Daniel Lyons seems to have ticked some people off with his article Newsweek published a couple of days ago, which compared Steve Jobs and his “archnemesis” Bill Gates. The article contrasts Gates methodical and well executed handover to then second in command Steve Ballmer with Steve Jobs, who isn’t grooming a successor and called a New York Times columnist a “slime bucket” for asking about the Apple Savior’s health.
Lyons says, “The real issue here, and the one that Apple has failed to address in any meaningful way, is the question of succession. Who is the heir apparent? No one knows. And that’s a problem.”
Jobs mentioned battling a “hormone imbalance” and was noticeably missing from MacWorld, but seems set on staying at the helm.
Lyons goes on, a little bolder, “Compare Jobs’s recent recklessness to the way Microsoft managed the delicate hand-over of the company from Bill Gates to Steve Ballmer…Gates, you’ll recall, was every bit as synonymous with Microsoft as Jobs is with Apple. Yet Gates managed to slide out of his company with virtually no disruption.”
Reckless? I don’t know. But Apple shareholders suffer with speculation of Steve’s health and the company’s future. Unfortunately Lyons goes on to call Steve a “petulant narcissist with a grandiose sense of his importance and a sadly limited view of the world around him.”
I only wish Jobs the best of health, and hope he is around to lead Apple for many years to come.
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I don’t really see why this is a big deal. Steve Jobs has built a culture at Apple. It is from the top down. Have you ever gone to an Apple Store? You can tell each employee is Apple. Even when he leaves, Steve’s work is done. He has ensured that Apple will be a primer player in the electronics entertainment market, long after he is gone.
Are they taking job applications? I dressed up as Steve Jobs last halloween and everyone said I’d make a great Steve Jobs =)
you want Jobs’ job, haha!
I agree with Robert. It would be really hard to change the culture Jobs has created at Apple. Once he does stop working in cupertino, Apple will still be Apple for a long time.