Apple Loses Its Hero

Tribute to Steve Jobs on Apple's Home Page.Cupertino, CA (Scicasts) -- "I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today." This was the sad statement written by Apple's newly appointed CEO, Tim Cook on October 5th, in a letter sent to Apple's staff.

Steve Jobs has died at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. The speculation about his ill health in the recent months increased when he announced his resignation as Apple's CEO in August this year. So, in essence, this sad news was expected , sooner or later, by the media world and, presumably, by his team. I have read several reports in the past 12 months from analysts predicting what Apple's life can be like without Steve Jobs and it seems that no one has the answer.

Apple's shares tended to shiver every time a worrying news about Steve Jobs' health was announced by the company. Unsurprisingly, it's shares have dropped today by three per cent on the wake of this sad news.

Indeed, Steve Jobs is Apple's hero. He turned around Apple's disastrous fortunes in the 1990's with his vision of revolutionizing personal computing and the digital music industry with the introduction of the iMac, iPod and iTunes. This, of course, followed by Apple's new hits in the smart phone and tablet industry, the iPhone and the iPad.

Many key political and business figures around the world paid tributes to Steve Jobs, including President Obama who said in a statement that Steve Jobs was "among the greatest of American innovators."

Although his death marks an end of an era, I do not believe it marks the end of Apple. Steve Jobs built a great team around him who collectively brought his ambitious ideas to life. The only question remains, though, is can his team and the company continue with the same level of creativity and vision without him? I strongly believe that, at least for the next 2-3 years, the answer is yes. It is very likely that Steve Jobs and his team have put some plans for several product releases and major updates. Apple's current CEO, Tim Cook, is a hugely talented executive who knows the ins-and-outs of Apple's products very well. Thus, Apple can certainly continue with its dominance and success for the near future. However, the long-term prospects of the company is anyone's guess.

Despite the uncertainty, I think we can all agree that Steve Jobs' legacy will live on forever.

What do you think Apple's future will look like without Steve Jobs? Feel free to post your comments below.