"It is true that the people who have been able to come up with the innovations in many industries are maybe not the people that either are best skilled at, or, frankly, enjoy running large enterprises where they lose contact with the day-to-day workings of that innovative process.”

If you are a die-hard technology fan, you would recognise these words. Yes, this was Steve Jobs talking to ‘Newsweek’ in 1985 during his departure from Apple.  

The company couldn’t survive long without him and Jobs was recalled to lead Apple again in 1997. Since then, you, I and the entire world has seen what Apple has done to the world of tech gadgets.

Known as a fierce competitor and a savvy marketer, Jobs has become synonymous with innovation. I recall a CNBC Town Hall Chat in 2009 where Bill Gates was asked to comment on Steve Job’s role as CEO of Apple. Besides mouthing the routine words of praise, Gates added,” He, of all the leaders in the industry that I've worked with, has shown more inspiration and has saved the company.”

After regaining the leadership role in 1997, Jobs created an institution that not only attracts and fosters experimentation but also dares to challenge the status quo. Under his leadership, Apple, in the past one decade, has given the finest technology products to mankind, be it the iMac, iPod, iPhone or the iPad.

Steve Jobs isn’t keeping well these days. If one were to believe the recently published pictures of Jobs in The National Enquirer – a US Tabloid, he doesn’t have much time left. According to rumor mills, the man who lived a mission to dominate the world of gadgets is fighting a terminal pancreatic cancer. A few media reports have even stated that he can barely survive for a couple more months.

It is a fact that Apple is a hub of innovation. But yet another fact is that if anything happens to Jobs (given his fragile state), Apple may go into deep slumber because the entire effort of innovation seems to be wrapped up in and around him.

Will innovation in Apple die with Steve Jobs?

I don’t think so. And here’s what gives strength to my belief:

“If I’m a million miles away and people at Apple are still working to make the next great personal computer, then I will feel that my genes are still in there,” said Jobs in the same interview I cited above.

Join me in wishing Steve Jobs new life.

RAHUL NEEL MANI

rahul.mani@9dot9.in