I have to say that I’m a little disappointed in the MacWorld Expo 2008. Sure, its usually primarily a platform for Apple to kick off big new initiatives, partnerships, hardware, and software, but it is an expo, which means there are lots of vendors who exhibit on the show floor. True to that spirit, there were a lot of exhibitors, but not a lot of interesting stuff came out of them. As you can see from our CES coverage, MacWorld simply didn’t measure up.

I guess now that Apple is starting to get its rightful due in the general computer and gadget markets I’m a little miffed that MacWorld isn’t shaping up to be something more than just Apple. There are a lot of companies who support Apple with accessories, software, and systems and devices which support the Mac. It just seems like Apple could make a greater effort to recognize them. After all, there likely wouldn’t be an “iPod Economy” if there weren’t so many freaking iPod accessories.

I’m pretty sure that Apple still sees Apple as a singular entity and that it doesn’t rely on anyone or anything else for its success. I’ve recently come across a posting somewhere that asked what would happen to Apple if Steve Jobs were to just vanish. I’m sure that there are some people who even think that Mr. Jobs might not even die. That, of course, is ridiculous, but he may choose to retire, get sick, or, God forbid, actually expire.

Let’s face it, Apple didn’t come back to life until Steve Jobs returned and failed CEO Gil Amelio left, making Jobs the iCEO. The 90’s were not kind to Apple, mostly because of Amelio’s missteps and the colossal failure of Apple’s ludicrous 3rd party hardware program. Job’s, on the other hand, stepped in, got Mr. Ives fired up, and Apple released its seminal and company-saving iMac in 1998. The entire line of “i” products likely wouldn’t have even existed if Steveorino hadn’t axed all of the projects which were bloating the budget at that time, even my beloved Newton MessagePad, which had recently been spun off into its own subsidiary.

In the time Jobs wasn’t at Apple, after having been fired in 1985 by the Board of Directors and then CEO, John Sculley, until 1997, when CEO Amelio was ousted by unhappy boardmembers, he learned a lot. He even said so at a Stanford University address in 2005:

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

In that period he created NeXT Computers Inc. and became the owner of The Graphics Group, better known today as Pixar, for US$10 million from George Lucas. Jobs ended up selling NeXT to Apple in 1996, where the NeXTstep operating system would become the basis for Mac OS X. Jobs is now the single largest stockholder in Disney, which now owns Pixar, and the CEO of Apple Inc, the maker of the iPod. Hmm. He seems to be pretty smart about things, yes?

Of course, he would have been unable to be who he is and where he is without the aid of some very, very talented people. While some may believe so, Steve Jobs is not the sole source of all inspiration and technology at Apple. Jonathan Ives is one savvy mofo when it comes to industrial design, aesthetics, and  user-oriented functionality. The iMac and pretty much all other “i” products would have potentially been unrealistic without his skills. So, maybe the question could be what would Apple do if Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ives, Phil Shiller, and the rest of the current Apple command crew disappeared?

We may have a glimpse at a possible iteration of this in, of all unlikely places, Microsoft. Bill Gates, the decidedly un-enigmatic co-founder and most visible persona in Redmond, is leaving this year to devote all of his time, considerable intelligence, and even more astounding wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a place where I believe he does the most, real good. Microsoft will then be in the hands of madman Steve Ballmer, an individual whose sanity I have questioned many times in the past. In the next few years we will get to see if Microsoft can turn it around of will collapse in on its own weight.

Apple should take some lessons from Microsoft and others and do three things. One, it should revamp its entire structure to allow for a Google-like 20% personal project time for all employees. It should make a number of these projects public, both in licensing and visibility. At least with this they can start to identify the next generation of talented designers, programmers, engineers, and administrative staffers before it becomes too late.

Two,  it needs to really focus some of the fame its been garnering for its products onto its loyal partners and vendor supporters. There are some companies which have been out there and stood up for Apple, even in its darkest days, which Apple needs to recognize. Ambrosia Software anyone? What about MacAlly? Hell, even Microsoft has been with Apple since before Windows! The MacWorld show should be a real showcase for all of Apple and its constituent halo providers.

Three, Apple really, REALLY needs to beef up its enterprise division. Apple has some fantastic products in its enterprise products, but when Jobs mentioned all of the cool things Apple had announced in just two week of 2008 in his keynote, he made no mention of the new Xserve 8-core server. Apple needs to bear down and make its enterprise division a nitty-gritty, down in the dirt, ugly as sin division, because enterprise buyers don’t care about pretty. They want power and services, and Apple is only providing the power.

Apple has some really strong friends and has a great set of products and some really good people behind making new ones. It now needs to focus on all of the assets it has to really take off, not just itself.

written by Tyler Regas