More of my sites

WinInfo Daily News
SuperSite for Windows
Windows IT Pro Magazine
Connected Home
Thurrott Dot Com
Windows Weekly at TWIT

About this site

For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Monday, August 02, 2004

What's next for Apple?

CNN/Money: "Apple has been one of the few large tech stocks to flourish in what has been a rough year for the sector. Apple shares are up nearly 50 percent this year, following a 50 percent jump in 2003. That's led some to question the stock's valuation, however. Apple now trades at 36 times earnings estimates for fiscal 2005, which ends in September of that year. So the slightest bit of uncertainty about Jobs' status could have a big effect on the stock. 'When you take a stock that's riding on vapors, a lot of promise and hope that the next big thing will be around the corner, something like this does make you think,' said Rod Bare, an equity analyst with Morningstar ... Apple is clearly one of the handful of companies where the fortunes are seen to be intricately tied to the person in charge. So even if [Jobs left suddenly and] business proceeded as usual with Apple, Wall Street probably wouldn't see it that way, at least in the short term. 'Apple does rely on a cult of personality and the stock trades on some of that,' said Bare."

I haven't really posted anything about Steve Jobs' health scare this past weekend, because I felt it was irrelevant to my examination of Apple's products, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how wrong I was. Today, Apple is very much "Steve Jobs Computer" and the company flies high on Jobs' personality, chutzpah, and celebrity as much as it does on its products. Strike that: Steve Jobs, in many ways, is more important to Apple than its products, specifically because none of Apple's products today would exist if Jobs hadn't come back to the company. So what would happen if he left suddenly, for whatever reason? As this story notes, Jobs is the type of guy who would leave suddenly with very little notice. Would an Apple Computer run by Tim Cook, the company's current executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations (yawn) really be able to generate any excitement at all?

[ Posted at 9:46 PM | Permalink ]