The Steve Jobs Defense
Early in October 2011 news spread that Steve Jobs had passed away. The days, weeks and months that followed showed the level of respect and admiration that was felt for Apple's beloved CEO, from all over the world.
Immediately following Steve Jobs passing, questions were asked about Apple's leadership, and Apple's future. It was after all one of the most valuable technology companies in the world. It's revenue and cash reserves were resembling that of a small country and it's product portfolio was full of incredible selling success stories.
Recently though, you may well have noticed a new phenomenon in Tech writing on the web. For the purposes of this article, we'll call it the Steve Jobs defense. The Steve Jobs defense is when a Tech writer invokes the memory of the late CEO to any decision that Apple inc. has made since October 2011. Very simply put, any move by Apple can be called into question with the words "Steve Jobs would not have.....".
Never before has the memory of someone been used so freely. We don't even use this defense for leaders of nations who have passed away, when their beloved country's governments start to go awry. But for Apple, Steve Jobs is used as an imaginary yardstick for all new products.
A few days ago, this article put into question the whole direction of advertising at Apple. The article on the whole isn't bad, but seems to imply that under Steve Jobs the advertising at Apple was perfect. Now, who forget the 1984 Superbowl advert? Or the Mac vs PC campaign? But, as this article shows, even under the reign of Jobs, Apple put out some shockingly bad commercials.
Take the iPad 3's Smart Cover. Granted, it's not the greatest product Apple have ever released, but the number of commentators who tagged on the line "Steve Jobs would never have approved this" at the end of their reviews was numerous, almost as if Walter Isaacson had given it special mention in the appendix of his best selling biography of Jobs. This was not an isolated event. From the look of the Notes App on Mountain Lion, choice of font in iOS, or new Apple Mac adverts, the Steve Jobs defense is being thrown around like religious edict. It's the final word in an argument that has no comeback.
So, let's look at the situation with Apple right now. When Steve Jobs passed away, Apple shares (AAPL) was hovering around the $400 mark. It's currently hovering around the $600 mark. That's a 50% increase in share value in less than a year. It's revenues and profits have soared year on year, and it's sales are mind boggling. This despite "analysts" predicting drops in share price, revenue and profits.
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