Apple after Steve Jobs: What the future holds for Apple

With Steve Jobs’ death, the world has lost one of the most charismatic and inspirational leaders ever. This innovator who gave the world the Mac, the iPod, the iPad and the iPhone amongst many others will be fondly remembered for years to come. His contribution to Apple’s success is invaluable and way beyond measurement.

Steve was known to be the guiding light of Apple and the prime reason behind its phenomenal success. The launch of the iPhone 4S demonstrated that without Steve, Apple seems to have lost that zeal that made it come out with products that have changed our lives forever.

It was Jobs’ marketing and design genius besides his production philosophy and vision regarding Apple the force it. So, without Jobs, will Apple lose its fervor? Will it never be the force it was under Jobs?

Only time can answer those questions. But presently people have started doubting Apple already. Simon Liu, investment officer at Polaris Group was quoted by Yahoo as saying – “Apple no longer has someone as creative and ambitious as Jobs that they can rely on.” 

The iPhone 4S, despite being an exciting budget phone is already being downgraded the world over while the Kindle Fire is slowly eating at iPad’s market share. In the operating system market, Android is way ahead of Apple’s iOS.

In big markets like India, brands like Samsung still hold the upper hand over Apple. Since April, Samsung once considered one of Apple’s best allies its top supplier is lodged in a court battle with Apple.

Steve Jobs had the capacity to fight the best rivals in the market and come up with products such as the iPad that had left competitors dumbstruck.

He was also respected not only amongst his own employees and Apple enthusiasts but also even amongst competitors such as Bill Gates who called him ‘eternally great’.

While Steve Jobs was a legend, the new kid on the block, Tim Cook has his own way of doing things. He let colleague Schiller handle the iPhone 4S launch, while Steve would have done so himself. His strategy to introduce a budget phone while people were waiting for a high-end one failed miserably leading to a rare drop in Apple’s share value.

The road ahead for Apple is challenging. While Apple might still be a world leader in technology, it will never be the force it was Steve Jobs.