Today 13 years ago Steve Jobs left us. Everything Apple has changed since then (and everything it keeps)

On this day, but in 2011, Steve Paul Jobs passed awayco-founder of Apple and CEO of the company until just a few months before. The news reached us in Spain on what would already be our October 6th, but technically and officially, today is October 5th when 13 years without one of the most brilliant minds in recent history. A genius if there ever was one, although with a strong and controversial character, it must be said.

If we take a look at the company that Jobs co-founded and ran, we can see how Apple is not the same in almost anything. For better or worse, depending on the data and the opinion of who interprets it. But very different in any case and for example, a button. Or, rather, these examples.

Apple has tripled its revenue

While it is true that Apple already had a very positive upward trend in terms of income, there is no other choice but to recognize the good work of Tim Cook, who beyond maintaining that positive trend has managed to make 2023, the last fiscal year closed by Apple, get a growth of 71.82% compared to Jobs’ last year at the head of Apple (although it should be remembered that part of 2011, since August, Cook was already in charge).

The fact is that in more than a decade, Apple has barely reduced its income from one year to the next on three occasions, from 2015 to 2016 with a drop of 7.9%, from 2018 to 2019 with a drop of 1.9% and from 2022 to 2023 with a reduction of 2.7%. On the other hand, it has had more than notable increases like the one experienced after the pandemic, since from 2020 to 2021 income increased by 24.9%.

More products and pampering services: Cook’s keys

If we stop our eyes at the very moment in which Steve Jobs left this world and compare it with the immediately present moment, we find a very wide difference in products and services that Apple has.

As our colleague Javier Lacort already analyzed, Apple’s catalog has undergone a metamorphosis in every sense. A bit in line with everything above, which is stop being a “niche” brand to cover a broad commercial target. It is not that the Apple of 2011 was unknown, but it was more than evident that its priority was to offer unique products in each range or with very subtle differences.

The key to success largely also comes from huge increase in income with services. As Apple has introduced more, they have gone smashing revenue records in this area. Of the total, they already represent around 25%, still far from the 50% of the iPhone, but already well established as the second fundamental pillar in the company’s coffers.

Less “WOW” and more “Cling-Cling”

Precisely by virtue of all of the above there is something that can be seen very clearly. It’s not that under Steve Jobs Apple didn’t make money or that Tim Cook didn’t come up with great innovations. However, it is evident how In the era of Tim Cook, there is more commitment to increasing income. It’s not bad. After all, it is the objective of every company.

However, for the most die-hard Apple fans, surprises are missing, especially in recent times. Although it is true that this section alone would be enough for extensive theses, in broad strokes you can see how in the Jobs era devices emerged that would forever change the course of the company (iPod, iPhone and iPad).

Tim Cook, for its part, prioritizes diversifying the market and having products for all tastes and budgets. Not literally the latter, but at least in a much closer way. The iPhone itself is a good example of this, since previously anyone who wanted an iPhone had to spend no matter what the cost of the only model that was marketed. With Cook we now have a range of 940 euros difference between the cheapest iPhone (the ‘SE’) and the most expensive (the 16 Pro Max). From 529 euros to 1,469 euros through intermediate options from current and previous generations.

Likewise, it is not advisable to detract from the new product ranges of the Cook era, having AirPods and Apple Watch as their great milestones. Not in vain, both lead their respective sectors with sales. The Apple Vision Pro, for now, remains in the background, since despite its spectacular nature, in the end it is still a product with a different focus and waiting to establish itself.

An increasingly open ecosystem in every sense

Whether by legal imperative as is happening lately in Europe or by motu proprio, Cook’s Apple is much more open than Jobs’ Apple. This is something that applies to the communication of your devices with that of other brandsas can be with the AirTag or how permissive they have become with the user.

And opening up in every sense is also about the customization options offered by your systems and especially iOS. While with Jobs they opted for skeuomorphism in the design of the icons and in allowing their order to be changed and little else, since his death they have been evolving towards neuformism and even allowing change icon color. A complete sacrilege to Jobs’ philosophy, according to some.

Today’s Apple still has a lot of Jobs

Despite everything, Apple continues to maintain part of the essence of Jobs. These are just some examples of how Steve’s philosophy is still present in the company after more than a decade.

• Minimalist designfrom the simple iPhone case to the design of its most popular products. Although it is not that Jobs’ idea is followed so strictly in all cases, being the new iPhone 16 button the best proof, given that the co-founder opted more for an idea of ​​the fewer buttons, the better.
• Nothing exists until Apple confirms it. While in other companies it is common to see how they announce the presentation of a product by showing part of it or at least confirming that they will present it, Apple remains faithful to its tradition of not revealing absolutely anything of what it will present at its events. Despite the fact that there is certain evidence such as that new iPhones are announced at September events.
• Apple Park is a reincarnation of Jobswho together with Jony Ive designed the futuristic headquarters that Apple inaugurated in 2017. Minimalism and consistency with the designs that the company makes was Jobs’ obsession. The theater for events also bears his name.
• “What’s mine is mine and mine alone” It’s something that could well apply to how Apple develops its hardware and software. Despite this openness to third parties and allowing more and more options to the user, the company continues to prioritize bringing its own operating systems and key components such as the processor. And far from wanting to license them to third parties or adapt theirs to yours, you are getting closer to leading all the processes. See the Mac processors, which left Intel four years ago to switch to their own or the goal of developing their own 5G modems so as not to depend on Qualcomm.
• User experience is above all and although Apple has been forced to open up in certain points in the European Union with elements such as alternative app storesthe truth is that it fights to ensure that its systems have a fluid user experience and, above all, private in relation to the use of personal data.

Therefore, we see that in the end Apple is Apple. With Jobs and with Cook. Two very different ways of leading and in no case do they prove that one is better than the other. In the end, everything is opinion and while for many everything in the past was always better, there are those who see in Cook another type of visionary more established in income. Be that as it may, both are Apple history and Jobs is not only remembered now, but will always be remembered.

To close, like this I remembered Tim Cook to Steve Jobs on the very day of his death.

“Apple has lost a visionary and a creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind Yes, a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will always be the foundation of Apple.”

Cover image | Generated with AI

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