Steve Jobs' Retrospectives Deeply Flawed, Disrespectful

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- On Friday, the media bombarded us with tributes and takes on the one-year anniversary of Steve Jobs's death.

Everybody certainly means well. But, as Springsteen says in his latest effort, The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone.

My recent article -- If Steve Jobs Were Alive He Would Fire Tim Cook -- and an appearance on CNBC riled up Apple (AAPL) diehards.

I don't call the diehards bulls or fanboys anymore. I have too much respect for bulls and fanboys.

Ninety-nine percent of AAPL bulls and fanboys are thinkers. They don't see things one way with blinders on. They relish in exploring possibilities and alternative explanations beyond status quo groupthink.

Meantime, the 1% are akin to rabid sports or extreme religious fanatics. They immediately discount, deflect and personally disparage sentiment that does not accentuate Apple's amazing past and present, while portending an equally-as-extraordinary, if not more incredible, future.

From an investment perspective the portion of the 1% that AAPL has made wealthy or downright rich (chest bumps across the board there) are golden. It's those who have not had their financial lives changed by Apple, but still refuse to consider fear, uncertainty and doubt (entrepreneurs often go with paranoia) who could get hurt.

Simply put, if AAPL has made you rich, I don't blame you for your unflinching loyalty. I can see how it might be difficult not to be an unreasonable diehard. That emotional response probably will not cost you because you're so far ahead. It's the folks who drink the final batches of Kool-Aid who usually end up dinged.

On Friday, two guys who I do not put in the unreasonable diehard category teamed up on a curious piece for Yahoo! Finance.

Though I rarely agree with fellow TheStreet contributor Eric Jackson, I appreciate his work. He always makes me think. The same goes for Yahoo!'s Jeff Macke, who has one of the more entertaining Twitter feeds in finance.

In Stop Asking What Steve Jobs Would Do, however, they both drop the ball.

Consider two key passages from the above-linked piece, written by Macke:

"There is no way, given the lead time that Jobs had on his disease, that he would not have ... had his fingerprints all over the product road-map for at least the next decade," says Eric Jackson, founder of Ironfire Capital in the attached video.

Macke closes by saying:

If Jackson is right, and he probably is, Apple should stop following the map. People at Apple already know what [Jobs] would do. He would come up with an amazing idea then relentlessly push his people until the vision became reality. For Apple to remain great that's exactly what they should do.

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