Apple Inc. (AAPL): Short-term Bull, Long-term Bear? Jobs Factor?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been known as a revolutionary company since it opened its doors in the mid-1970s. And for most of those 35 years, the late Steve Jobs was overseeing, directing, overlording, coordinating much of the revolutions – perhaps mainly by his expert marketing, but also for his hard-charging, take-no-prisoners, expect-exceptional drive drive to be the most innovative brand in technology. But now that Mr. Jobs is gone, does Apple Inc. (AAPL) have the ability to keep innovating and remain state of the art? And do investors figure future innovations into their prices and stakes in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock?

As an investor, are you bullish or bearish on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)? Would you pay attention to what billionaire fund managers like Julian Robertson of Tiger Management – who had $59 million invested at the end of June and had upped his stock position by 14 percent over the March quarter – do in the short term or the long term? Well, one observer made a commentary about his take on Aple Inc. (AAPL), and he considers the Steve Jobs Factor on the future success of the company.

This three-page commentary addresses where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was under Mr. Jobs and where it has gone in the months since his passing. The more noteworthy comments were referring to the Apple Maps feature which replaces the Maps app from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) that was included on all previous iPhone versions.

“When you deliver like Apple has, you absolutely can tell the world how great you are. Bragging only becomes a problem when you talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. For whatever reason, that’s what happened with Maps. Apple put out a subpar product that — and this is key — did not come alongside something revolutionary. That’s why the Maps miss stands out as glaring. … While Jobs might have endorsed ending the Google Inc. (GOOG) relationship, he surely did not approve an inferior application as the replacement,” the author of the article wrote.

So has Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) lost its standing as the best innovator in the tech world? How important was Steve Jobs to its ascent, and what value does his passing take away from the company?