In an April 25 on his Forrester blog, Colony writes:

"Apple's momentum will carry it for 24-48 months. But without the arrival of a new charismatic leader it will move from being a great company to being a good company, with a commensurate step down in revenue growth and product innovation. Like Sony (post Morita), Polaroid (post Land), Apple circa 1985 (post Jobs), and Disney (in the 20 years post Walt Disney), Apple will coast, and then decelerate."

Fighting words, indeed. There's little doubt Colony will be pilloried by the loony fringe of Apple's user base for his heretical beliefs.

Well, if Cook isn't the best choice to run Apple, who is?

"Without knowing them personally, I would look to Apple executives Jon Ive or Scott Forstall to be CEO," writes Colony. "From on far they appear to have some of the charisma and outspoken design sense to legitimately lead the company."