This year, Apple was Interbrand's top rising Best Global Brand, with a 58 percent increase in brand value. But the recent resignation of founder Steve Jobs caused the share-price to dip by five percent as investors feared for the future of the company. Jobs may remain as chairman of the board, but what effect will this disruption have on Apple’s brand value? Can the new CEO Tim Cook maintain the momentum, which has carried Apple from 49 to eight in the last 11 years? Or is Steve Jobs bigger than the Apple brand? Our first opportunity to find out comes today, when Tim Cook presents the new iPhone 4...
Jobs and Apple
As a graphic designer, learning my trade in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I was duly caught up in the Apple surge. Its products gave me opportunities that simply didn’t exist before. Whenever I see anything that is overcomplicated, hectic, or cluttered, I immediately think “what would Apple do to make this right?” The determination to strip back, remove excess noise, balance form and function – the Appleness – undoubtedly influences my own tastes.
Like many people in this business, I have great respect for Jobs. I see him as the epitome of a business pioneer, on the same high plane as Richard Branson, building an empire from nothing, working against the grain to shape the way we lead our daily lives.
But the reaction of the Apple doom-mongers is partially understandable. While it is worth repeating that Jobs is very much alive and active, Apple is inevitably losing a valuable asset. Jobs’ on-stage charisma, especially at product launch time, will be hard to match. Various competitors have tried to imitate his showmanship, often with painful results. The indications are that neither Cook, nor anyone else in the current executive, will do any better.
Jobs vs. Cook
Through force of reputation and his cult status, Jobs was able to ride storms, quickly putting the ship back on course. And let’s be honest now, Apple doesn’t always get it right. Its products have occasional flaws. It is not always the best on the market. The true test for Cook will come when a product fails to hit the high standards of the past, a new competitor emerges, or the share price struggles. Will Cook have the hutzpah to shake off the blips, as Jobs did with setbacks like Apple TV and the USB Mouse? Or is Cook too much of a logistics man, rather than the pioneer his company needs?
In the next few years, Cook will need to stare down challenges –and his first test will be today. Whether he wins the love of the Apple fans may be less important than whether he can retain the loyalty of the Apple staff. Though Cook has been an integral member of the Apple brand for some time, transitioning into being the one who does the inspiring with be a tough course to navigate. Indeed, if Apple loses its best minds to competitors or fails to attract the hottest young talent, then it will have trouble continuing to hit the highest notes.
It is also important to note that a key part of Jobs’ leadership was ignoring market research, stating that design companies should tell consumers what they want, before they knew it themselves. Through repeated successes and spellbinding brand loyalty, Jobs steered the company to a position where it can lead consumers rather than second-guess them. Doubtless Cook’s ears will be ringing with Jobs’ advice to “be your own man.” And yet, if he stays true to this vision, it may mean scrapping Jobsian concepts in the pipeline that will be obsolete by the time of launch. Even harder, to become more like Jobs, Cook may have to phase Jobs out.
Overall, however, Cook is in an enviable position. This is his to lose. The structure and ethos of Apple, the creative drive, and the personnel are all in place. If Cook stays true to the core values of the company, (if you excuse the pun), then he’ll have to go some to screw up.
And there’s the rub. Cook is already a feature of the Apple success story. But does he want to become an icon in his own right? Does he want to build his own legacy?