Apple Must Unveil Post-Jobs Plans

Apple’s foot-dragging on revealing its succession plan should founder and CEO Steve Jobs die has become a drag on the company, Michael Hiltzik writes in the Los Angeles Times. “A corporate succession plan is like the Soviet Doomsday Machine in Dr Strangelove,” he writes after 2008 saw Apple stock drop 56%. “It’s useless unless you announce it to the world.”

“No American CEO is more intimately identified with his company's success,” Hiltzik writes with the annual Macworld expo set to open today. “Jobs is deeply involved in every facet of Apple development and design … Apple’s visionary and carnival barker.” Some experts maintain Jobs has established a culture at the company that will prevail; either way, Hiltzik concludes, it’s time to unveil the plan. (More Apple stories.)