Apple: Post-Jobs

[Lincoln]

So, let's face it. Eventually, the man who saved Apple in 1997, now at 53, will eventually have to leave Apple. He had a malignant tumor removed from his pancreas in 2004, and a few weeks ago at the WWDC '08 conference, he was noted to be pale, and had a narrow face, slight build, and noticeable shoulder bones through his shirt. Of course, when Jobs leaves, it'll take a new CEO that can keep Apple where it is now to prevent stockholders from killing the company.

So, based on the following list of possible contenders, who do you think would best replace Steve?

Tim Cook - Chief Operating Officer (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/cook.html)
Tony Fadell - Senior Vice President, iPod Division (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/fadell.html)
Ron Johnson - Senior Vice President, Retail (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/ronjohnson.html)
Phil Schiller - Senior Vice President, Worldwide Product Marketing (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/schiller.html)
Scott Forstall - Senior Vice President, iPhone Software (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/forstall.html)
Jonathan Ive - Senior Vice President, Industrial Design (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/ive.html)
Peter Oppenheimer - Chief Financial Officer (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/oppenheimer.html)
Bertrand Serlet - Senior Vice President, Software Engineering (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/serlet.html)
Daniel Cooperman - Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/cooperman.html)
Bob Mansfield - Senior Vice President, Mac Hardware Engineering (http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/mansfield.html)

My primary choice would be Scott Forstall, as he seems most qualified for the job and he helped Jobs save Apple with writing OS X; then Jonny Ive, as he's the man behind the designs of Apple products we love.
- John

[macgirl]

i think it should be jonny ive - he has the design chops to keep them on the right path, and there's good engineering staff that will keep in line on the technical side. tony fadell is not a good guy - he's last on my list...

[Lincoln]

I agree - Ive would be great for the job - his eye for design is excellent. Only thing is, he's quite shy. When he won the 2005 Design and Art Direction award, Jobs made the acceptance speech for him, despite the fact that Ive was in the audience.

- John

[iCafe]

Christopher Meinck

[Lincoln]

As long as you don't say yourself, iCafe.

- John

[iCafe]

As long as you don't say yourself, iCafe.

- John
Do you know who Christopher Meinck is?

[Lincoln]

Do you know who Christopher Meinck is?

Yeah, he just happens to own this site.

- John

[patrickj]

I also chose Forstall. Ive would also be my favorite, but as has been mentioned, from what I can gather he is just not the type who would want or even accept the role.

Forstall seems a pretty sharp guy and a pretty good presenter / communicator based on his efforts at the SDK launch event and WWDC. Nowhere near Steve of course, but none of them are going to hold a candle to that.

Sad thing is though, from a lot of what you read about Jobs and Apple, he seems damn close to irreplaceable. Real visionary sort of people are *not* often found in huge companies like these, and that element of things does not seem one that can be taught or trained or easily matched by any successor ...

[Lincoln]

I also chose Forstall. Ive would also be my favorite, but as has been mentioned, from what I can gather he is just not the type who would want or even accept the role.

Forstall seems a pretty sharp guy and a pretty good presenter / communicator based on his efforts at the SDK launch event and WWDC. Nowhere near Steve of course, but none of them are going to hold a candle to that.

Sad thing is though, from a lot of what you read about Jobs and Apple, he seems damn close to irreplaceable. Real visionary sort of people are *not* often found in huge companies like these, and that element of things does not seem one that can be taught or trained or easily matched by any successor ...

Yeah, we're having a good discussion on it the IRC room. So long as Jobs sets things up right, all should be fine, but Apple won't feel the same without the guy.

- John

[aggieman]

John, as I said on IRC yesterday I pretty much agree with you on Forstall. I'd go as far as to say if Jobs already has someone in mind it would be Forstall. He's young, enthusiastic, appears to be bright and kind of promotes the Apple image the way that Jobs does. And like you said, working together and then coming back to Apple with Jobs, they had forged a pretty strong relationship obviously.

[Hayesimus]

Hmmm. I dunno, whomever is behind the iPhone marketing should be a strong contender, is he the marketing guy you listed? Anyway, they created such a hype and didn't really disappoint so, they did it all the right way if you ask me.

[projectdarkside]

i think it should be jonny ive - he has the design chops to keep them on the right path, and there's good engineering staff that will keep in line on the technical side. tony fadell is not a good guy - he's last on my list...+ I dont like his name, its sounds kinda "shady":tounge:
-Steve Jobs is like a perfect name that kinda goes hand in hand like Mcluvin:2cool:


Whoever is next in line should also be judged on whether or name is cool haha! Nah I'm kidding, I chose Jonathan Ive cause the design of apple products is world re-known ya kno, its just impeccable:wink:

[Lincoln]

Also note that when Jobs had surgery, Tim Cook ran the company in his absence.

- John

[projectdarkside]

Didnt know that +1 for Tim Cook :)
-Btw how long was steve out for?