When someone utters the word āAppleā most times you think of the name āSteve Jobsā. The Apple CEO ā Steve Jobs has a brand value which is synonymous with Apple. Apple has been smart to push Steve Jobs as their main spokesperson because Steve Jobs is a name everyone trusts and there is also the āWowā factor attached to him. Steve Jobs has been called a visionary and a creative genius. A couple of days ago Steve Jobs decided to take a leave of absence to deal with health issues. He had done this before in 2009 to get a liver transplant.
The immediate effect on Apple was seen on its stocks. They fell over 5% in one trading day. The fall was probably not as dramatic as imagined before, probably because the announcement of Steve Jobs taking a leave was done on Monday when the markets in the U.S were closed.
5 day chart of Apple stocks on Nasdaq
Will Apple keep innovating with Jobs on leave?
The main question is not about Appleās stocks but itās vision. Apple in that way is a one man show when it comes to showing vision. Apple does have its top executives and programming heads giving lectures or giving demos about their products. It is all done by Steve Jobs. If Steve Jobs is not with Apple,Ā will it survive?
The next few months will see Apple unveiling iPad 2 and other products. This will give us a good idea on how well Apple copes without Steve Jobsā creative genius.
At the moment it looks like Apple health will be also tied to the health of its CEO Steve Jobs.
Do drop in your comments.
Stock movement is the reflection of people’s anxiety. They are, and must be concerned about Apple’s future, which lies in innovation alone. But, given Steve’s history with springing cute surprises.. I wonder what he is upto now. He is not someone who will lie low.. I am waiting for some explosion from his end!
I do not think Steve Jobs is upto something new with this leave. It is probably just what it is, a leave for health reasons. Apple has been too tied down to Steve Jobs. It is quite rare for a company as big as Apple.
@ Aditya : Truly said dude. Its really rare to find that a Big Daddy like Apple can be much affected with a single personality like Steve.
Steve possess that talent.
That can be a nice way to put it
Steve Jobs, with a net worth of 5.1 billion dollars, is the ‘sole’ reason Apple became so huge. He literally owns the company with 10 million shares (roughly 68%). When Jobs re-joined Apple in 1996, the company was in tatters. And then, he transformed the fortunes of Apple in a never-seen-before manner. Reality distortion field created by Steve was amazing. As of now, if Apple is the most valued technological company in the world, overtaking the mighty Microsoft, then it is because of Steve. And, investors know that if Steve dies, Apple can fail. It is because of such implecations that every news related to Steve’s health sends tremour down the press and media. From the business point of view, this is bad. But again, just like India was dependent on Sachin to win every match in the 90s and early 2000.. Steve is the single man army to win laurels for Apple. I may be somewhat biased for Steve as I am very much inspired by him for his famous speech Stay Hungry Stay Foolish.. I dont admire Apple as a company.. as the primary reason for its huge success was more related to marketing and PR. But I admire Steve for his impeccable marketing brain.. and universal charm.