iPhonAsia comment: iPhonAsia does not make investment recommendations, but we do agree with many of the points John Paczkowski makes in his post today (excerpt below). First and foremost, we wish Steve Jobs a quick recovery and look forward to his return. Our thoughts and prayers are with Steve and his family.
Apple COO Tim Cook will fulfill Apple’s CEO role while Steve Jobs takes a temporary medical leave of absence. See Steve Jobs’ letter > HERE. For more background on Tim Cook read iPhonAsia posts > HERE and HERE
Apple COO - Tim Cook
For readers who don’t follow Apple, Inc. () closely, Apple has a superb bench to support Steve Jobs. And Apple Chief Operating Officer (COO) Tim Cook is an extremely capable executive who could take the helm at Apple and not miss a beat. As an Apple shareholder, I’ve had the pleasure and responsibility of attending Apple, Inc. shareholder meetings and listening to every Apple () quarterly earnings conference call. Tim Cook presides at these events and many others. I can tell you that I would be very comfortable with Tim Cook running Apple. He is a confident and capable executive who is very much on top of Apple’s business operations, product development path and and financials. This in no way is intended to dismiss the importance of Steve Jobs’ vision, drive and leadership at the helm of Apple, Inc., but rather to reinforce how deep Apple’s bench truly is.
More on Tim Cook via Fortune Apple 2.0 > HERE
Tim Cook article via Fortune > “The Genius Behind Steve”
WSJ’s Walt Mossberg on Steve Jobs > Video
Apple Shareholders Are Wusses
Read John Paczkowski’s full post at All Things Digital > HERE
EXCERPT: Ironic, isn’t that, that in this decade of CEO scandals and corporate duplicity, shareholders are punishing Apple (AAPL) — which in its last quarterly statement, reported earnings of $1.14 billion on sales of $7.9 billion, with nearly $25 billion in cash — for allowing CEO Steve Jobs a medical leave of absence?
Apple shares dropped as much as 10 percent Wednesday evening after the company broke the news, slashing more than $6 billion off its market cap. And they’re trading lower again today.
A timid group, Apple investors — risk averse and apparently too easily frightened actually own the stock. Faithless. Because to sell on this news, or any of the Jobs-related health rumors or reports the company has suffered this past year is silly.
Because if Jobs were to leave Apple – willingly or otherwise – people won’t suddenly stop buying Macs. The iPod won’t suddenly go the way of the Walkman and early adopters won’t suddenly lose interest in the next gen iPhone. Nor, Houdini-meets-Edison magic that Jobs has brought to Apple suddenly dissipate.
Yes, Jobs’s sensibility pervades Apple’s culture and its products, but that culture and those products are in not tethered to his health or day-to-day presence at the company. And Apple’s deep executive bench is more than capable of running it — and running it well — in his absence.
Apple will endure — with or without Steve Jobs. There will be a post-Jobs era and whether it begins this year or 20 years from now is of little consequence. So, if you’ve sold your Apple shares on any of these Jobs health reports … well, you won’t be watching them spike when the company announces the next iPhone or reports another blow-out quarter, now will you?
Read John Paczkowski’s full post at All Things Digital > HERE
