Apple’s Future

I’m sure everybody and their sister has heard about Apple CEO Steve Jobs taking a 6-month or so medical leave from the company.

Also, I’m supremely sure everybody has heard the same old boring, tired argument that “Apple can’t replace Steve Jobs.”  And I’m hoping everyone read MacWorld’s piece on the “triumvirate” of Tim Cook, Jony Ive, and Phil Schiller.

One thing that Steve is known for is the “cool factor” he brings to Apple’s product line.  Another is the product development, vision, and marketing that Steve has introduced with the iPod, the iPhone, and, yes, the MacBooks.

Allow me to submit my own name, BJ Wanlund, for consideration to be the new CEO of Apple Inc.

I am nothing more than an idea guy.  But I have numerous wonderful and fantastic ideas for Apple, if this were to come to fruition.  Most of them rely on one thing: Apple’s knack for creating a) fantastic consumer electronics hardware, b) amazing services that use iTunes, the world’s most stable sales platform, as a jumping-off point, and c) the most amazing, simple, and easy-to-use software products anywhere.

Even if Apple decided to put me in as Senior Vice President of Blue Sky Development, I’d be more than happy to fulfill that sort of role.  You see, I’ve always wanted to be an Imagineer, but my strengths lie solely in ideas, and also writing, and maybe a bit of nomenclature as well.  I also have some extremely eclectic taste in music, and that’s something Steve is also known for.  Also, I am wild about movies (although I am picky about which ones I see in the theaters, much to my detriment sometimes) and very wild about TV shows.  (Oh, and Apple, would you PLEASE get on putting Star Trek: The Next Generation on iTunes???  It’s been long enough!!)

Let’s hope everyone can see some great products coming out of Apple for a long time to come.

Oh, and one more thing…

Let’s talk about Macworld real quick here.  iWork 09 and iLife 09 are both either out right now or coming out shortly.  iWork 09 sounds like a product I’d be really happy to get my dirty paws on, and iLife also sounds good.  Being a daily Pages user, the Pages changes are pretty darn awesome!  They also put out the 17″ unibody MacBook Pro with an embedded extended-life battery… for the EXACT SAME PRICE they have it at now.  And they also announced: DRM-free iTunes!!!  YAY!!  Although paying upwards of $250-300 for the privilege is a bit high and mighty…