Could Apple Be As Ruthless Without Steve?

Steve Jobs' most defining trait is probably his ruthlessness on technology and willingness to can it before its end-of-life. This ruthlessness is a major factor in Apple's success since his return. Could anyone else in the role of Apple CEO have the necessary ruthlessness and yet still be visionary?

I totally expect Steve Jobs to return in June as expected. I also expect him to come back totally reinvigorated. But his absence gives us a chance to stop and think of Apple without him.

Without Mr Jobs at the helm, Apple has shown it's not afraid to experiment. On his return in 1997, he cut back many things, culled and streamlined product lines, and then to many peoples' surprise, culled perfectly good technology as well.

The one that everyone mentions is the floppy drive. The original iMacs came sans floppy drive. Apple said we didn't need them, we could email files. That wasn't entirely unreasonable if you remember that Mac floppies weren't PC compatible. However, the floppy lived a long time beyond that, and in fact, I still see them on the shelves.

Steve wasn't afraid to bet on new technologies either, with those original iMacs being among the first computers to come standard with USB and Firewire. However, as Firewire never really took off like USB has, Apple under Steve culled it from iPods years ago, and from MacBooks last year.

Speaking of culling, although Steve launched the Mac Cube with much fanfare, he had no hesitation in killing it off when it struggled.

What about the iPod? For years people begged Apple to include an FM radio. It never did, the closest being an add-on.

Software wise, iMovie springs to mind. A venerable application, well loved by millions, it was unceremoniously dumped in 2007 in favour of a completely new - and very feature lacking - version. Not unexpectedly, there was a huge uproar. In some minor concession, Apple made the old version available for download, but otherwise Apple, under Steve, stuck steadfastly to its new model. 2009 saw iMovie 09 released with many more features but still well short of the old iMovie 06.

Of course, we need look no further than the iPhone to see Apple's single mindedness. No MMS, no full Bluetooth, no video recording, three features that just about every other mobile phone has standard. But Apple, under Steve, sticks to its ways.

Throughout, Apple under Steve Jobs has been quite single minded in its vision for products. That has frustrated many people but the runs are on the board, the success is there.

Unlike those years without Steve when Apple tried to be all things, expanded its product lines, added new ones, even releasing its own digital camera - and was slowly going down the gurgler.

Could Apple find another leader with both Steve's product vision and commitment to an ideal? It's one thing to have a great idea etc, but if that means customers or potential customers offside, it can be hard to stick it out.

In this regard, where would Apple be if Steve doesn't come back, or when he does finally go? Would it drift more towards trying to keep more customers happy, trying to appeal to more people, broadening its product lines? Would we see headless Macs, rebirth of the Newton, netbooks, iPods with the lot, greatly cut down iPhones, and OS X licensing to name a few?

You may scoff, and say Apple has a culture, that its ruthlessness is in its culture, but it didn't take long last time Steve left for its culture to be forgotten.