The strength of Apple’ s senior team is one reason that the firm’ s share price barely flinched when news emerged last month that Mr. Jobs was relinquishing his role as chief executive and becoming executive chairman. Another is that he left it in an extremely good position to take advantage of changes sweeping through the world of technology (see our special report this week) . Under his guidance, Apple has developed not just amazing hardware, but also “cloud” based services such as its iTunes online music store and its new “iCloud” service, which allows people to store all sorts of content on Apple’ s servers and access it on all sorts of devices.
Perhaps the most striking thing about Mr. Jobs’ s reign, however, was his ability to see beyond the business that rivals were fixated on. For years, Apple relied on its Macintosh computers to generate much of its revenue. But in2007 the company dropped the word “Computer” from its name and Mr. Jobs began telling anyone who would listen that the world was entering a post-PC era in which all sorts of computing devices would be used, some of which would eclipse the PC. Rivals pooh-poohed such pronouncements. But now many are struggling to adapt to a market in which smartphones and tablet computers have become wildly popular.
Another striking—and often underappreciated—aspect of Mr. Jobs’ s success was his ability to say no. At a company like Apple, thousands of ideas bubble up each year for new products and services that it could launch. The hardest thing for its leader is to decide which ones merit attention. Mr. Jobs had an uncanny knack of winnowing out the wheat from the mountains of chaff.
It remains to be seen whether his disciples who are now running the show can make equally smart choices, and whether Apple will be able to prosper without its magician-in-chief at the helm. The lukewarm response to this week’ s launch of its new iPhone 4S should give some cause for concern. Without Mr. Jobs, Apple suddenly looked much more like just another technology firm, rather than a producer of magical products that excite the world. With Google and its allies chasing it in smartphones, and Amazon’ s launch of a bold new tablet computer, Apple faces serious competition for the first time in the new markets it has created.
无即使乔布斯的独裁倾向久负盛名，他还是能够轻易的吸引到人才。苹果公司的设计大师乔纳森﹒艾维，市场营销主管菲尔﹒席勒，移动软件运营主管斯科特﹒福斯托和前任首席运营官即新任首席执行官库克先生都是世界级的管理人才。有人问他如何选拔他的团队时，他说总是寻找阳光并且有能力的人。但他补充道，更重要的是他所找寻的人是那些几乎和他在乎同样的事情的人。
苹果公司高层阵容强大，所以上个月乔布斯卸任首席执行官职务转而担任执行总裁时，苹果的股价甚至几乎一下都没有哆嗦。另一个原因则是他离开时的苹果已经处于一个极其有利的地位，它可以借变化之势横扫科技世界(请见本周我们的特别报道)。在他的带领下，苹果开发出的已经不仅仅是举世惊叹的硬件，还有基于“云技术”的服务，比如iTunes在线音乐商店，及其新的“iCloud”服务——这项服务可以让人们将任何信息都存储在苹果服务器上，然后在任何设备上调取它们。
乔布斯帝国中最引人瞩目的或许是他卓尔不群的前瞻性，他看的比对手更远。很多年里，苹果机电脑都是苹果公司大部分收入的来源。但是2007年，这家公司却将“电脑”这个词从其名称中抹去。乔布斯开始向那些愿意倾听的人宣扬，这世界将走入“后个人计算机时代”，在这个时代中，各种计算设备都将发挥作用，其中一些设备将使个人计算机黯然失色。他的竞争对手们对他这种说法嗤之以鼻。而如今，他们中很多人又挣扎着去适应这个智能手机和掌上电脑已经风靡的市场。
乔布斯的成功还有另外一个原因，就是他知道什么时候说“不”，这一能力常常受到低估。像苹果这样的公司，每年提出的关于新产品和新服务的点子数以千计，其领导人最难之处就是决定哪个电子值得注意。乔布斯具有这种异乎寻常的慧眼识珠的能力。
现在是乔布斯的使徒们在运营苹果，他们是否能如他一般精明决策仍然有待观察。同样不清楚的是，脱离了首席魔术师的掌控，苹果是否能够继续繁荣发展。本周新iPhone4S的发布会反响平淡，这让人不免担忧。没了乔布斯，苹果瞬时看起来与其他科技公司并无二致，它已经不是那个创造出神奇产品让全世界为之激动的公司了。苹果的智能手机有谷歌和其盟军紧随其后，而亚马逊又推出了一个新款掌上电脑。苹果首次在它自己创造的新市场上遭遇强有力的竞争。