http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/technology/18apple.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=steve%20jobs&st=cseThis was on the front page of the NY Times on Tuesday and has been lingering in my thoughts. It doesn't look good. The Apple marketing machine is as focused on controlling this story as it is on any product, but there are some things they can't spin away. Jobs's skeletal appearance. The new leave of absence, open ended instead of six months like the last time. Reports of walking only with difficulty. Steve Jobs is a dying man.
He will leave behind footprints that will be difficult if not impossible to fill. As one analyst says in the article, no corporation is more closely associated with its leader. They are busy tarting up the heirs apparent, who I am sure are highly qualified, but it won't be the same. He is a technological visionary and a marketing genius. He is a breath of fresh air on the corporate landscape, all California cool in his trademark blue jeans and black turtleneck. He made Apple product launches like rock concerts. You don't just plug someone else into that spot.
Apple II. Macintosh. iPod. iPhone. iPad. Quite a resume. They all blazed trails and any one of them would have made one famous. When you're behind five of them, those are footprints.
Back when the world was young --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0FtgZNOD44
