RIP Steve Jobs, but Apple's still got it

Apple has been my favorite company and has made my favorite products since about 2000, when I made a deliberate switch from my PC to my first clamshell iBook (gray). Since then I've followed the business and Steve Jobs, whose bio I recently read, very closely.

I know I'm not unique to this. I'm writing this post now, though, because I visited the Apple store last night and—after toying with the iPad mini and the new MacBook Pro Retina display version—I hereby declare that the company has still got it.

Like a lot of Apple geeks, I couldn't help but wonder what become of the company after Steve Jobs died. This is something I've been thinking about since he was diagnosed with cancer and trying to keep a lid on it in the press. Would the company keep innovating and making great products? Are these the same thing? If not, what would that mean for Apple's survival and identity?

There are a few key things that make Apple such a special company. The first is their emphasis on aesthetics and the humanities. No other technology company makes technology more fun, simple, exciting and beautiful. This is reflected in another big part of their success: their marketing. A lot of pundits like to call Apple a "marketing" company, but this is a misnomer. You can't have great marketing without great products, and frankly, I don't buy Apple products because of their TV commercials or marketing—I buy them because they are great products. I think the vast majority of consumers feel the same way.

So let's just focus on the products. I myself even thought the iPad mini was a lame idea. Apple is known for innovating, not putting out versions of past innovations to compete with followers and wannabes trying to take over the same space. Then I saw one last night and I was like... Wow, this is beautiful. The size is perfect. I still love my "large" original iPad, but I think this mini will make the device even more popular.

Then I saw the new MacBook Pro with Retina display. All I could think was "Wow" (...actually, I thought "I want that," but I already have a MacBook Pro and I'm not that desperate to get the latest and greatest, nor do I have that kind of money to throw around.)

The new MacBook 13" is almost as thin as an MacBook Air, and the display is so crisp and colorful that it makes reality look downright dull. There's no CD drive, so the innards can be much thinner and smaller, the clerk explained. To me this is a product innovation in itself, and I don't mean the hardware or technology. I'm speaking to the fact that Apple is leading by design in saying, "The CD drive is dead. The cloud is the present, and it is the future, according to Apple."

So two awesome products. One of them sort of innovative and the other more innovative. Oh and by the way, the new iPhone is pretty killer, too.

From what I know of Tim Cook's style, he is an operations guy. If he keeps killing it like this, then Apple doesn't need to worry about the quality of their products.

What I'm still wondering, though, is what other Apple fans, shareholders, and the world at large is wondering as well: Will Apple ever blow our minds again, the way they did when they rolled out the first Mac, the iPod, iPhone, and iPad?

That's what remains to be seen.