1 Nov
2001
1 Nov
'01
4:40 p.m.
I think that
is clearly open to debate. Jobs took the company in the
direction HE wanted it to go, and has at BEST had mixed results, great
success with the iMac, nothing special anyplace else, and he did tremendous
damage. He killed the clone program and the alliance with IBM, and in so
doing lost droves of developers and caused a half dozen of the most loyal
companies that supported Apple to fail. Long term Jobs may be seen as the
person who sent Apple to obscurity trading a loyal base of creative people
for a fickle consumer user base.
I think one thing is for certain: if it wasn't for Jobs, Apple by now
would probably have been a bitter memory.
My advice: don't count Apple out yet. If I had money I'd invest in their
stock.