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Apple Reassures Investors of Post-Jobs Era

9:40 am, October 17th, 2008, Ed Sutherland

In the Cold War era, a cottage industry was created around determining the geopolitical significance of Khrushchev or Brezhnev not appearing at the May Day reviewing stand. For silicon valley, it is Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Tuesday’s new product announcement.

Was Tuesday’s announcement of new MacBooks a cryptic message to investors worried about Jobs’ health? We all remember the dive Apple’s stock took when a rumor (which turned out to be false) spread that the Apple leader had been rushed to the hospital for heart trouble.

So, when Jobs shared the stage with Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook and Senior Vice-President of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive, speculation began that Apple was sending a message to Wall Street: don’t worry, we have a plan.

“We think Apple may be involving them in Jobs’ public appearances to
reassure investors that a succession plan is in place,” Piper Jaffray’s Andrew Murphy tells Cult of Mac.

Despite the potential, Murphy feels the inclusion of the two senior executives isn’t a sign Jobs is heading for the exit.

“That said, we’re not ignoring the fact that Ive and Cook took the stage,” Murphy wrote by e-mail.

However, that hasn’t stopped some Apple watchers from speculating on the most minute of details of Tuesday’s event: down to the clothing worn by Cook and Ive.

Seeming to match Jobs’ trademark jeans and black turtleneck, Cook appeared on stage dressed like the CEO. One opinion even theorized Ive’s Steve-like wardrobe was designed to mark a younger Apple head.

Possibly hoping not to spark further uproar in the markets, staid Gartner begged off when asked about the issue.

“There is too much speculation in this story to comment,” analyst Charles Smulders told Cult of Mac.

Posted by Ed Sutherland in Apple, News, Opinions | Comment on this article

About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

Email the author | Read more posts by Ed Sutherland.

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5 comments

    Is “Ivy” a colloquial nickname, or a typo?

    Steven Rasnick, on October 17th, 2008 at 10:56 am

    Jobs shared the stage at both WWDC 2006 and the iPhone roadmap event. This is not the first time.

    AaronS, on October 17th, 2008 at 11:29 am

    Did you notice the incredible shine on Jonathan Ive’s head! It looked like he had polished it to give it the ‘aqua interface’ appearance.

    Chris joyce, on October 17th, 2008 at 1:31 pm

    ‘“We think Apple may be involving them in Jobs’ public appearances to
    reassure investors that a succession plan is in place,” Piper Jaffray’s Andrew Murphy tells Cult of Mac.

    ‘Despite the potential, Murphy feels the inclusion of the two senior executives isn’t a sign Jobs is heading for the exit.

    ‘“That said, we’re not ignoring the fact that Ive and Cook took the stage,” Murphy wrote by e-mail.’

    So, is that a buy or a sell, Andrew?

    Mike Petty, on October 17th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

    Dear Steve!

    I very much so enjoyed the show this Tuesday. In fact so much that I ordered 3 MacBooks, without even as much as spending 1 minute at looking at the specs. However – even though the products are awesome – I think there is more to learn about presentation – not from you but from your colleagues. I am sure they are the best when it comes to developing – no doubt. But I am sure I could help out training them for the presentations – or even do them.

    Lots of love,

    Pat

    PatJer, on October 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pm