Profile: Apple's Steve Jobs
Backgrounder: Steve Jobs, tech industry's first rock star
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| An iPad displays a picture of Steve Jobs at an Apple store in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 25, 2011. Steve Jobs has resigned as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple, the company said on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Long Wei) |
BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The resignation of Silicon Valley icon Steve Jobs from the top managing post of Apple Inc. has got many in China questioning the mighty U.S. technology firm's future.
Jobs' resignation ranked the top hot topic of the day on Sina Weibo, the country's most popular microblogging site, with 1.5 million posts on the topic by midday Thursday, hours after the California-based company announced that Jobs resigned as Chief Executive Officer.
"If Jobs eventually leaves Apple, I will not buy Apple products any more," said one Internet user.
Concerns over the IT legend's health also poured in.
"At this moment, I'm only concerned about Jobs' health. Wish him good luck in fighting illness and a tranquil period with the family," another Internet user said.
Jobs, 56, is widely considered a symbol of Apple. At the age of 21, he and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer in the family garage in 1976. After leaving the company for a decade, Jobs returned in 1996 and helped the near-bankrupt Apple to soar to its prime with powerful innovations in the development of smart-phones and tablet computers.
On Aug. 10, Apple briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil to become the largest U.S. company in terms of market value, or about 337 billion U.S. dollars at the time.
But over the years, Jobs' gaunt appearance constantly inspired speculations about his weakening health. Apple's shares dropped about six percent on the U.S. stock market hours after Jobs' departure was announced.
The iPhone only officially went on sale in the Chinese mainland in October 2009 and the iPad hit the market in April 2010. But the popularity is immense. Queues are common at the four authorized Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai while underground markets also thrive with smuggled iPhones and iPads.
Market analysis firm International Data Corporation estimates that Chinese consumers had purchased at least 800,000 iPads by the end of 2010.
It is reported that Apple's revenue in the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong reached 3.8 billion U.S. dollars in the second quarter this year, six times the amount in the same quarter last year, according to media reports.
"Jobs is like an icon to many people. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to access the world's advanced technology," said one Internet user. "Hope his successor can pay even more attention to the booming China market."
Sina Weibo started hosting a special section on Jobs' resignation Thursday and invited Internet users to participate in online surveys on the matter.
On the question of "how do you think Jobs' resignation will affect Apple?" more than 2,600 people, or half of the survey respondents, said the company would lose its soul, while 1,789 people, 35 percent of the respondents, said the impact would be limited as long as Jobs stayed with the company.
While 31 percent of the respondents polled in another survey said they would be "loyal Apple fans" with or without Jobs, another 49 percent said at least they still intended to buy iPhone 5, whereas 20 percent said they would no longer buy Apple products.
Apple previously said it would launch the iPhone 5 in September this year.
Industry analyst Kang Zhiyi with Donghai Securities said Apple's hot selling products, iPhones and iPads, would not have come out without Jobs. As Jobs still retains the board chairman post, Apple's development strategy is not likely to be derailed, he added.
Chen Jinqiao, secretary-general of a telecommunications experts panel with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, echoed his words.
"The innovation of Jobs is now deeply rooted in Apple's corporate culture," Chen said. "The company also has a strong team. Cook got the credit for running the company well at times when Jobs was on sick leave."
But Chen said Apple also faces tremendous challenges from industry rivals and it would not be an easy task to maintain the company's market dominance.
Sun Peilin, an analyst with Analysis International, said many other manufacturers are tapping into the Chinese market in the sector, providing various types of products, which reduced Apple's dominance.
In March, Apple's rival Lenovo Group launched its first tablet computer LePad based on the Android 2.2 operating system. The product, starting at 3,499 yuan, comes in two versions that support WiFi and 3G services.
IPads sold through authorized channels in China do not support 3G services.
The second generation of LePad will hit the market in the fourth quarter of this year, accelerating its pace to catch up with Apple's iPad.Chen Xudong, vice president of the Lenovo, said the company will adopt a "multi-model" strategy in its battle with Apple in the tablet computer market and plans to take more than 30 percent of China's tablet computer market over the next two to three years.
