This is so loose with the facts its borderline fantasy. Once you start to look at who was an engineer, who really designed products, who was the marketing whiz, etc etc the real story comes out. In fact, by 1998/1999 ( roughly ), some thought AAPL was going out of business. That could very easily have been the end of them, bought out and over. Jobs was definately a visionary leader last decade. You make him sound like he engineered and designed all the products, and without him there is nobody with these skills. Total nonesense. A similar claim would be to say Bill Gates was the greatest software designer in history. In fact, he wasn't that at all ( does he even know how to design software ? ), he was just in the right place at the right time, assembled the right team, and marketed the products successfully.
The reason SA hates Apple is because its an American success story. It really is that simple. Nothing you can say will change his mind, because his argument is based on emotion, not facts.
Arnie, Who told you that I hate Apple stock? Steve Jobs did a fantastic job with that company, but now the magic is gone!!!!! Here is a fact for you that changes everything: Steve Jobs is dead, and gone forever.... Is that fact too hard for you to understand: the impact that this event will have on Apple stock in the coming years? .
February 16, 2012 SouthAmerica: Reply to Nine Ender Steve Jobs and Apple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs ...After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets. NeXT was eventually acquired by Apple in 1996, which brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and provided Apple with the NeXTSTEP codebase, from which the Mac OS X was developed." Jobs was named Apple advisor in 1996, interim CEO in 1997, and CEO from 2000 until his resignation. He oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad and the company's Apple Retail Stores. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd, which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios. He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1_percent until its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2006, making Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder at seven_percent and a member of Disney's Board of Directors. ***** Sept. 16, 1985: Jobs Quits Apple Sept. 16, 1997: Jobs Rejoins Apple Apple stock closing prices: Sept. 16, 1985: $ 16.75 per share Sept. 16, 1997: $ 21.94 per share * Close price adjusted for dividends and splits. During these 12 years (9/85 - 9/97) the Apple stock managed to go up in value by 30 % - nothing to write home about it. Note: Sept. 16: It's an auspicious day in the history of Steve Jobs. It's the day he quit Apple and the day he returned. Jobs resigned as chairman of Apple Computer on Sept. 16, 1985, after losing a boardroom battle for control of the company with then-CEO John Sculley. On the same day he resigned, Jobs submitted incorporation papers to the California secretary of state for the name of his new company, NeXT Computer. NeXT produce a fantastic operating system, NeXTStep, which many praised as ahead of its time. In December 1996, Apple bought NeXT for $400 million. It wanted NeXTStep to form the basis of a new, modern operating system, one that didnât crash every time Netscape Navigator was launched. Jobs came on board as an informal adviser to then-CEO Gil Amelio. But within months, the board fired Amelio after Apple suffered one of the biggest quarterly losses in Silicon Valley history. Jobs was initially reluctant to take a role at Apple. His other company, Pixar, had just released its first movie, Toy Story, to great acclaim. But he soon found himself putting in more time at Apple, working hard to whip it into shape. On Sept. 16, 1997, Apple announced that Jobs had officially been named interim CEO, or -- as the company cleverly put it -- iCEO. *** The Steve Jobs effect (magic): Apple stock closing prices: Sept. 16, 1997: $ 21.94 per share Feb. 16, 2012: $ 500.00 per share In a nutshell: If Steve Jobs had not returned to Apple in 1997, today Apple would have been a complete different company and I am sure not as successful as Apple have been since Steve Jobs returned to Apple. Without Steve Jobs on board at Apple, many of the products that makes that company so successful today it would never been launched such as iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Just God knows what Apple would look like today, or even if they still be in business without the Steve Jobs return to Apple in Sept. 1997. The magic is gone forever (Steve Jobs), and we will find out in the coming years how successful Apple can be without Steve Jobs. My gut feeling says that the magic is gone from Apple with Steve Jobs death, and that after the Steve Jobs effect fades away that company will become just another ordinary high-tech company from Silicon Valley... Time will tell who's right. But I would go with my gut feeling.... By the way, Apple stock is trading right now at $ 503 per share with very heavy volume. .
. October 3, 3012 SouthAmerica: Apple's stock is trading around US$ 660 per share right now, which translates to a market cap of US$ 620 billion. The magic is gone forever (Steve Jobs), and we will find out in the coming years how successful Apple can be without Steve Jobs. My gut feeling says that the magic is gone from Apple with Steve Jobs death, and that after the Steve Jobs effect fades away that company will become just another ordinary high-tech company from Silicon Valley... Time will tell who's right. But I would go with my gut feeling.... I can see Apple's stock trading in the range of US$ 35 to US$ 50 per share in the coming 5 to 7 years as the Steve Jobs effect fades away regarding the product line of that company..... (I am over-estimating these figures because of the effect of inflation.) Capital Account â October 2, 2012 Reggie Middleton on Apple's "iBubble," and the JP Morgan/Bear Sterns Lawsuit <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q3g__vy6Pmw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> .