Much has changed since the death of Steve Jobs a year ago, but Apple wants the world to believe it’s still the same company at its core.
Yesterday, the tech giant marked the one-year anniversary of Jobs’ death with a two-minute video tribute that also sought to reassure customers, employees and investors that the company was moving ahead while holding on to the qualities of its iconic co-founder.
“Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple,” CEO Tim Cook said in a posting on the company’s website.
Under Cook’s leadership, the stock has soared 80 percent, making Apple the most valuable company in the world.
Thanks to regular updates of its popular gadgets, record profits and revenues and stock dividends, Wall Street has no reason to complain.
Still, the big question hanging over the company is whether it will continue to innovate in the post-Steve Jobs era. Apple is delivering sixth-generation phones and is about to deliver a fourth-generation tablet, but has not had a game-changing innovation in several years.
Analyst Trip Chowdhry said Apple is more interested in patent lawsuits to protect old technology than it is in developing new technology.
“The velocity of innovation is going down,” he said.
He also called out Apple for shifting the focus from users to investors.
Cook’s statement yesterday seemed designed to counter the perceived slowdown in innovation.
“No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself,” he said.