I disagree. They had style and vision in the 80s, and in the 90s they were just selling fungible beige boxes. If the person at the top doesn't care passionately about design, it isn't going to just well up from below. Employees who care about design and have a good eye for it will fail to get recognized, and see that happen to others, and they'll get demoralized and leave.
Certainly I hope Jobs gets well, but if he doesn't, I think the key for Apple will be picking a successor who cares about the same things he cares about.
Maybe. Actually, I don't disagree with you, Jobs is good at what he does. Very good.
But I think things like how their strategy interacted with the timing, stages of maturity in markets, technology & such, they played a role.
At the moment, Apple has a range of potential, growing or existing product classes that they are ideally positioned to take advantage of: netbooks, tablets, whatever else becomes the next computer.The only worry is spreading too thin.
What I am saying is that the world really did come back to them to an extent. It's not just Ninja leadership & it's hard to tell what is responsible for what exactly.
Certainly I hope Jobs gets well, but if he doesn't, I think the key for Apple will be picking a successor who cares about the same things he cares about.