One of the reasons the financial markets are in the mess they are in is that everyone bought into the perception that housing prices were real ( $500,000 for 2000 square foot homes is insane ) and that prices would rise indefinitely.

That made me laugh. While I’m not one of the Sculley-haters (I always like to point out some of Apple’s best stuff came out during Sculley’s tenure), Sculley is really quite boring. He spoke at the WWDCs and he was very dull. He usually left it to others (ie Gassee), though, to introduce products and he mostly talked about the company.

I’d probably go with Scott over Phil, though. Phil has this “sleazy used car salesman” aura, In my opinion.

Part of Steve’s reality distortion field comes from the fact that you believe Steve when he says, “This is really cool.” Even the most resistant believe that Steve believes this is really cool. Nobody seems to think that Steve is lying, in other words.

Phil seems to lack that sincerity, though. When Phil says, “This is really cool,” I just don’t believe him. He seems like he’d say anything to convince you to buy the product.

So if Steve Jobs left Apple, Apple would be fine for three or five years, but then would drift into mediocrity.

A lot depends on the conditions under which Jobs leaves. If he transitions away like, for example, Bill Gates did at Microsoft, I think things are just fine.

On the other hand, if he’s hit by a beer truck tomorrow then, yes, the initial perception would likely cause the stock to nose dive. But that is only temporary. As the existing management team proves that Apple is healthy and viable, showing a few quarters of growth, profits, etc., then the normal stock valuation will occur.