5. Establish A Clear Path Of Succession.
Following his cancer treatment in 2004, rumors of Jobs's impending death pop up every few months. The latest round of rumors were kicked off by Jobs's announcement in December that he planned to skip this year's Macworld. Later on, Jobs disclosed that he is sick after all, but it's apparently not life-threatening).
Last summer, a hoaxter posted a report that Jobs had had a heart attack, and the stock price plummeted.
So far, most of the talk about Jobs's health has been rumor and speculation. However, one thing is for certain: Everybody dies. Including you, me, and Steve Jobs.
Also, Jobs might simply decide to retire one day. What then?
Every business needs a plan of succession for its leadership. That's especially true of Apple, which as a company is an extension of Jobs's vision. Apple needs to publicize a plan for what the company will do when -- not if -- Jobs is unable, or unwilling, to lead.
Jobs's decision to step aside from this year's Macworld keynote might be the first signal that Apple is drawing up a succession plan, says Vijay Rakesh, a ThinkPanmure analyst, according to Wired. In Jobs's place, Philip Schiller, senior vice president of marketing, delivered the keynote. Rakesh says there'll be a transitional period of six months until the new team takes over.
Jobs's life work is a great American success story. It would be tragic if it failed to survive him. Apple needs to disclose a clear plan of succession for Jobs.
6. Develop Low-power, High-performance Processors For Portable Devices.
Apple bought PA Semi, which makes low-power PowerPC processors that could be used in an iPhone or iPod, for $278 million in cash in April. Later in the year, Apple hired Mark Papermaster, a top IBM microprocessor engineer, to head up iPhone and iPod development at Apple, a move that got bogged down in court. Apple followed up in December by buying a $4.8 million stake in mobile chip maker Imagination Technologies Group, roughly a 3.6% stake in the UK company. Apple licenses Imagination's technology for making semiconductors for multimedia and communications devices.
What's Apple doing with all that microprocessor intellectual property and brainpower? Developing a high-performance, power-efficient, ARM-based system-on-a-chip, says the Apple blog 9to5 Mac. The chip would power a netbook, or similar device, with enough performance to run full-scale Mac OS X and with enough power to run for days on a charge. It could also find a home in the AppleTV.
Power consumption, and the need to recharge frequently, are obstacles to getting the most from mobile computing. A new line of homebrewed mobile processors could help Apple get a bigger place in users' pockets and gear bags.
