October 5, 2011 marked the death of a legend of our generation. Steve Jobs passed due to his long battle with pancreatic cancer leading many in shock. Even before his death, his resignation of both Apple and Walt Disney has led shares to drop conspicuous by his absence.

From an article from The Globe and Mail, “Without Jobs, Apple’s gap with rivals could narrow”, most analysts believe that with Jobs gone, this could really impact the company’s market standing as Jobs was always behind the designs of the Apple products and the marketing campaigns. With reputation of being the market leader amongst its competitors, it could be a real set back for Apple if their market standing were to shift.  This could perhaps reposition the brand image for many consumers, as Jobs’ footsteps are quite hard to follow. In addition, Apple’s top competitors include RIM, Amazon, Google and Sony may then finally catch up with Apple’s smartphones, computers and laptops, therefore, narrowing the gap between Apple and its rivals. However, although I believe that Apple’s brand name will be strong enough to withstand repositioning, future can only tell whether or not it can resist it.