MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Oct 16, 08 - 12:02 pm Comment from: Cascadians

More crazy blather trying to derail Apple stocks.

Jobs is not going anywhere until Microsoft is #2

Do you really think that meant a damn thing at all... Relax people, a small event showing basically 2 products, is that supposed to take 2 hours?

Oct 16, 08 - 12:05 pm Comment from: macerroneous

Jesus Diaz Kreist!
There goes the stock again.

Oct 16, 08 - 12:06 pm Comment from: ericdano

Not gonna happen.

Duh. Steve has been inviting other Apple folks on stage for a few years to prepare people for his departure. This isn't news.

Oct 16, 08 - 12:06 pm Comment from: MCCFR

And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

You can't please anyone: when it was all about Steve, there was no succession plan. When he intros more people into the presentation loop, he's obviously going.

Ferchrissakes, he'll go when he feels he's outlived his usefulness. That's the way people like Jobs are. He's not going to work to anyone else's timetable or to suit anyone's agenda.

This article has already been debunked by several "insiders" including John Gruber.

Jesus doesn't know shit about Steve Jobs and is just writing a really speculative piece here.

Oct 16, 08 - 12:07 pm Comment from: Cascadians

This afternoon Steve will be abducted by the Zorgbik Mother Ship! He will be off the planet! Apple will cease to exist. Sell sell sell!

Jobs will fade slowly away. Turn over more presentation stuff to the other senior execs. Start having a lower profile. Promote himself out of the day to day. He will in the end keep an advisory role.

It will be a long, soft and deliberate hand over. No sudden annoucements, no big moves.

This already started 2 years ago, you fscking idiots.

@gypsie
Microsoft and their products have always been "#2", and floating.

This Jesus idiot is a pure fsck up

I think it was clearly a set up for Jony Ive to take over. He has the cool factor and he's trendy. Plus on the macbook video at apple.com Jony is presenting nearly the entire thing. And he even get's the last word....sounds like "One more thing" material.

Oct 16, 08 - 12:14 pm Comment from: Jay-Z

Whether he's at Apple another year, another 15, or he gets hit by a bus tomorrow, it's obvious that investors are clamoring for a succession plan. Letting others speak is a good way to assure people the company has a Plan B. Why does showing Plan B mean that they're implementing it "soon"?

Specious or not, just a short few weeks ago Apple locked top management into 5 more years at Apple with the grant of several hundred million in restricted stock grants.

Jobs has engineered one of the great corporate turnarounds ever. He did it with vision and the assembly of the best management team a public company has ever had. The vision is complete. After 11 years at the helm, and considering his health issues, it is natural that he would be planning his departure.

I can guarantee that it will be done with Apple's characteristic class.

Oct 16, 08 - 12:17 pm Comment from: Roger Knights

At this moment, Apple stock is down about 1%, the NASDAQ market index is up 1%. This story, and similar speculation, may be the reason.

I agree with Jay-Z. What Apple was trying to accomplish was quite clear. For the sake of investors they have to show that the whole company is not "Jobs-Dependent".

Meanwhile, did anyone notice that Tim Cook appeared quite thin yesterday.
Yes, you heard it here first.
What, no cookies?

Oct 16, 08 - 12:28 pm Comment from: DLMeyer

It's true ... Steve Jobs will be leaving Apple. Fairly soon, I'd wager, WAY too soon. But I don't expect an announcement at MWSF, not in 2009. A long lead-in in 2010? Perhaps.
The actual case? I believe he has been shedding the job for as long as his health has been a concern. Why? Because it IS a concern. He doesn't want Apple to collapse into "just another brand of PC" the minute he steps down, which means he HAS to give his successors a chance to try their wings.
No rush. No panic. Just the usual way of things. Better this time than last.

Having Cook at the helm would not be so bad, as long as he doesn't bring in a bunch of his family members to help run the company (Too Many Cooks and all that).

When Jesus talks, people listen :-D

When you watch and listen to Cook, Ive, Forrestal present, the content, cadence, and nuance are pure Jobs. I think the transition will be as elegantly executed as their product evolution.

That said, I equally believe the period will be marked by a number of incendiary periods where hedge funds manipulate the shares.

If Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design ever starts designing cool Apple memorabilia, it will be pretty clear that Jony loves tsotchkes.

i hate these people they make the stocks go down and i am an investor fk

Oct 16, 08 - 12:43 pm Comment from: ken1w

Nonsense. The other Apple execs have come on stage to share the presentation time before.

Totally untrue. Steve has ALWAYS shared the stage with others. And has a long tradition of recognizing the people who worked hard, going so far as to having them all stand up to be recognized. Whomever wrote this article probably has no idea what a computer actually is let alone a computer company. Idiots. Ya' know, it all in vogue to write negative articles - helping fuel the market slide - but why do this with apple? Ludicrous.

yes he had other excecs on stage before but never to that degree. he is surely downplaying his role in the keynotes. a clever move imo. bring up more of ive, schiller and the rest of the bunch to give apple a face/faces beside him thus degrading the effect that health-rumors can have on the stock-price. if the media gets to know all the other worldclass execs better, less people will think that apple will imediatly tank the day he steps down. long term without his unique vision would be another story though.

He's done this before and we've had the same debates. Watch the Leopard introduction.

How fscking short are the memories on these pundits?

Jobs is not leaving any time soon. He is EXTREMLY driven, and extremely loyal to Apple. He is going to be there as long as he can be. He'll be there well into his 70's, just like Warren Buffet at Berkshire Hathaway.

What we were seeing on Tuesday was a recognition though that Jobs and Apple realize there is a need to calm the markets by showcasing their other talented executives. Jobs is too much of a figurehead. Investors and the media need to see the talent that is there in Tim Cook, Jon Ive, Phil Schiller, etc. Apple used Tuesday to showcase the depth of their executive talent. Very smart move.

I think we will continue to see this. Jobs will continue to be the star of the show for years to come, but we will see much more of the supporting cast.

MDN Magic Word "post", as in Steve Jobs will be at his post for years and years to come.

"Jobs is not leaving any time soon. He is EXTREMLY driven, and extremely loyal to Apple."

However having realized he maybe only has a few years to live, he could be switching from making those billions to enjoying them.

Every good King trains his Prince(s) well to succeed him. And that's a measure of Jobs success at Apple that we must wait some time to take.

Oct 16, 08 - 01:02 pm Comment from: Andy

Maybe Steve should do a 'Steve Status' slide in every Keynote from now on, if only to mess with the pundit's heads!

But let's not kid ourselves, Steve will always be the center of Apple's party. His sheer force of will dragged the company out of bankruptcy into the powerhouse it is today, and long may his presence continue to inspire Apple to better, greater things.

"he could be switching from making those billions to enjoying them"

Unless each of those are the same thing.

Spot on. Before reading any of this stuff, I watched the video (yesterday) and by myself thought pretty much the same thing - YES, he has had others up before, but this time felt different. It's a very smart move and did feel more like Jobs was/is trying to show off the "others" more, even if he plans on staying for years and years.

MDN - What on "earth" is Palin doing as a possible VP of the USA...what a complete insult and joke. Don't give me any shit...she's an idiot and a liar. No right being considered and that fact that McCain and the Republican party put her up for consideration just goes to show you how much they respect us as a populous. A travesty. An insult.

The only way you earthlings (and the sentient tree frogs of Ecuador) are going to know Steve's departure from Apple is imminent is when astronomers spot the incoming ship. No sooner.

What the heck would sjobs do for the next 30 years? Start another company?

Oct 16, 08 - 01:09 pm Comment from: TowerTone

iHeard 'Jobs' is a three letter word....

Oct 16, 08 - 01:11 pm Comment from: Mr. Peabody

The first poster said, "More crazy blather trying to derail Apple stocks."

... And it seems to be working, and I seem to have a little cash hanging around, and it looks I'm going to buy more Apple stock... Okay, just did it.

Here's to retiring before 65 - Thanks Apple... Or maybe I should thank all of Apple's nay-sayers?

most probably he wants to let people know that there is a whole team of rockstars behind him so that the stock doesnt take a nose dive every time he has an appointment with the doctor... no sign that he plans to retire soon...

Oct 16, 08 - 01:16 pm Comment from: spliceguys

I think it has to do with Jobs 'not being ill'.. Notice that he has to sit down a lot more than he used to. I don't think he can do a two hour show standing up any more.

That means Steve will be at apple for a very, very long time.

his kids call a mailman daddy

Oct 16, 08 - 01:22 pm Comment from: HotinPlaya

@krquet
did anyone notice that Tim Cook appeared quite thin yesterday.

Not only that, did you notice that Jony Ive has lost a lot more hair!

Why let the world think you have just one visionary/genius when you can show them you have a whole bunch of them?

There's change ahead.

The $ 122 million in stock grants to apple's top level execs implies that Steve Jobs will step down as CEO within the next twelve months. He will then run the company as president. The stock grants have to make sure the team stays on board.

Meanwhile Ballmer has been grooming (mostly with his tongue and a dull razor) Frank Holland, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Operations to take the helm from him. Its secret code name is "Preparation H".

@Jay-Z
"Whether he's at Apple another year, another 15, or he gets hit by a bus tomorrow, it's obvious that investors are clamoring for a succession plan. Letting others speak is a good way to assure people the company has a Plan B. Why does showing Plan B mean that they're implementing it "soon"?"

Of all the crap that has been spewed forth since the intro presentation on Tuesday, it is refreshing to see someone that "gets it"! Well done Jay-Z!!

I've been watching this forum for a couple of years as well as a few others and without fail, all the anal sphincters come out of the woodwork or the basement when there is an "event". Cry babies acting as if they have been sent to bed without their dinner because Apple didn't heed their precious advice or wants on what "we" need to have. I think Apple pays more attention to the average computer consumer than they do to the blind, senseless rants of a spoiled few, you know, those who use Preparation H as their sunscreen when they go outside of Mommy's basement. As someone pointed out yesterday, reading over a bunch of the other forums shows that there are about 40 of the same people pissing and moaning about the same thing on all of them, even going as far as cutting and pasting their entries from one to the other. I think it is time they grew up and learned to realize that their opinion isn't necessarily superior to what the majority thinks. Learn to live with it, you'll live longer without all the stress.

Oh, and for those posters stealing their company's equipment and resources to read MDN and other forums at work, that's not what you are being paid to do.

The aforementioned Gruber article: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2008/10/15/jesus-diaz

What was that on Steve's cheek?....Looked painful...I think further proof that he's ill and leaving. He is definately auditioning the next CEO...it's going to be "Jony" too. The accent alone & how he dresses will get him the job (not to mention he's a brilliant designer). Not to mention I've only heard him called Jonathan up until the other day. Steve kept calling him "Jony"....as in Johnny Apple Seed..........the next seed in line to grow into the new Apple. Call me crazy, but that's how I saw it. I didn't notice the black top & jeans, but that was a good observation about Cook. Steve....NOW is the time to leave if you're going to-- when the stock is already low. Don't let it build back up and then decide to leave out of left field. P.S. Buy Sirius (SIRI) too while you're at it and do something beautiful with those satellites they have.

Oct 16, 08 - 01:58 pm Comment from: MacRaven

Great article. I'm getting kinda misty eyed just thinking of the day...

Oct 16, 08 - 02:00 pm Comment from: MacRaven

Comment from: MCCFR
"And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

Unless it's Bill Clinton's cigar.