The biggest news coming out of Silicon Valley in recent months is the medical leave of absence Apple’s Steve Jobs is taking from the company. There is a great deal of conjecture about whether he will return in June as promised. Whether he does or not, sooner or later Apple will have to survive and prosper without Jobs. Can it do so?

That depends. Apple’s COO, Tim Cook, has proven himself a capable manager. He led the company in 2004 when Jobs had his bout with pancreatic cancer, and he has overseen Apple’s wildly successful new product expansion. That said, whether Cook steps in as the company’s next CEO or the board brings in an outsider, the question won’t be about capabilities. Apple’s future will be, as its past has been, about vision.

Apple isn’t just a company, it’s a state of mind. It’s a personality. It’s a way of looking at the world that most other companies (chief among them Microsoft) just don’t get. Apple is sometimes criticized, usually underestimated and often misunderstood (one not-so-brilliant analyst recently said Apple should consider offering cheaper products, not understanding how the company’s premium pricing strategy is part and parcel of the brand).

Steve Jobs’ strength is not only his vision, but his ability to rally his troops around it and see it through despite industry naysayers, overpaid analysts and pundits who are convinced the future will simply be an extrapolation of the past. Leaders like him are rare, and rarely can they be grafted in to a company so well-defined. Whether Apple can find one—or already has one waiting in the wings—only time will tell.

Here’s hoping.