[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":201},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog:2006:gloomylongtermfutureforapple":3,"blogMore-Technology":187,"comments-gloomylongtermfutureforapple":200},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"date":10,"category":11,"tags":12,"excerpt":14,"body":29,"_type":177,"_id":178,"_source":179,"_file":180,"_stem":181,"_extension":182,"url":183,"wordCount":184,"minutes":185,"commentCount":186},"/blog/2006/gloomylongtermfutureforapple","2006",false,"en","Gloomy long-term future for Apple?","Steve Jobs’ vision and leadership has turned Apple around from a great-promise but minimal market share in the computer business into a media and fashion darling envied by the likes of Sony, Dell and Microsoft.","2006-03-29T11:36:00+00:00","Technology",[13],"Apple",{"type":15,"children":16},"root",[17,24],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":20,"children":21},"element","p",{},[22],{"type":23,"value":9},"text",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":25,"children":26},{},[27],{"type":23,"value":28},"Under his watchful eye they have put out a friendly computer called the iMac that redefined what computers could look like, a powerful Unix based OS with a simple but gorgeous user interface and practically took possession lock-stock-and-barrel of the portable music player market.",{"type":15,"children":30,"toc":173},[31,35,39,44,49,58,63,68,84,98,112,117,122,136,141,146,151,156,165],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":32,"children":33},{},[34],{"type":23,"value":9},{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":36,"children":37},{},[38],{"type":23,"value":28},{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":40,"children":41},{},[42],{"type":23,"value":43},"Now they looked poised to go even further forward with TV & movie downloads ,the video iPod and the apparent initial success of the Intel switch.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":45,"children":46},{},[47],{"type":23,"value":48},"What could possibly go wrong?",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":50,"children":51},{},[52],{"type":18,"tag":53,"props":54,"children":55},"em",{},[56],{"type":23,"value":57},"Steve Jobs",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":59,"children":60},{},[61],{"type":23,"value":62},"Sure, there are a lot of bright people working at Apple. They engineer the great products you see but what you need is a guy at the top to put the best of it together. To decide the strategy, what ships what doesn’t. What’s ready. What isn’t.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":64,"children":65},{},[66],{"type":23,"value":67},"As Jobs has proven he’s definitely the man for the job but does he still want it?",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":69,"children":70},{},[71,73,82],{"type":23,"value":72},"Steve celebrated his 51st birthday this February not long after brokering the deal where he ",{"type":18,"tag":74,"props":75,"children":79},"a",{"href":76,"rel":77},"https://money.cnn.com/2006/02/06/news/companies/disney_fortune/?cnn=yes",[78],"nofollow",[80],{"type":23,"value":81},"sold his other venture",{"type":23,"value":83},", Pixar, to Disney for the tidy sum of $7.4 billion dollars. Jobs owned more than half the company. He steps down as Pixar’s CEO but takes a chair at the board of Disney.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":85,"children":86},{},[87,89,96],{"type":23,"value":88},"A couple of days ago ",{"type":18,"tag":74,"props":90,"children":93},{"href":91,"rel":92},"https://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1621",[78],[94],{"type":23,"value":95},"Jobs disposed of about half his Apple shares",{"type":23,"value":97}," (those awarded to him by Apple in 2003 as a bonus) to pay his taxes to the tune of $295 million dollars.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":99,"children":100},{},[101,103,110],{"type":23,"value":102},"Less than two years ago Steve was diagnosed with a ",{"type":18,"tag":74,"props":104,"children":107},{"href":105,"rel":106},"https://www.latimes.com/business/investing/wire/sns-ap-steve-jobs-cancer,1,5965415.story?coll=sns-ap-investing-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true",[78],[108],{"type":23,"value":109},"rare form of life-threatening pancreatic cancer",{"type":23,"value":111}," that put him out of the Apple driving seat for over a month. While the operation was a success it might be a reminder about taking time out to enjoy a less stressful life.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":113,"children":114},{},[115],{"type":23,"value":116},"If Jobs wants to relax a little now may very well be the best time to do it.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":118,"children":119},{},[120],{"type":23,"value":121},"If he wanted financial security for himself or Apple that’s done. If he wanted to prove his baby is better with him than without as happened in the 80’s that’s a big tick. If he wanted to point Apple in a positive direction that’s happened.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":123,"children":124},{},[125,127,134],{"type":23,"value":126},"Maybe ",{"type":18,"tag":74,"props":128,"children":131},{"href":129,"rel":130},"https://www.thinksecret.com/news/0306tevanian.html",[78],[132],{"type":23,"value":133},"Apple Chief Technology Officer",{"type":23,"value":135}," and brains behind the Mach kernel inside OS X Avie Tevanian knows something because at the end of March he leaves Apple to “pursue other interests”. He’s been with Jobs since the birth of NextStep.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":137,"children":138},{},[139],{"type":23,"value":140},"Senior vice president of the iPod division, Jon Rubenstein, is also departing this month, though to entire retirement.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":142,"children":143},{},[144],{"type":23,"value":145},"Who on earth could possibly take over after Jobs?",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":147,"children":148},{},[149],{"type":23,"value":150},"Whether he’s leaving or not Jobs needs to find somebody to imprint his ideas, perceptions and desires upon. With at least a Jobsian imprint Apple might last beyond their CEO’s term.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":152,"children":153},{},[154],{"type":23,"value":155},"Found this quote from Fortune, dated Feb. 23 2004;",{"type":18,"tag":157,"props":158,"children":159},"blockquote",{},[160],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":161,"children":162},{},[163],{"type":23,"value":164},"“Why would I ever want to run Disney? Wouldn’t it make more sense just to sell them Pixar and retire?”",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":166,"children":167},{},[168],{"type":18,"tag":53,"props":169,"children":170},{},[171],{"type":23,"value":172},"[)amien",{"title":174,"searchDepth":175,"depth":175,"links":176},"",2,[],"markdown","content:blog:2006:gloomylongtermfutureforapple.md","content","blog/2006/gloomylongtermfutureforapple.md","blog/2006/gloomylongtermfutureforapple","md","/blog/2006/gloomylongtermfutureforapple/",505,3,0,[188,192,196],{"title":189,"date":190,"url":191},"VTX5000: Part 4 - Communications ","2026-05-06T10:19:24.727Z","/blog/2026/vtx5000-part-4-comms-routines/",{"title":193,"date":194,"url":195},"VTX5000: Part 3 - Software ROM","2026-04-15T23:00:00.000Z","/blog/2026/vtx5000-part-3-software-rom/",{"title":197,"date":198,"url":199},"VTX5000: Part 2 - Hardware","2026-03-30T23:00:00.000Z","/blog/2026/prism-vtx5000-part-2/",[],1779264577691]