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year's Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple's last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco's Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.

Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple's Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone."

I really don't know what to say to this... I'm pretty surprised, stunned, shocked, and disappointed because without Apple, you can pretty much bet this will be the last Macworld, or at least the last one that really matters. With Apple having its special product announcement shows throughout the year, it really is becoming less necessary to have a Macworld event yearly. Just look at this year; Apple refreshed almost every product line well in advance of the January show making people wonder what they were even going to announce in San Francisco, if anything. And as much as I think Schiller is great and is the heir apparent to Jobs' desk, people aren't going to Macworld to see him; they're going to see a Stevenote.

It's a sad day for the Mac community.