Almost everything Apple has done since the unfortunate passing of Steve Jobs has been met with comments about what the company would or wouldn’t have done had Steve still been here – even though his marching orders for Tim Cook were to never ask what he would have done.
But things certainly would have been different. The flattened user-interface of iOS 7 versus the skeuomorphic approach of the Jobs era. Would have it have happened at all? Would he have stopped it going quite so far? Would Apple have gone in a different direction?
What about an Apple Television? Steve said years ago that he “finally cracked it,” suggesting that he had a design and user-interface he was happy with. If the hold-up now is the content, would Steve have been able to bulldoze through the necessary deals to have launched it by now … ?
Would the man who declared that smartphone screens had to be small enough to reach everything with your thumb have finally given in to the inevitable and allowed not just the 4.7-inch screen of the iPhone 6 but also the 5.5-inch one of the 6 Plus? If not, how would iPhones today be competing with their larger-screened competition?
Would Apple be launching the Apple Watch, or would a new product category from Steve have taken the company in a very different direction? And what of the Apple Car? We know Steve dreamed of making one–would work have started on that much earlier? Had Steve’s illness not robbed him of energy, could Apple have beaten Tesla to the punch?
What of Apple’s corporate culture? Would we still see the strong environmental lead, matching of employee charitable donations and participation in Pride events?
[tweet https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/570169805413552128/]
We’d love to hear your thoughts! Dive into the comments and let us know how you think Apple would be different today were Steve still alive.
