Although the public is used to seeing Steve Jobs as the face of Apple, a growing number of consumers are comfortable purchasing products from the Cupertino, Calif. company even if the iconic iPod salesman is not at the helm. That’s the finding of a recent survey comparing consumer reactions to questions surrounding Jobs’ health.
Some 93 percent of people questioned in a RBC Capital Markets and ChangeWave survey said a change of Apple leadership would either have no impact or would not alter their buying choices. This compares to a June 2008 survey finding 18 percent of people would be less likely to purchase Apple products if Jobs left the CEO position.
“Consumers have had three years to evolve their perception of the Apple brand around its creative new products, cutting edge innovation, iTunes/App Store ecosystem and premium quality positioning — beyond the buying pull of Apple’s iconic CEO,” analyst Mike Abramsky said.
Part of that higher comfort level may be due to Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook substituting for Jobs. Along with Cook filling-in for the CEO’s January medical-leave, the COO became the temporary face of Apple in 2009, when Jobs dropped out of sight due to health issues. Signaling Wall Street’s acceptance of Cook, Apple stock rose 144 percent and revenue increased 20 percent when the co-founder was last out of pocket.
The survey results are just the latest indication of Apple’s maturity from a mercurial brand shepherded by high-profile CEOs to a stable, well-established brand that has developed a deep bench of potential leaders. Gone are the days of Apple as ‘outsider.’ The Cupertino, Calif. company has become the ultimate insider – complete with a succession plan, if unspoken.
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.
31 responses to “Survey Says: Apple Fans Would Still Buy Mac Gadgets Without Steve”
I ask anyone who thinks that apple is dead without Steve Jobs: did people stop buying Fords when Henry left the company?
A much more accurate headline would surely have been “Survey States the Bleeding Obvious”.
To be honest this doesn’t surprise me. The only people who seem to be worked into a tizzy are the media and professional analysts. Steve may be the poster child for Apple, but he is smart enough not to repeat past mistakes. He has made sure the company is strong and functional. Real leaders know how to delegate and it feels like only the general public understands this.
We will still buy Apple products, its only because of the culture and environment Steve Jobs has made by now. All the repute and love towards Apple is because of what Steve Jobs has made what Apple is today (or atleast 90%)
Only if Apple are still gonna be able to crank out awesome products after the Steve era.
What most bothers me about this article and survey is that it plays right into the utterly stupid idea that people buy Apple products not because they’re marvels of engineering and functionality, but because they’re trying to be “cool” or “hip”. This lemmings viewpoint was foisted on the world by Windows users who were desperate to find some reason why so many people were buying Macs, iPods, iPhones and iPads when they should have been satisfied with Microsoft products. Obviously they had to be brainwashed, trendy hipsters without a brain in their heads. It’s the classic emotional-level putdown for anyone who doesn’t think, act, believe or purchase like you do.
I know many Windows users who are absolutely convinced that the Mac is a terrible OS, not suited for business, insecure, problematic and has all kinds of IT problems–of course they’ve never used a Mac, but they know people who have! I know a software developer tell me that she won’t develop for the Mac because her daughter told her “Macs don’t have files and folders like Windows computers”, and besides, the Mac market isn’t big enough to make any money from. This lady is the CEO of an entire software company and is so secure in her ignorance that she has no need to actually find out anything about Macs for herself.
Yes, Steve has brought Apple back bigger than it’s ever been. It would be a shame to see him go, but we Applephiles use Apple products because of the products, not because of the man!
I will still buy apple products as long as they are the high quality products they are today
As much as I love Apple products now, I was even more fervent when Steve Jobs was not with Apple, and we MacEvangelistas had to fight the Cult of Bill Gates!
Apple in a post-Steve era is an Apple that has to reprove it’s own ingenuity to me. I cannot blindly trust what they’re producing, because the virulent editor isn’t chopping away the garbage anymore. I won’t say that I won’t buy another Apple product after Steve is gone, but I would need for Apple to move forward as if he were. If one remembers the early ’90’s, you’ll see why blind faith in Apple is a bad idea, but the faith that I have in Steve Jobs to make a perfect product is beyond my faith in anything else, period. Steve is essentially the voice of reason in a chaotic plethora of ideas for Apple.
These kind of headlines turn my stomach. Steve Jobs is a guy, who’s out there, presumably sick, who is entitled to privacy, and also entitled to living without the circling of vultures. How about we all agree to stop exploiting his sickness for advertising dollars.
Maybe I’m just being sentimental or something, but the picture makes me incredibly sad. Not because WE may lose Steve, but because Steve’s relatives might lose Steve, and Steve might lose his life. I really wish people would stop with these articles and realize that there’s a great chance there’s a very chance that Steve’s fighting for his life right now…
ARGH. That last line SHOULD read there’s a great chance that Steve’s fighting for his life right now.
Wow… :(
i would only continue to buy pple products if they continued to make them with steves vision and dont start making computers cheaply to save money and become like every other company
if jobs passed away this year, i think apple revenue would increase at a more rapid pace over the next 3-4 years. why? because leadership would listen to customers more and offer more features and faster product refreshes. the problem comes with the next “visionary” product. cook and ives don’t have the midas touch and in about 5 years apple will start to lose it’s uber-hip status.
This may sound a little grisly, but if Steve were to, um, “leave” apple, I think it might actually be good in a sense. As much as I love Apple’s products, I think Steve’s idea of a world without files, only app icons, where the user doesn’t even need to know how to use a mouse to use a computer, could be devastating to the computing works. I mean, take me: When I was 7, I started learning HTML. A few years later, I began on Applescript, and now I’d say I’m about half done learning Objective-C (for making iOS apps). Now, If I hadn’t learned HTML, it goes down the cycle and there would be one less programmer for the world. In a “perfect” world without needing any knowledge of computers whatsoever, nobody would be able to experiment with computers and learn to program, and once all of today’s developers are gone, who will fill in for them? Some guy who just learned how to save a file to a place other than the “project library”? I think not. Sorry about the little rant, but this just got me goin’. But bottom line, while Apple may be better off without Steve, a human life is to precious to trade for anything.
Interesting and useful post