Slip inevitable for anyone, says Hawkins

Apple is ultimately headed towards a fall, and probably after the departure of CEO Steve Jobs, says Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, now with developer Digital Chocolate. The latter develops casual games for several platforms, including the iPhone. "If you look at any institution in history -– look at the Roman Empire –- anything in history, and what it looks like when it's peaking," Hawkins tells IndustryGamers.

"Look at Apple, and how can you say it’s not peaking? The CEO is still alive, let's start there. They invented this tablet thing that's going to be really big," he continues. "They’ve done really well by reinventing the phone. They breathed new life into the Mac. They’ve got this super-high marketing. All these things are about as good as they ever can be -– how much better can it really get? The thing is, it may take another year or two before it starts to decline, but it has to -– everything does. Everything revolves so much around Steve, and no matter how good his lieutenants are, they’re not Steve. None of us is going to live forever, though I hope he lives for a really long time."

Jobs is on his third medical leave, his longest ever, and reportedly stepping away from his trademark micromanagement. Analysts and investors have feared that the executive's health is on a downward slide that might soon rob Apple of its guiding vision.

Hawkins also comments on Apple's approach to Flash. "They’ve created this outlet and they had to have an excuse to keep you there, so they’re like, ‘Oh it’s nothing against Flash; we just prefer HTML5’. Well, Flash can actually make a really good game, and with HTML5 you can’t do that. But give HTML5 another few years to mature, and that could solve the problem. Or Apple could be more generous about deciding to support more de facto standards like Flash, or at least let it run its course."

by MacNN Staff