Well, deserves is debatable. And, he's not exactly very exciting. Guy is mainly on cruise control and has been since day one. Nothing he's doing is really making apple any better, IMO.
He's not hurting it but he's just a warm body to parade out there for product launches. Nothing more.
Your opinion (or mine) does not matter at all. Its upto the board to decide after viewing the "performance" of apple whether he is adding value or not. His track record as a senior executive, acting CEO or full time CEO is well known to them. Its for them to decide.