Son didn't elaborate on which product Jobs discussed with Cook, but given this new information, the speculation that next year's iPhone 5 will be Jobs' final master stroke of product innovation now seems far more credible. You can check out the video here.
Hardly. The incredible company that Jobs built can handle the iPhones 5, 6 and 7 just fine. The iPhone 5 is probably already being tested on the Cupertino campus, and doesn't need any of the last 24 hours of Steve Jobs' attention.
The "next product" is more likely to be a new product category, like the iPad, iPhone and iPod were when first announced. Based on current rumours, that could be the "iTV" or something altogether different... What Steve Jobs was almost certainly not fretting about on the day before he died was the iPhone 5.
As a unique visionary, I'm sure Steve Jobs was very well aware that Apple's future for the next few years is assured, but what isn't is its future in 10, 20 years. My guess is that phone call was about a product that we'll first hear about in a decade.
I agree with your assessment. I might also boldly take another step and suggest even if Steve Jobs did not plan a new product category, Apple will still be very profitable in the next 10 years. They will continue be able to milk their existing products, and make minor updates. The iPod has been out for almost 10 years now. It's sales has declined but that was only because of iPhone's cannibalisation. Even if there was no iPhone, (e.g. if Steve Jobs died earlier), then Apple would still have at least 5 more years to go by coming up with their own new product category, e.g. an iPhone, without Steve Jobs, which would've been successful, but not wildly so; before peaking out and begin to decline.
This is only my opinion, based on observations of past companies that were only innovative while still being led by their original founders. Examples include HP, GE, Ford, and Apple itself.
Sorry, I wasn't clear - when I said that Apple's future in 10-20 years isn't assured, I didn't mean that they won't remain a hugely profitable company. What I meant was, right now, if you look at the last 10 years of Apple history, it's like a list of miracle product after miracle product.
Today's Apple is not just a successful technology company. They are, imho, the leading consumer technology company in the world - no one else comes close, not Sony, not Samsung, not Google or Microsoft (and part of the reason is that you can line them up with both hardware manufacturers and software companies). Over the last 10 years, Apple introduced 3 products, each of which basically created or dominated an industry: the iPod (dominated the mp3 player industry), the iPhone (created the modern smart phone industry), the iPad (in the process of creating the tablet industry, and so far dominating it).
Had Steve Jobs lived another decade, I fully expect that we would have seen another 2 or 3 such genre-defining products in that period. Did he leave enough of his mind behind that those will happen even though he passed away? When you look at Apple in 10 years, will they look as awesome as they do today? That's what's at risk, not Apple's survival.
The incredible company that Jobs built can handle the iPhones 5, 6 and 7 just fine. The iPhone 5 is probably already being tested on the Cupertino campus, and doesn't need any of the last 24 hours of Steve Jobs' attention.
You underestimate Steve Jobs. He was involved in all sorts of product and marketing detail, and certainly wouldn't have wanted to fixate on his own death when there was work to do.
I'm not suggesting he fixated on his own death - in fact, the article states exactly the opposite. What I'm saying is, there were more important Apple things for him to think about than the iPhone 5, and given that one of Steve Jobs' defining characteristics was, as far as I know, his ability to focus on the right thing, I doubt he was worrying himself about the iPhone 5.
From everything I've seen of Jobs' private life, it was all about his family. Up until the end he spent his time on the two things he loved the most: his family and Apple.
We should all be so lucky to find a job that we love doing 'til our last breath.
Indeed. I've heard the adage "when you're on your death bed, are you going to wish that you spent more time in the office?" and I tend to agree with it.
It's not easy to find a job (or purpose) so great that we wish to stay on this earth a little bit longer because of it.
Isn't it far more likely that the meeting was about jobs' health, and the least suspicious story to tell a business partner to avoid speculation would be to say it is a meeting about the next iPhone?
"Son didn't elaborate on which product Jobs discussed with Cook, but given this new information, the speculation that next year's iPhone 5 will be Jobs' final master stroke of product innovation now seems far more credible. " :(
Hardly. The incredible company that Jobs built can handle the iPhones 5, 6 and 7 just fine. The iPhone 5 is probably already being tested on the Cupertino campus, and doesn't need any of the last 24 hours of Steve Jobs' attention.
The "next product" is more likely to be a new product category, like the iPad, iPhone and iPod were when first announced. Based on current rumours, that could be the "iTV" or something altogether different... What Steve Jobs was almost certainly not fretting about on the day before he died was the iPhone 5.
As a unique visionary, I'm sure Steve Jobs was very well aware that Apple's future for the next few years is assured, but what isn't is its future in 10, 20 years. My guess is that phone call was about a product that we'll first hear about in a decade.