Tip of the Hat: Lenovo looks to recreate Jobs magic, while Apple moves on

The wildly successful playbook used by the late Steve Jobs at Apple would normally be copied and followed by other companies looking for a competitive edge.

However, veteran analyst Rob Enderle, a longtime follower of the tech industry, concludes that "almost no one -- not even Apple -- is attempting to replicate Jobs' model."

The one company obviously trying to follow much of Jobs' legacy -- specifically the passion and the product advocacy "that made Jobs so effective" -- is Lenovo. It's in the midst of a buying spree that should let the size of its product line one day match Apple's, says Enderle, president of Enderle Group.

Computerworld gives a Tip of the Hat to Enderle for a column he wrote for Datamation that explains the key parts of Jobs' business strategy, and how they've been suppressed by the Tim Cook-led Apple and embraced by Lenovo.

The Datamation column, Can Lenovo Become the Next Apple?, points to Lenove's use of actor Ashton Kutcher "to recreate the passion and the advocacy that made Jobs so effective." Kutcher is credited with co-designing a new Lenovo tablet, and can be expected, like Jobs, to be an extraordinary pitch man. Apple, meanwhile, has shifted its business playbook.

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