Unless something happens that's just ridiculous, I don't see Apple's growth slowing down. I'm also less concerned about the new CEO, because I think Steve got the company to a point where the CEO just doesn't matter, as long as R&D keeps up. Most people who purchase Apple products don't care who the CEO is... and as Glider says, it's hype that sells products (something that Apple is great at drumming up, even though it doesn't try to).
I think my post was completely misunderstood. My point was that Steve Job's loss likely caused a spike in sales. Given Apple saw a universal increase in all categories across the board, I'm almost sure of it.
Such things have happened before in history when a well-known, respected person tied to some company or organization passes on. But that aside, they are still one-time events and I'll be curious to see how Apple performs in the next year as a comparison such wild results.
That ties into my next point, that Apple's huge record-breaking results was in fact unusual. For several quarters as viewed over the past few years, Apple has been LOSING sales in several segments, Macs and iPods specifically. In fact, Techgage just posed a news article about Apple's Macs sales not that long ago. The iPods in particular are telling... Apple went from an all time LOW of 9.05 million, to a whooping 19.45 million iPod sales in one single quarter. This dwarfs the typical, expected gains seen in past years over the holiday season, and it was in Apple's worst performing segment that had been dwindling downwards for years because of the iPhone. Apple did not even release a new generation of iPods to explain this. So again, this ties back into my earlier theory that something else was up. A month of very bright publicity combined with a biography about Jobs as much as his company certainly would've provided some sort of boost, I think the only question is just how much...
As for the future of Apple with the new CEO, as you said I don't think theres much doubt left there. Steve Jobs ensured there was enough stuff to continue Apple's current trends for the next year at least, and sown a few seeds/projects for well beyond that. This one in particular would be market shattering if they can take it all the way.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2...de-light-field-camera-championed-by-lytro.ars
