Is the immensely successful Apple that Steve Jobs left behind when he died in October 2011 haunted?
Wall Street Journal technology writer Yukari Iwatani Kane believes so as she tries to delve deep into Apple after Jobs.
Kane's book is based on more than 200 interviews with current and former executives, business partners, Apple watchers and others. In an e-mail interview with Shelley Singh, Kane says post Jobs, Apple's task to lead innovation has become more difficult as it competes with companies from Google to Amazon, all of whom have disruptive founder leaders.
Quite unlike Apple's current boss Tim Cook, "very smart, but, his company is no longer as hungry," adds Kane. Edited excerpts:.
You call the book Haunted Empire. Do you believe Steve Jobs is being missed so much, every second, that the empire is haunted and well on its way to decline?
"Haunted" is a figurative expression. The question of "What Steve Jobs would do?" or "What would Apple look like today if Steve Jobs were still around?" are questions that do haunt Apple executives, employees, shareholders, board, consumers, and anyone else who has any degree of interest in the company. I don't know if they are being asked "every second," but all that matters is that it's asked enough, and Apple can't escape it. Even if Apple is actually doing well — which it is in terms of revenues and profits — these questions hurt the public's perception of the company, and its brand image.
As for your question about decline, that is a bit of a loaded question. This is a company that made nearly $150 billion in annual revenue last fiscal year. It will be around for a long time to come. My book isn't meant to predict where Apple is going. It's a journalistic observation of Apple's transitional period over the past five years. If you think of Apple as an empire, the question I was asking as I wrote this was, "What happens to an empire that loses its emperor?" This is a theme that occurs in history time and time again, but I had a chance to witness it directly and record it, which is a rare, fascinating opportunity.
What I found was that Apple is currently struggling to reconstitute itself following Jobs's passing. It's early days yet, and it will be very interesting to see if they are able to set it back on course. History, of course, suggests that this is a very difficult thing to do, but Apple is a company that has made the impossible possible in the past.
Do you believe Apple's biggest problem is emulating Steve Jobs?
I think Apple is a company that was synonymous with Jobs for a very long time. This is a company that has revolved around him and was shaped by him. Its challenge is that without Jobs, the organization is not as well optimized, and things stop working as well. Tim Cook is the complete opposite of Jobs. He needs to change the organization and mould it to his strengths and weaknesses, but he seems insistent that Apple hasn't changed, which is not convincing because everything has changed without Jobs.
What is the future of Apple?
It will absolutely survive. But the question is in what form? Will it continue to drive innovation in the industry and be the bold thought leader it has been? Or will it turn into a Microsoft? Business physics will try to drive Apple towards the latter. There are too many forces like complacency, employee size, and bureaucracy that start creeping into a company once it achieves great success. A sense of crisis is a very important ingredient in a company's ascension, but how do you maintain that once you're the most successful company in the world?
Has Apple's innovation engine run out of ideas?
I'm sure they have ideas, the question is whether they have the right one. Jobs was very good at knowing what technology was capable of and what would be relevant to consumers, and that's actually a rare talent. I have no doubt that Apple still has many talented, creative people, but who is at the top, who can decide for Apple when to say yes and when to say no?
Smartphone world is changing fast — wearables may soon be the in-thing , new players like Amazon are getting smarter phones ready. Google's project Ara talks of a modular phone. Does Apple risk falling behind rather than be a leader in the business?
Apple's job to lead innovation has gotten more difficult, if nothing else because it is competing with other companies with disruptive founder-leaders , who have the ability to bet big on anything and everything. Amazon has Jeff Bezos, Google has Larry Page, Facebook has Mark Zuckerberg, and the Chinese companies all have founder-CEOs too. And they are very very hungry. Cook is very smart, but he's still a hired CEO who reports to the board, and his company is no longer as hungry.
At this point, is Cook the right leader for Apple?
Cook is doing as good of a job as anybody can in these circumstances. Jobs's shoes were impossible to fill. How could he possibly measure up to someone who not only founded the company, but then came back, saved it, and made history repeatedly with products like the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.
Wall Street Journal technology writer Yukari Iwatani Kane believes so as she tries to delve deep into Apple after Jobs.
Kane's book is based on more than 200 interviews with current and former executives, business partners, Apple watchers and others. In an e-mail interview with Shelley Singh, Kane says post Jobs, Apple's task to lead innovation has become more difficult as it competes with companies from Google to Amazon, all of whom have disruptive founder leaders.
Quite unlike Apple's current boss Tim Cook, "very smart, but, his company is no longer as hungry," adds Kane. Edited excerpts:.
You call the book Haunted Empire. Do you believe Steve Jobs is being missed so much, every second, that the empire is haunted and well on its way to decline?
"Haunted" is a figurative expression. The question of "What Steve Jobs would do?" or "What would Apple look like today if Steve Jobs were still around?" are questions that do haunt Apple executives, employees, shareholders, board, consumers, and anyone else who has any degree of interest in the company. I don't know if they are being asked "every second," but all that matters is that it's asked enough, and Apple can't escape it. Even if Apple is actually doing well — which it is in terms of revenues and profits — these questions hurt the public's perception of the company, and its brand image.
As for your question about decline, that is a bit of a loaded question. This is a company that made nearly $150 billion in annual revenue last fiscal year. It will be around for a long time to come. My book isn't meant to predict where Apple is going. It's a journalistic observation of Apple's transitional period over the past five years. If you think of Apple as an empire, the question I was asking as I wrote this was, "What happens to an empire that loses its emperor?" This is a theme that occurs in history time and time again, but I had a chance to witness it directly and record it, which is a rare, fascinating opportunity.
What I found was that Apple is currently struggling to reconstitute itself following Jobs's passing. It's early days yet, and it will be very interesting to see if they are able to set it back on course. History, of course, suggests that this is a very difficult thing to do, but Apple is a company that has made the impossible possible in the past.
Do you believe Apple's biggest problem is emulating Steve Jobs?
I think Apple is a company that was synonymous with Jobs for a very long time. This is a company that has revolved around him and was shaped by him. Its challenge is that without Jobs, the organization is not as well optimized, and things stop working as well. Tim Cook is the complete opposite of Jobs. He needs to change the organization and mould it to his strengths and weaknesses, but he seems insistent that Apple hasn't changed, which is not convincing because everything has changed without Jobs.
What is the future of Apple?
It will absolutely survive. But the question is in what form? Will it continue to drive innovation in the industry and be the bold thought leader it has been? Or will it turn into a Microsoft? Business physics will try to drive Apple towards the latter. There are too many forces like complacency, employee size, and bureaucracy that start creeping into a company once it achieves great success. A sense of crisis is a very important ingredient in a company's ascension, but how do you maintain that once you're the most successful company in the world?
Has Apple's innovation engine run out of ideas?
I'm sure they have ideas, the question is whether they have the right one. Jobs was very good at knowing what technology was capable of and what would be relevant to consumers, and that's actually a rare talent. I have no doubt that Apple still has many talented, creative people, but who is at the top, who can decide for Apple when to say yes and when to say no?
Smartphone world is changing fast — wearables may soon be the in-thing , new players like Amazon are getting smarter phones ready. Google's project Ara talks of a modular phone. Does Apple risk falling behind rather than be a leader in the business?
Apple's job to lead innovation has gotten more difficult, if nothing else because it is competing with other companies with disruptive founder-leaders , who have the ability to bet big on anything and everything. Amazon has Jeff Bezos, Google has Larry Page, Facebook has Mark Zuckerberg, and the Chinese companies all have founder-CEOs too. And they are very very hungry. Cook is very smart, but he's still a hired CEO who reports to the board, and his company is no longer as hungry.
At this point, is Cook the right leader for Apple?
Cook is doing as good of a job as anybody can in these circumstances. Jobs's shoes were impossible to fill. How could he possibly measure up to someone who not only founded the company, but then came back, saved it, and made history repeatedly with products like the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.
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