Im gonna say something everybody else is too afraid too. Apple is done. Certainly not as a successful tech company, but its time at the top is certainly coming to an end. It will take a few years, my guess is three or four, but essentially Apple is the Lame-duck leader of the technology world. My rationale behind this: the tragic loss of arguably one of the greatest innovators of our time, Steve Jobs.
Jobs was Apple. He was the brains and the will that made Apple the King of the tech industry for roughly the past ten years. Its been a remarkable run, and I am sure it will be compared to Microsoft’s great run in the 90’s. I just don’t believe a tech company can continue to change the world without their founder and leader taking them forward. People continue to tell me “If Jobs was as as smart as you say he was, dont you think he had a successor chosen?” My response is always the same. Yes. I think he probably did, and I think you can see that with Cook. Clearly Jobs trusted him to name him CEO after he stepped down.He has been friends with Cook for a number of years. But there is just something about the great ones, or rather the crazy ones, the best and brightest innovators that just cant be passed on to somebody else. There is something at their core which nobody else has, which is what makes them so great in the first place. Many will call me an absolute lunatic, but heres a quick history lesson:
Microsoft: Bill Gates to Steve Ballmer- Since Ballmer took the reins the Microsoft stock has lost nearly 60 percent of its value since then. They have also failed to be the innovative company they once were. (I think they are on the right track though)
Sun Microsystems: Scott McNealy to Johnathon Schwartz- Schwartz took over after McNealy successfully led the company for 22 years. Schwartz lasted only three years. In 2009, Sun signed an agreement to be acquired by Oracle.
Apple: Steve Jobs to John Sculley- Sculley started successful after Jobs’ departure, although he was largely just riding out work Jobs had put in. His decisions to compete with IBM, the company’s eroding margins, and the diminished stock price decline all led to him being forced out of Apple in 1993.
These are just a few of the many different times this has happened, but history does not bode well for Apple. However, Jobs was so brilliant and has such a huge pipeline of products that he had a direct influence on, I predict it will take a good 3-4 years before Apple is dethroned. They also are so far ahead of the other in some of their hardware, such as the macbook air and ipad’s, that its going to take a long long time for others to catch up. But with Google, Facebook, and Amazon all right behind them, I think inevitably Apple will be dethroned. Cheers to Jobs and the Apple team for giving us one of the best tech runs of all time if not the best. RIP.