VIDEO

Apple announced Monday that Steve Jobs is taking another medical leave of absence from the company, his third in the past 7 years.

Apple did not disclose what is wrong with Steve, or what his prognosis is. In Steve's note to Apple staff, however, http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-email-to-apple-staff-is-not-encouraging-2011-1">he sounded more emotional and less certain than he did when announcing his prior leave, and this has obviously left everyone who cares about Steve and the company very concerned.

How will Apple do as a company if Steve is not able to return?

This, obviously, is a critical question, and there's no simple answer. In the short term, six months to a year, the company will likely be fine.  After that, however, it's anyone's guess.

Steve Jobs' greatest strength is his product vision, which includes a magical ability to create gadgets that people don't just want and use but love. In the midst of a tectonic collision of the media, technology, and communications industries, Steve's vision has allowed Apple to invent whole new categories of gadgets that had never existed before, including the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. These products, and others, have made Apple the most valuable tech company in the world.

Now that the products have been invented, can someone else steer the Apple ship?

Again, over the short-term, yes, without question. And if Apple's future growth comes primarily from minor updates to existing products, the answer is probably still "yes."  Apple is a massive, global company with tens of thousands of talented employees, and they will likely keep making great iPhones and iPads with or without Steve.

But if Apple's future involves whole new categories of products -- as it very well might --Apple without Steve could be much less of a company than it is today.

The collision of TV and computing, for example, is leading dozens of companies to jump into the fray, and this particular battle has not yet been won.  Apple's own product in this war -- Apple TV -- is still a work in progress, and it's not clear how the product will evolve.

Apple has many strong executives beneath Steve, and it may be that one of them possesses the same (or similar) product magic that Steve does, but at this point there's no way to know. And Apple's tremendous success over the past decade -- combined with the repeated failure of companies like Microsoft and Nokia -- has illustrated just how how rare Steve's talents are.

LINK

Steve Jobs is a very intelligent man who really knows how the electronics industry works. But honestly he is not always great he to has had flops and flaws like any other executive. Apple controlled 5% of the computer industry until a few years ago and Apple had very few great products on the market in the 90's. Now yes Jobs leave of abscense can be blamed on it partially but under Jobs Apple was not a mega giant until the new millenium. Jobs had the reigns while Apple created several great computers but what about their console entry the PipIn wasn't that during Jobs time?

Steve Jobs is to Apple what Gates is to Microsoft or Iwata is to Nintendo. They are master minds and all three of them have revolutionalized their respective industries. But as we see with Gates pretty much retiring from Microsoft and as we saw with Nintendo before Iwata came (NES/SuperNES) companies move on and new exec's take the prior ones places.

Now with the money Apple has to throw around I bet they could lure in an excentric exec from a rival company or maybe bring fourth one of their own.

I'll use an example Miyamoto Nintendo's shinning star, he invented Mario and Zelda etc...etc.. now you'd think without his direct involvement these games would fail. However other then producing he hasn't been hands on developing many if any of the resent big Nintendo hits.Miyamoto didn't make LOZ:TP he didn't make MarioGalaxy2 but both games were big successes, with him having little involvement other then producer. Right now Miyamoto is an exec helping run Nintendo but not directly involved with developing the software.

In the same way Jobs directs he doesn't actually build the hardware. His absence won't mean death to Apple. The same developers who made the I-Phone , I-Pad and I-Pod are still going to be with the company and will continue to pump out products. The only way I see Apple floundering without Jobs is if their stupid board of administration screws up like they did when they let Jobs go origionally.

All that Jobs does right now is stear a great powerful company. He does not create the horse power he does not control the spead, all he does is help direct where it is headed. With him gone the quality and speed will not change Apple will just need to find someone new to stear the ship.

Joel you have to note that Jobs also head up one of the biggest animated companies as well, I believe, Pixar. It isn't like he didn't do well outside of Apple when he was ousted.

Never indicated he didn't do well. I was indicating that he made mistakes like every other exec while he was at Apple. Just look at the computer division and the Pipin and all the other products Jobs was behind at Apple. Sure the I-Pod , I-Phone and I-Pad have all been very successful but can you credit everything to just Jobs?

Apple has a very talented team and many execs who could probubly stear Apple almost as well as Jobs can. Its not like Jobs himself created the I-Phone , I-Pad or I-Pod, his team did. He probubly had final say on the products but they weren't made by Jobs.

Pixar did great while Jobs was in charge but thats a perfect example. Today Jobs isn't really involved in Pixar yet Pixar is still doing well. The point I was trying to make is Apple may not need Jobs as much as many Apple fans believe.

You could argue that Pixar is in a good position because of the decisions Jobs made and the same applies to Apple. Sure, you can't credit everything to Jobs but when two of the companies he runs rise to the top of their respective industries it is pretty easy to see the connection. All companies have very talented individuals, perhaps what they don't have is Steve Jobs or the equivalent.

Again Jobs is a great exec, as I pointed out much like Gates was to Microsoft and Iwata to Nintendo. But that does not mean Apple is doomed without him. Example Reggie is a great exec for Nintendo many would say he's one of the best, but NOA could survive without him. Just as Apple can survive without jobs. Jobs is definatly one of the most intelligent men on earth but their bound to be another good exec within Apple or within Apple's pay grade.

I don't think Apple is going anywhere regardless of what happens to Jobs, much like Pixar never went anywhere.

Jobs' most important product is Apple itself. He didn't just drive the company to make products, he drilled his own values into Apple's corporate culture. Executives who didn't fit into the culture were sacked (see Mark Papermaster).

Steve Jobs didn't build the iPhone single-handedly. Apple will thrive as long as that culture stays intact.

Steve Jobs' absence won't stop Jonathan Ives from designing beautiful hardware, Phil Schiller's savvy marketing campaigns, or Tim Cook's clockwork supply chain.

Last but not least, it's a medical absence, he's not in a freakin' coma! You think a control freak like Jobs won't be keeping close tabs on his baby?

The market seems to think so:

http://www.zimbio.com/Steve Jobs/articles/1HVQeTl_jQq/Apples Stock VS Steve Jobs Leave Absence

Also note: Apple performance without Steve and not Apple performance with Steve. You can use a mean or median if you want.

On July 9, 1997, Gil Amelio was ousted as CEO of Apple by the board of directors after overseeing a 12 year record low stock price and crippling financial losses.^{[citation needed]} Jobs stepped in as the interim CEO to begin a critical restructuring of the company's product line. He would eventually become CEO and has served in that position to the present day.

So he took Apple from a record low to a record high. Not just any one executive could have done that.

Again Jobs is a brilliant man a great CEO. Not any exec can do what he does. But recal that prior to the 12 year low and another CEO in charge of Apple Jobs was the head. Jobs was at Apple since the beginning being a co-founder and Apple was never as successful as it is today.

Also if you note my comparison I compared him to Iwata and Bill Gates both of which are really great Presidents and CEO's. I never belittled Jobs I just said Apple could probubly survive without him. Just like Microsoft is surviving without Gates and Nintendo without its past presidents and CEO's.

Yeah they could survive without Jobs but at present the Jury is still deliberating on the concept that they could thrive without Steve Jobs. He has a powerful personality, infact hes a cult of one. Steve Jobs is more to Apple than Iwata is to Nintendo, Balmer is to Microsoft. It has been argued that Jobs = Apple as it exists today and without Jobs that Apple would cease to exist. He isn't any regular employee, he is as irreplaceable to Apple as Miyamoto is to Nintendo. We all know that there are better executives out there who could replace Balmer or Iwata though they are good at what they do. However Jobs isn't merely an executive, hes the litteral front and centre beating heart of Apple and he defines more than just their strategy he is also front and centre a part of their image.