Steve Jobs: A Paradigm Shift; A CEO legacy

Apple’s Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO, but the imprint he left on the company will last for decades to come.

When you think of Jobs you think of four products—the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad—industrial design, control and the idea that integration and ecosystem matters. Some folks would say Jobs was a control freak. Most geniuses are
When you think of Jobs you think of four products—the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad—industrial design, control and the idea that integration and ecosystem matters.

I view Jobs tenure as CEO in two acts:
There’s the Steve Jobs that created the Mac and was a computing pioneer. That Jobs was kicked out of Apple for a few years. All Jobs did in that down time was grow Pixar and start Next, which was later acquired by Apple.
And then there’s the modern day Jobs. This Jobs created the iPod, the iPhone and then leveraged those ecosystems to create the iPad. The iPad pricing was so on point that Apple grabbed more than a year head start. The iPad was Jobs’ crowning achievement.

The Mac taught us what a computer could be. There’s a solid argument that the iPod was pure genius. Jobs reinvented the MP3 player and the music industry. The iPod with iTunes riding shotgun started the entire ecosystem that led to the iPhone and iPad.
Enter the iPhone. The iPhone captured imaginations, took its share of hits early on and became the device that inspired hundreds of similar efforts.

The iPad on the surface is basically a big iPhone. That thinking only lasted a few minutes. In retrospect, the iPad turned out to be the computing paradigm Jobs always wanted. The iPod is a hassle free conduit to the world. With the iPad, Jobs reinvented computing. The form factor of the future is the tablet.

The true test of Jobs legacy may come in the years after he’s gone. Has Jobs’ management DNA been instilled at Apple? Tim Cook has shown he’s very capable and can run Apple well. Meanwhile, Apple’s management bench is deep. The challenge for Cook and the Apple management team will be to keep the company rolling and deliver new innovations going forward.