It’s no secret that Steve Jobs has been the heart and soul of Apple for many years. He brought us many of Apple’s most successful products, including the iPod, iPhone and iPad.
In light of Jobs’ ongoing medical leave of absence, Apple’s executive board is informally considering replacing Steve Jobs with a new CEO for the company.
The Wall Street Journal dropped this news before Apple’s earnings call later today:
“Since Steve Jobs went on medical leave this winter, some members of Apple Inc.’s board have discussed CEO succession with executive recruiters and at least one head of a high-profile technology company, according to people familiar with the matter.
The conversations weren’t explicitly aimed at recruiting a new chief executive and were more of an informal exploration of the company’s options, said these people. The directors don’t appear to have been acting on behalf of the full board, some of these people said. Apple has seven directors, including Mr. Jobs.”
According to the WSJ, a succession plan for Jobs has been contemplated at Apple for quite some time:
“Apple’s independent directors take succession planning seriously, said a person familiar with the board’s thinking. This person said Apple’s independent board members discuss management succession in private sessions without Mr. Jobs held at every board meeting for the past 12 years.
“It’s best practice,” this person noted. “Everybody in the room is sworn to secrecy as to what it [the succession] plan is.”
It makes sense that the first candidate for his succession would be Apple’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook.
Jobs has always been incredibly passionate about Apple, and it’s very difficult to image what the company would look like without him.
How does this news make you feel? Do you think Apple will have the guts to actually replace Jobs?
[via MacRumors]
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
51 responses to “Is Steve Jobs About to Get Replaced? [Rumor]”
can’t imagine Apple without Steve, I’m an Apple user (Addicted) because of steve
Hmmmm……and Bill Gates, recently, said he would ‘Never’ return to Microsoft !!!!
Co-Incidence? Eh? nudge, nudge, wink, wink!
Seriously though – there is no-one to replace Steve Jobs!
IMHO they’ll need to put several CEOs, CIOs and a couple CFOs into the ‘transporter’ from “The Fly” to get anywhere near!
Suggestions for suitable ‘donors’ please?
Man, I’d hate to (or love to) be the guy who has to step into Steve’s role at Apple. The guy co-founded the company in a garage, made it a success, left then came back, made it a success again, revolutionized the music/entertainment industry, changed mobile computing, and is one of the most iconic speakers of all time. BIG SHOES…
Tim Cook is a good choice, though.
-Chris
http://friendsofmac.net
He isn’t going to be around forever with or without his current medical problems. This is something the company needs to make contingency plans for sooner or later. Sooner would be better for all involved. Even if he weren’t ill, there are many ways people can die without warning.
Until there is a solid plan in place, people will wonder what will happen without Steve. I don’t think he’ll be replaced immediately but in the long run it may be worthwhile for him to step down as CEO but continue to be the company’s design guru and “spiritual” leader.
I can see them coming up with a plan for succession, but can you “informally” replace a CEO?
Android fans and tablet makers all over the world are chanting (with fingers crossed) ,”Gil Amelio”
I can. It’s called the mid-1990’s. And it was not a happy time.
Steve Jobs has made this company so strong that it could coast on fumes for the next 10 years regardless of who they put in his position and the worst thing that any successor could do is come in there and try to emulate Steve Jobs. As Steve has said a million times its about the products really and not about him. Any succesor would be wise to focus on that and the rest will take care of itself. I would also say that the strength of Steve Jobs is in surrounding himself with people that, above all else, are driven to move technology forward and are fearless in that pursuit. The minute Apple puts someone in there who lets ONLY the bottom line dictate decision making, they may have problems.
???? , ??? ??? ?? ?????!
I still don’t see the reason why they should replace Steve unless there is something big going on that we don’t know.
It’s been Steve’s vision (along with Jony Ive’s ability to realize that vision) that has driven Apple. One of the obvious concerns would be the level of innovation without Steve, versus merely making evolutionary changes to the current product lineup.
I read this as: “Is Steve Jobs About to Get Replaced? [Humor]”
This would be the equivalent of telling Stephen Hawking that he is no longer a theoretical physicist nor a cosmologist!
Can’t we just upload him to iCloud? Afterlife?! For Steve?! NEVAR! Give us more toys!
I don’t want to think about Apple without him. But he’s entitled to enjoy retirement when it’s time for him to do so, and so far Apple seems to ran by people smart enough to know not to screw with this. I just hope that he’ll have some time to himself, and not work right into the grave. Unless that’s what he wants to do.
I can see some sort of transition plan, where Steve steps sideways/up to something like “Director Emeritus” or “Chief Visionary or “Guru” while a new CEO is phased in. That would be preferable to having to scramble should something abrupt happen.
I endured the Gil Amelio years. It was not a good time. But the current Apple is not so embattled and have gotten into the habit of planning for the long road, sometimes a little past users comfort level… hello, Final Cut Pro professional users. But Apple should still do well if they stick to their core values and keep the bean-counter MBA types the hell away.
Steve may be a one-of-a-kind show, but to melt your brains, try this, could you imagine an even MORE tech-aggressive post-Steve Apple?
Wasn’t that Gil Amelio?
I completly agree.
Yeah, but he did have the foresight to buy NeXT and return Jobs so he deserves some credit for that.
Whatever people say, Apple without Steve Jobs will be like a planet like Mars that has no life! It will still be a planet. If he has map-drawn the company’s projects for another 20 years, then its fine for him to leave. Steve’s leaving (eventually will happen though) is unacceptable!
I remember that as well. Sculley. Amelio. Spindler. I didn’t mind Sculley, though.
me too!
When a headline ends with a question mark the answer is almost always “No.”
They can have a succession plan, especially with his input and go-ahead, but if he were forced out I’d be furious as well as sad. This is upsetting to read about even as a rumor, and I’m tired of rumors.
Can’t argue with that…
No , not really.
The usual idea is that you would use NFC to set up the link between the two devices and then do an automatic hand over to a different protocol for doing the actual transfer of data – eg Bluetooth,iphone 5