It's pretty amazing how much a single person can influence a company. When Steven Jobs announced that he has to pause for an unknown amount of time, the Apple share dropped by almost 8%. It's amazing to see how strong Apple and Jobs are tied together. Jobs is the allegory of Apple. Remember the 90s when Apple was almost dead, Jobs came back and let Apple back to a business that is very profitable. What would the world be like without all of Apple's innovations? Would we still have to use Nokia cell phones, and those weird Microsoft tablet PCs?
Consider the relationship between Jobs and Apple like a marriage. Apple will become a widow sooner or later. Is Apple going to be just like a wolf having only one mate? That would become pretty lonesome over time.
I'm not an apple fan. I don't have an iPhone, no iPad and not even an iPod. I have iTunes installed, but was actually forced to so that I can setup my bosses iPad. I don't like that vendor lock-in problem plus it's just too expensive. If you like Apple or not, the ideas it produces are just superb. I remember listening to a podcast from about 3 years ago, talking about the mobile web taking off. I didn't happen until the iPhone came out. I remember seeing students at university having cool IBM tablet PCs… after all they weren't that cool compared to what the iPad has to offer (although you could actually use them for real work).
Is all that innovation going to get lost with Jobs? Is it only Jobs? I wonder how much Apple depends on Jobs and how much is just in the heads of investors. Guess we'll figure it out sooner or later, unsless Apple uses it's innovation to find the Holy Grail.
