Reference Auto

Speculation is rife that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is terminally ill with pancreatic cancer and has only weeks to live, setting the stage for an uncertain future for Apple, especially in the wake of an intense slugfest with peers such as Microsoft and others like Dell and Samsung.

Fears of Jobs being diagnosed with cancer surfaced when he was photographed outside the Stanford Cancer Center. It was here that late actor, Patrick Swayze, who was also diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, spent his final days.

Jobs publicly revealed about his battle with surgery for pancreatic cancer way back in 2004.

Jobs is in his second stint at Apple. In 1984, he had to quit Apple after a tiff with the board when he formed a company by the name NeXT, engaged in computer platform and specialising in higher education and business markets.

In his first innings with Apple, Jobs became a game changer and put Apple at the forefront in global technology. He was the first to realise the potential of the mouse and also paved the way for the creation of the Macintosh.

In 1996, Apple said it would buy NeXT for a whopping $429 million.

The deal was charted in 1996 and brought Jobs back to Apple, the company he co-founded. He became Apple interim CEO and the incumbent CEO at that time, Gil Amelio, was shown the door.

In his second stint, Jobs has had a slew a successes, putting for instance, Apple right at the top in mobile aps. Apple apparently sold apps worth $1.8 billion last year, which accounts for 84% of the global market share. So, just how many companies have that kind of a market share?

Also, Apple more than doubled its sales volume from $769 million in 2009. Even though competitors are witnessing sales growth, they don’t seem to get anywhere closer to Apple.

So, what would it be for Apple if Steve Jobs were to not remain the CEO for ill health? Apple will surely miss Steve’s innovation. When Apple invented the iPod, it brought in a revolution similar to what Sony did with the walkman in the 1980s.

Moreover, from iPhone just a few years ago, now Apple is ready with the iPhone4 in such a short time, giving no legroom to its competitors. There is constant innovation at Apple under Steve Jobs.

Apple needs Steve Jobs more than ever before, and without him at the helm, there is a big threat from rivals like Google and Android which are making big inroads into the market and could be a potential threat to Apple even in the near future.