Apple's future looks secure
SAN FRANCISCO -- Perhaps no corporate figure was as closely identified with his company — nor as imbued with his personality — as Steve Jobs and Apple.
The marketing whiz who demanded nothing less than perfection left his fingerprints all over the groundbreaking computer company he co-founded in 1976. By the time he stepped down as CEO in August, it had helped redefine several industries: computing, cellphones, music, tablets, advertising, trade shows and, yes, the movie industry he so closely admired.
"Apple without Jobs will be like Disney without Walt," industry analyst Rob Enderle says. "Both men are clearly iconic to their companies."
One of the cultural figures that Jobs most admired was Walt Disney, he said in an interview with USA TODAY in 1996. At the time, Jobs was trying to kick-start Pixar Animation Studios into the next Disney. He did, after he returned to the helm of his beloved Apple in late 1997 and saved it from near collapse.
Few corporate CEOs were as visible or as tied to a company's philosophy and style as Jobs. In his standard black mock turtleneck shirts, faded Levi's and running shoes, Jobs was a rock star in a world of button-down, desk-bound chieftains.
His appearances at trade shows and corporate events, where he unleashed the latest Apple gadget or product update with the aplomb of a Broadway showstopper, were as much about entertaining the masses as they are corporate events — highly anticipated not just by Wall Street analysts and clients, but also by technophiles and consumers.
"Today, the world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend, and I lost a friend," Dell founder Michael Dell said in a tweet — one of many shared by executives who crossed paths with Jobs.
"Steve Jobs is the Leonardo da Vinci of our time. We're all profoundly saddened," Vivek Ranadivé, a friend of Jobs, said in a statement Wednesday night. "He was always a very sincere and heartfelt individual. When I had a tragedy in my life, he personally called to ask how I was doing."
A Jobs-less Apple should survive — even thrive — because its executive bench is "the best in the world" with new CEO Tim Cook, global product marketing chief Phil Schiller and scores of others, said Gene Munster, a longtime Apple analyst. "They're going to do just fine the next two years. It remains to be seen if they can conceive the next big thing after that."
Gartner's Michael Gartenberg says that despite Jobs being considered by consumers as Apple incarnate, "Apple has always been a company in transition."
"Is this the end of an era? Absolutely," Gartenberg said.
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