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The ghost of Jobs: Apples challenge to decide what would Steve do?
by Jacqui Cheng - Oct 5 2012, 9:15am ESAST

Counter-clockwise f rom the lef t, Steve Jobs, Jonthan Ives, T im Cook, a Foxconn worker, the iPhone 5. Aurich Lawson

In August 2011, Apple underwent a major corporate change as CEO Steve Jobs stepped down from his post and handed control to COO Tim Cooknot as a temporary measure this time, but for good. Jobs adopted a new position as Chairman of the Board; less than two months later, he died. Jobs' passing, one year ago today, wasn't a shockhe had battled cancer and cancer-related ailments for nearly a decade at that pointbut it still sent ripples through the tech world. For Apple's own employees, it was a strange shift. A post-Steve Apple had been born whether anyone liked it or not, and it was up to everyone in the company to soldier on. But in which direction?

"Now that Steve's gone, there's a lack of hot-headedness, and there's a lack of fear. As dumb as it sounds, fear is good. It keeps you from being complacent."

Cook faced unique challenges in his new positionhe wasn't just a new CEO, he was under an extremely critical microscope to see whether he could measure up as Replacement Steve. Jobs had instructed Cook to avoid asking himself what Jobs would doinstead, Cook was told to "just do what's right"but Jobs' legacy at Apple was a powerful force, and it exerted a pull on Applewatchers everywhere. "Would Steve have done this?" became one of the most commonand annoyingquestions that cropped up in the press every time Apple did something of interest, such as when the company apologized for releasing an incomplete product or admitted to a mistake in leaving an environmental product registry. But it wasn't just outsiders asking the question. Many of Apple's own employeesthe engineers who work passionately on the hardware and software that customers use every dayhave found themselves involved in repeated conversations over the past year about what Jobs would have done. Or if they were not directly involved, they heard about such conversations from their peers. The question became a common refrain within Apple, though opinions differ on whether its effect has been positive. One year into Tim Cook's leadership, we spoke with a number of Apple employees to find out what has changed under the new boss. Those we spoke with are acutely aware that the slice of Apple they are exposed to doesn't necessarily represent the whole company. Apple is a secretive organization, even from the inside, and different groups operate in different ways. But we did speak to people from several different parts of the company, however, and from several different levels of experience, in order to sketch a balanced picture of post-Steve life inside One Infinite Loop.

What would Steve do?

A common thread among all these conversations was that the last year has invited constant reflection on decisions within the company. "'Steve wouldn't have let that happen' is something you'd hear all too often in the last 12 months," one source told Ars. "Anything from Maps to things such as the clusterfuck with [Apple's new retail head] John Browett."

"Maps sucks. But MobileMe sucked, too, and that was under Steve Jobs."

The missteps, such as iOS 6 Maps, have upset the employees, too. "It was clear to anybody who would use it, even in the iOS betas, that Maps looks pretty bad," another source said. "If someone had showed that to Steve, he would've said, 'This looks like shit.' He would have actually said that.

Tim did the right thing by apologizing, but the better thing would've been, like, 'We can't ship this.'" But having Jobs in control also produced a culture in which secrecy and even a bit of fear was a part of everyday life at Apple, which helped steer intensive R&D efforts. "Steve would come up with a good ideahe came with a lot of bad ones, tooand somebody would be mobilized internally to start working on it, kind of like a startup," one person said. "You vanished from your secret post to do some secret work, and many months later you'd return to your group to do your thing. That kind of thing doesn't seem to happen anymore, or at least I haven't seen it." Some said that the fear helped inspire a more intense commitment to the work. "Now that Steve's gone, there's a lack of hot-headedness, and there's a lack of fear," another person said. "As dumb as it sounds, fear is good. It keeps you from being complacent." Under Cook, the tone has changednot that everyone likes the new approach. The employees we spoke with disagreed, for instance, on how the Maps issue had been handled; not everyone thought Cook did the right thing by apologizing. Some employees expressed irritation that Apple appears to be rolling over more often than it would have under Jobs. "I can bring to memory possibly two Steve apologies, ever. MobileMe, and the bumper issue with the iPhone 4and of those, only MobileMe was an actual apology," one employee said.

Why are mommy and daddy fighting?

The constant comparisons between Jobs and Cook have been draining to some employees, who are annoyed with the constant questioning of Cook's decision-making abilities. "I think a lot of people see Apple and think, 'Oh man, there are politics and internal bickering and Steve Jobs would never have let that happen!' But the truth is: it's a big company and it was always like this," one source said. "It's no different than before. Bad decisions are being made. Maps sucks. But MobileMe sucked, too, and that was under Steve Jobs." The squabbles have become a distraction for some. Can one really do his or her best work when colleagues are distressed over whether Apple is moving in the right direction? For others, they don't affect daily work. Although many of the Apple employees we spoke to described for ussometimes in painful detailthe kinds of bickering present in their respective groups, most agreed that for someone on an engineering level or below, day-to-day life doesn't differ much since last year. (The exception is retail employees, who have strong opinions about how their lives have changed under the aforementioned John Browett.) The employees we talked to also pointed to areas which Cook has improved at Apple since Jobs left. Most importantly, he has tightened up manufacturing operationsmany devices being ordered online by customers today haven't even been made when they're ordered. "You remember

ten years ago when they would announce some stuff and it wouldn't come out for months?" one source asked. "If this were ten years ago, if you couldn't get an iPhone 5 in three weeks, you may as well just give it up" due to lengthy product backlogs. Another employee added that Cook was better at "getting shit done." Then there's the cash. "We're making more money, as a company and on an individual level," said one source. "Watching the stock price go up and upI credit Tim for that." Employees also said Cook was more approachable than Jobs, with "low-level" employees feeling comfortable enough to speak with him in the cafeteria or to approach him in a hallway. Cook recently sent an e-mail to employees about taking off extra time during Thanksgivingsomething we're told Jobs did as wellbut some employees feel that Cook is better at "acknowledging people for their work."

Looking to the future

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what Steve would or wouldn't do, because Steve is gone. What matters is what those still at Apple will do. One person familiar with Apple's overall retail operations had a dark view of the future. "I really am worried as to what Apple will be like in three years. I'm sure that corporate will be fine, pushing out the iPhone Classic or whatever, and that retail will be awash with idiots," he said. "It feels like the mid-'90s all over again. We can still remember how awesome we were, and so we can't see the storm rolling on in." But, just as that source predicted, those we spoke to from Apple corporate had a much more positive view of what's ahead.

"Apple is kind of on a track right now where we can print our own money for a while."

"I don't know what our next big thing is going to be, beyond what I'm currently working on," said one source. "And I don't know if Steve was the one who had all the ideas, or if he and Jony Ive came up with them together, or what. But Apple is kind of on a track right now where we can print our own money for a while." Another source emphasized that Apple is a weird company "and continues to be weird." He sees no reason that will change in the future. "The goal is the same, the motivations appear the same." Opinions differed on whether Cook has been doing un-Steve-like things over the last year, but the corporate folks agreed that Cook has been a strong leader in his own right. As one employee put it, "I think the Apple doomsayer articles are grabbing at straws." Employees describe Cook as

smart, and as capable of surrounding himself with the kinds of people who make the hard decisions that Jobs might once have made himself. "I think the general consensus at Apple is that he seems like a nice guy," one person said. "He's very different from Steve, but that's not a problem." When and whether Apple's internal culture can move past the constant questioning about Jobs' ideas and his legacy remains unclear, but employees are eager for it to happen so that they can focus on doing their best work. As Cook does during the company's quarterly fiscal calls, some Apple employees are happy to hint (without details!) that interesting things remain in the product pipeline. As one employee put it, "I think we'll continue to ship a lot of cool shit."