IT Pro story

Personally, I think that Apple have been coping well without him. There have been some minir hiccups, but they are more due to the generally technical dumbing down on Apple's spec sheets coming back to bite them in the rear, when people who understand the technical side of the hardware actually get hold of them. I don't think Steve's presence would have changed that.

The uni-body Mac Book Pros and iPhone 3.0 + the 3G S seem to show that they can bring product to market without Steve doing the presentations.

In fact the only non-Jobsian move they made was making large price cuts on the Mac line...

To me, it seems that Apple is doing well, the customers are, generally, happy and they are increasing their audience all the time. I still think their products are pricey, especially in Europe, the UK is better, but still poor price/performance compared to the USA.

I think the only people who have had a bite taken out of them are anally retentive market watchers who worry more about share price than what a company is actually doing. By concentrating on Jobs' health, as opposed to what the company is actually doing, they have taken a large bite out of their own investments!

Here's hoping Steve makes a full recovery.

By the same token, couldn't you argue that Micrsoft has felt the absence of Bill Gates? After all, IIRC correctly Vista was the first Micrsoft OS without Bill at the helm, and look at what a (perceived) disaster that was.

Nope, Vista was the last version of Windows with Bill at the helm!

Listening to a lot of people "in the know", he was responsible for a lot of the delays and featureitous

I take it back then.

I think Apple are competent enough to get on without Jobs, but then look at what happened when he left last time...I think the company as a whole is in a better mind now than it was then though.

I think Apple needs someone like Jobs to be the public figure, looking like the guy who makes decisions, who stands up on the stage and goes "boom" and "just one more thing...", he is the connection, the familiar face, between the consumer and the company, how many other companies have that?

Phil Schiller doesn’t seem to have the sense of pzazz that Jobs has. You will notice that in the script for the keynote, certain key phrases popped up at times. One, “it’s amazing” always seemed to be a Jobs phrase. When he said it, he said it in a semi-contemplative way. Schiller said the same thing, but he didn’t sound as convincing.

Even though Apple were pretty rudderless before Jobs came back, there is the danger that if they lose him, Apple will founder even more spectacularly. However, it seems that as has been observed, this has been avoided. One thing I did read is speculation that Jobs’ leave of absence is a preparatory move - one in which Apple become less reliant on him as the front man, and one where he could after a few months retain a part time status as chairman, but no necessarily CEO.

Six months in terms of strategic planning etc is nothing. Whether Apple will miss there undoubtable Iconic chairman will be measured in the years not in the short hiatus that has just occured. As
For all anyone knows Apple might become even stronger. People have assumed (rightly or wrongly) that Apples success has been all down to Job's and not with the support group around him as well.
There could be a possible scenario that Steve might have been holding the company back? (small possibility, but you never know). The world is resplendant with examples of people that have hung on too long and tarnished what would of been there legacy (Mr Yang im looking at you).

Maybe Steve just needs to relax and go "sod this I'm a multi billionare im off to party whilst my body can take it, oh and just one more thing.... "

That is partially my thinking.

For Apple and its customers, the last 6 months, without Steve, haven't really impacted them negatively.

As I said, the only people who seem to have been bitten are investors who believe in the Jobs' Halo Effect.

Although Jobs has been "iconic" to Apple, it has now moved into a more generalised consumer type of market place, where products are more about marketing than technology, and the focus has to be on Management Systems and Procedures, rather than personalities. So far Apple has coped admirably, and I see no reason why it shouldn't continue to do so with or without Mr Jobs.

Thinking of the things that Apple have release in the past 6 months...new macbooks, new ipods, new iphone etc...none of it has been a "new" product. It has been an evolutionary step from what was there before. Apple haven't really been tested yet. Without jobs, would they have the same vision?

Having said that, when the iphone came out, the interface was great, but the features were two generations behind, the new ipod nano was a questionable design choice and the imac is still a solution looking for a problem, so with him or without him, there are still problems.

I actually agree with you on everything you said there, except that bit.

Meaning Apple has been able to sell two more versions of the iPhone since. Smart business decision if you ask me.



How are its sales doing? I'd call that the only deciding factor, although the "questionable" nature of its design is a matter of your opinion.



As Heather said - Eh?

The ipod nano, regardless of sales, the need to use Apple headphones just to have any control over what you are listening to is daft, especially considering the usual quality of the bundled headphones.

The imac is a compromise - a desktop PC using laptop parts, limited flexibility and obvious thermal constraints and I am struggling to see why they did it!
I personally prefer a lot more flexibility. One extra cable between the monitor and a base unit is a small price to pay for the ability to add extra hard disks, a different optical drive or a better GPU.

Another thing I don't understand is the bottom Mac Pro - i7 uses triple channel RAM - 6 RAM slots - 6x1gb modules obviously gives you 6, but 6x2gb modules gives you 12gb...so why have they limited it to 8gb??

Still, their laptops are great, so I'll get one of those and use it with a KVM if I fancy using it on a bigger screen and a proper keyboard and mouse.

I agree, but there again, I don't use any MP3 player...


It is perfect for a majority of people. It takes up little space, has enough power for most every day tasks and uses little electricity (for its performance).

I have a white iMac 24" and it is an excellent piece of kit. My only problem is that the current generation is horrendously over priced, for the performance you get. Yes, the form factor means that they are more expensive to produce, but not THAT much more, the original Intel iMacs were relatively competitively priced, but their prices have remained identical for 3 years, whilst the rest are offering much more power for much less money.


While it only has 4 slots... A lot of cheap / odd i7 motherboards only provide 4 slots.

You're right you know, there's a comprehensive review here: Clicky
Only 4 slots but it's still triple channel (I don't think they thought that through!)