Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, one of the most outspoken figures on all things Apple, told clients on Wednesday that Steve Jobs’ absence from this year’s Macworld Expo signals “the beginning of a shift in leadership roles” at the company.
“Steve Jobs remains CEO of Apple, however, yielding this year’s Macworld keynote to Phil Schiller, along with the participation of Tim Cook and Phil Schiller at the October event is, in our view, a clear message that a leadership shift is underway,” he said.
Interesting. But I don’t think Jobs is going away anytime soon.
But it’s not all about Jobs. Over the past few years, the public has seen more and more faces on stage. Again, Munster:
“We believe that Apple’s executive team is one of its competitive advantages,” he added. “This management team, along with Steve Jobs, has been responsible for Apple’s product innovation.”
And that’s why even without Jobs, Apple will be okay. The near-failure of Apple after Jobs was fired was due to a lack of innovation, but with great minds like Tim Cook and Jonathan Ive, Apple will be fine when the day comes when Jobs is no longer at Apple.