Apple After Steve: Five Potential Candidates To Replace Jobs

Apple announced that it's getting ready to pull out of the Macworld trade show after this year's event. While that was a bombshell, what was even more startling was the revelation that Steve Jobs won't be delivering the keynote this year. Instead, the company will be sending Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, to the stage to address the Mac faithful.







The announcement last month set off a round of speculation that Jobs' health might be on the decline, a rumor the company has repeatedly denied. What's more likely is that Apple doesn't have anything revolutionary to announce this time around, and Jobs doesn't want to go out on a low note. Still, speculation is always swirling as to what will happen to the company when Jobs steps down and who will replace him. Get to know the top five internal candidates that may be in line as potential heirs to the Apple throne.

Jonathan Ive is Apple's senior vice president in charge of the company's industrial design team. That means Ive is responsible for creating the look and feel of the products the company puts out. Ive could replace Jobs because of his boss's notoriously hands-on approach to the design of products. In the development stages of a product, Jobs will often step in and demand changes to products -- usually for the better -- to give them that iconic Apple look and usability the company is known for. As the man in charge of the physical look and feel of products, Ive has likely spent many hours debating which direction to take products before they are unveiled with Jobs.

Scott Forstall is a senior vice president with Apple and leads the team charged with developing the iPhone's operating system and software. Being in charge of a game-changing product like the iPhone would be a nice feather in anyone's cap. But Forstall may be poised to take over Apple after Jobs because of the strong work he's done designing the guts of the iPhone.

That experience -- creating something that revolutionized the market -- may give Forstall an edge because he knows what the process is like for creating something totally new and different, something Apple as a company highly values.

Ron Johnson is Apple's senior vice president of retail and essentially created Apple's hip new retail store presence. Johnson could replace Jobs because, as anyone who's ever worked retail or seen Glengarry Glen Ross, a company always has to be closing.

The bottom line is that moving units is the most important part of Apple's business. And getting people into stores and out with shiny new iPods, iPhones or Macbooks is Johnson's specialty. While he may not have the design or development experience of some of the other Apple candidates, the fact that he can sell should bode well for him.

Tim Cook is Apple's chief operating officer and ran the company for a short stint while Jobs was undergoing cancer treatments several years ago. Cook could replace Jobs because, in essence, he already runs the company.

Steve Jobs isn't bogged down by making decisions about payroll increases, that falls to Cook. Furthermore, Cook has been known to be just as demanding as Jobs when it comes to driving the business, dealing with problems and plotting a course into the future. It was Cook, after all, who got Apple out of the manufacturing game, a move that's saved the company mountains of money.

Cook operates with the best interests of the company at heart and, like Johnson, while he isn't a designer, he does know how to make the business tick and be profitable.

Phillip Schiller is Apple's marketing chief and the company's chosen replacement speaker for Jobs at this January's Macworld expo. Schiller could replace Jobs because it is his job to do something Jobs does every day: create a brand and message around the company.

While Steve Jobs is undoubtedly Apple's best salesman and speaker, Schiller, as the head of marketing should have some input into what is being said about the company and how it's being portrayed. It's unlikely that Schiller's keynote at Macworld will be greeted with the same fanfare a Steve Jobs keynote would receive, but this is Phillip Schiller's big chance, and everyone is waiting to see what he'll do with it.