[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":137},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog:2006:gloomylongtermfutureforapple":3,"blogMore-Technology":123,"comments-gloomylongtermfutureforapple":136},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":105,"commentCount":106,"date":107,"description":12,"excerpt":108,"extension":109,"filenames":110,"hidden":111,"image":110,"meta":112,"minutes":113,"navigation":114,"path":115,"seo":116,"showCategory":110,"stem":117,"tags":118,"updated":110,"url":120,"wordCount":121,"__hash__":122},"content\u002Fblog\u002F2006\u002Fgloomylongtermfutureforapple.md","Gloomy long-term future for Apple?",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":101},"minimark",[9,13,16,19,22,28,31,34,45,54,63,66,69,78,81,84,87,90,96],[10,11,12],"p",{},"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.",[10,14,15],{},"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.",[10,17,18],{},"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.",[10,20,21],{},"What could possibly go wrong?",[10,23,24],{},[25,26,27],"em",{},"Steve Jobs",[10,29,30],{},"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.",[10,32,33],{},"As Jobs has proven he’s definitely the man for the job but does he still want it?",[10,35,36,37,44],{},"Steve celebrated his 51st birthday this February not long after brokering the deal where he ",[38,39,43],"a",{"href":40,"rel":41},"https:\u002F\u002Fmoney.cnn.com\u002F2006\u002F02\u002F06\u002Fnews\u002Fcompanies\u002Fdisney_fortune\u002F?cnn=yes",[42],"nofollow","sold his other venture",", 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.",[10,46,47,48,53],{},"A couple of days ago ",[38,49,52],{"href":50,"rel":51},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.appleinsider.com\u002Farticle.php?id=1621",[42],"Jobs disposed of about half his Apple shares"," (those awarded to him by Apple in 2003 as a bonus) to pay his taxes to the tune of $295 million dollars.",[10,55,56,57,62],{},"Less than two years ago Steve was diagnosed with a ",[38,58,61],{"href":59,"rel":60},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.latimes.com\u002Fbusiness\u002Finvesting\u002Fwire\u002Fsns-ap-steve-jobs-cancer,1,5965415.story?coll=sns-ap-investing-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true",[42],"rare form of life-threatening pancreatic cancer"," 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.",[10,64,65],{},"If Jobs wants to relax a little now may very well be the best time to do it.",[10,67,68],{},"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.",[10,70,71,72,77],{},"Maybe ",[38,73,76],{"href":74,"rel":75},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.thinksecret.com\u002Fnews\u002F0306tevanian.html",[42],"Apple Chief Technology Officer"," 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.",[10,79,80],{},"Senior vice president of the iPod division, Jon Rubenstein, is also departing this month, though to entire retirement.",[10,82,83],{},"Who on earth could possibly take over after Jobs?",[10,85,86],{},"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.",[10,88,89],{},"Found this quote from Fortune, dated Feb. 23 2004;",[91,92,93],"blockquote",{},[10,94,95],{},"“Why would I ever want to run Disney? Wouldn’t it make more sense just to sell them Pixar and retire?”",[10,97,98],{},[25,99,100],{},"[)amien",{"title":102,"searchDepth":103,"depth":103,"links":104},"",2,[],"Technology",0,"2006-03-29T11:36:00+00:00","[object Object]","md",null,false,{},3,true,"\u002Fblog\u002F2006\u002Fgloomylongtermfutureforapple",{"title":5,"description":12},"blog\u002F2006\u002Fgloomylongtermfutureforapple",[119],"Apple","\u002Fblog\u002F2006\u002Fgloomylongtermfutureforapple\u002F",505,"4t4yG_gqOP6xiDazSVlmEBFXtA3FLp10F9FyZiDkf1M",[124,128,132],{"title":125,"date":126,"url":127},"VTX5000: Part 4 - Communications","2026-05-06T10:19:24.727Z","\u002Fblog\u002F2026\u002Fvtx5000-part-4-comms-routines\u002F",{"title":129,"date":130,"url":131},"VTX5000: Part 3 - Software ROM","2026-04-15T23:00:00.000Z","\u002Fblog\u002F2026\u002Fvtx5000-part-3-software-rom\u002F",{"title":133,"date":134,"url":135},"VTX5000: Part 2 - Hardware","2026-03-30T23:00:00.000Z","\u002Fblog\u002F2026\u002Fprism-vtx5000-part-2\u002F",[],1780900523099]