Uh oh. It sounds like Jobs was willing to violate his fiduciary to Apple shareholders, since Apple's $40 billion of cash is company and shareholder money, not Job's.
In the long term, purveyors of closed systems, such as Apple's, must innovate continuously, relentlessly, and for the benefit of their future buyers if they want to stay ahead of obsolescence. It is a very tough job, and history shows that eventually even the best will slip up. Look at Microsoft: Its proprietary Windows platform is no longer innovating fast enough to present a compelling value over Linux. Windows evolution plateaued with Windows XP, and although there are a few technical innovations in Windows 7, most of the changes are internal, where end users can't see them.
And trees don't grow to the sky. Market penetration of the iPhone and iPod is already quite deep. Are there any compelling reasons to buy shares of AAPL now? I can't see any, but the downside risk of a flat market and richly-priced stock shows that there may be reasons to take some money off the table, if you do own AAPL. You might keep some for sentimental reasons.
Let’s not be irrational. Ultimately and alas, you’re dead — you lose. Even sadder, Steve Jobs was famous for swiping the ideas and work of others. Anyone hell-bent on revenge to their dying breath is a sad case; you know: sound mind, sound body. … And, the latest chapter: Steve Jobs’ “storybook” home in Old Palo Alto (corner of Santa Rita and Waverley) is already under big construction/renovation. Forget Google, maybe the house was haunted.
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