Fast forward to January 2009. They had some random guy named Philip Schiller deliver the keynote. Why? See todays news.

Further: Schiller did a pretty damn good job with the keynote. I watched his keynote and the Palm Pre one back-to-back, and Schiller's far better at presenting than any of the three Palm People - and the three of them weren't terrible, either.

Furthermore - the things that have made Apple so incredible aren't entirely from Jobs. Schiller handles marketing. Ive designs the things. There are tons of people working at Apple who make the magic happen. Steve embodies those things, yes, but his one greatest achievement was his creation of Apple itself. He made the company that's capable of succeeding in every field it enters, whether music or retail or telephones. That company will outlast him.