The big question in the interim is ‘how’s his health?’ and I’m not sure we’ll have the answer anytime before we hear any really bad news.  He will continue to drive product in his new role as chairman and employee – ain’t collecting COBRA alone.  What he has done is provided Cook with a fantastic opportunity to employ brilliant supply chain dynamics that assure Apple’s competitive product advantages give them far more runway and net profit than any similar company in history, and that alone will buy a ton of time even if they lose some of that creative force.  I’d contend much of their unique product DNA will remain intact and what will remain unanswered is how they identify and implement features from here forward.  Theory is there’s at least one more product in the kitty – perhaps 2 or 3 – that are ready to go and waiting for the market to systemically green light them.  When you consider the iPad was around 4-5 years before any touch device was released that wouldn’t be surprising.  There’s touch-hybrid line of computers, some kind of TV-style media device, and loads of cloud products that are at least 80% assured of showing up in the next couple years alone, and their transition to Apple-developed CPUs will at minimum lock their trajectory for several years while they continue to lock-in their adjusted executive chemistry.