Apple: Post-Jobs - iPhone 3G

Lincoln · 06-25-2008, 12:15 AM

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
Tony Fadell - Senior Vice President, iPod Division
Ron Johnson - Senior Vice President, Retail
Phil Schiller - Senior Vice President, Worldwide Product Marketing
Scott Forstall - Senior Vice President, iPhone Software
Jonathan Ive - Senior Vice President, Industrial Design
Peter Oppenheimer - Chief Financial Officer
Bertrand Serlet - Senior Vice President, Software Engineering
Daniel Cooperman - Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Bob Mansfield - Senior Vice President, Mac Hardware Engineering

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 · 06-25-2008, 12:20 AM

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 · 06-25-2008, 12:23 AM

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 · 06-25-2008, 12:32 AM

Christopher Meinck

Lincoln · 06-25-2008, 12:44 AM

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

- John

iCafe · 06-25-2008, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John

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

- John

Do you know who Christopher Meinck is?

Lincoln · 06-25-2008, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iCafe

Do you know who Christopher Meinck is?

Yeah, he just happens to own this site.

- John

patrickj · 06-25-2008, 01:12 AM

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 · 06-25-2008, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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 ...

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 · 06-25-2008, 02:29 PM

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.