Alright, lets play hypotheticals.
First, lets say the worst occurs. One of two scenarios is occuring: 1. Job's pancreatic cancer is back in full swing and has evolved into the deadly version which killed legendary comedian Bill Hicks or 2. Job's body is rejecting the liver transplant.
Under this scenario, Jobs is dead plain and simple. Tears, obituaries, 3 days of news coverage, and on. Here are the following questions:
1. Does Apple have a succession plan envisioning corporate existence without Jobs? Or is Job's so vital to the company like a king is in uniting disparate, warring tribes that when he dies Apple has no answer to succeed without him and the company gets devoured from within by warring factions vying for the power he left?
2. Did Jobs foresee Apple going downhill, thus forth he took his medical leave at the most opportune time so that his legacy will not be marred with failure?
I think Apple does have a succession plan, albeit they are far worse off without Jobs as the 1990s showed when Microsoft kicked Apple in the nuts and curb stomped them on the wall street ticker ala American History X style.
Furthermore, I am in the camp that Jobs to Apple is unlike any corporation in the modern era with the exception of Hiroshi Yamauchi and Nintendo. In case anyone has not brushed up on their Nintendo history, Hiroshi Yamauchi inherited Nintendo in his 20s and turned it from a hanafuda company into the powerhouse it is today. He made all the decisions regarding the direction of the NES, SNES, N64, and Gamecube. Unlike Jobs, Yamauchi had to step down because his decisions regarding the N64 and Gamecube damaged the Nintendo brand.
Back to Jobs, Apple is Jobs and Jobs is Apple. With the exception of Hiroshi Yamauchi and Nintendo, no other modern day corporation has had a leader with the cult of personality that Jobs has. Apple's stock price rises and falls as Job's health rises and falls. This is a huge detriment to Apple because no matter how accomplished or how visionary his successor, there will never be another CEO for Apple like Jobs. Thus forth, when Steve Jobs dies (I predict he won't live to age 80), Apple will need to have had created and sold several successful products on the level of the iPhone, iMac, and iPad. Otherwise, they revert back to the 1990s where their closed system mentality means every desirable piece of software comes to their products last.
