The upcoming iOS gadget releases - from the iPhone 5S to the second-generation iPad Mini - doesn't excite Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. He is simply convinced that without Steve Jobs, the horizon is bleak for Apple.

Not even the eagerly awaited iPhone 6, seen by analysts as another game-changer from the tech giant - triggers anything positive from the billionaire tech icon, who figured prominently in Walter Isaacson-penned Steve Jobs bio-book.

Mr Ellison was depicted in the book as an unflinching ally and close pal to Mr Jobs, staying with the Apple co-founder through his fall in the mid-1980s and eventual reinstatement as chief executive in the late 1990s.

In an interview with CBS News, and reported by Apple Insider, Mr Ellison declared that the company had already tried it out twice without the guidance of Mr Jobs and it faltered, even going through the brink of bankruptcy right before the grand Jobs comeback in 1997

The Jobs hands simply spell magic for Apple, his genius responsible for the creation of products that propelled the company to the top of the tech food chain, overtaking its rivals and becoming the world's most valuable firm.

"We saw Apple with Steve Jobs. We saw Apple without Steve Jobs. We saw Apple with Steve Jobs ... We conducted the experiment," Apple Insider reported Mr Ellison as saying.

"Now, we're gonna see Apple without Steve Jobs," he added, as if sounding ominously.

Mr Ellison said it was never the same for Apple when Mr Jobs died. The iPhone and iPad maker, he stressed, lost a very brilliant man.

"I mean, he was our Edison. He was our Picasso. He was an incredible inventor," said the Oracle chief.

The interview came as reports emerged that current Apple CEO, Tim Cook, is under extreme pressure from the company's board members to introduce innovative products that would allow the company to recapture the global smartphone throne from its chief rival, Samsung.

Allegedly, Apple's board of directors are increasingly worried of the dry spell that so far led to the shrinking value of Apple market shares, which also resulted to retreating profit margins realised by the company in the past few quarters.

Mr Cook, however, remains unfazed as he touted in earlier interview this year that Apple will unleash its 'army of products' beginning fall of 2013, with the giant surprises to last though the first half of 2014.

The first salvo is poised for unveiling on Sept 10, in which Apple is expected to release the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C, both powered by the final build of the Jony Ive-redesigned iOS 7.

To follow in the weeks and months ahead are the slimmed down iPad 5, the Retina-laced iPad Mini 2 and what is believed is the first Apple phablet, the iPhone 6, which according to analysts will arrive by Q1 2014.