Tim Cook 'Extremely Proud' of Ongoing Collaboration At Apple, Will Host Employee Meeting Tomorrow

[ablashek]

I'm tired of how Tim is always so proud of his team.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy he is proud, and they must be doing really good work. But its been 2 years now, and in that time we have seen incremental product updates, and the greatest thing for apple to churn out was the Retina Macbook Pro with its thinner form factor and silent fan. And yes, the MacPro is nice, but it hasn't been released yet.

I would really like Apple to take Maps more seriously, add social networking features to it. Launch at least one new product category (it can be a watch or a tv). Oh and update the iPod line to include Wifi.

ok i'm done venting...

 

[run1976]

Go back and watch Steve's keynotes. This isn't something created by Tim. Steve said it better, but Tim isn't lying. Business is stronger than ever at Apple. The problem is it was getting sort of tired by the end of the Steve era. Now it is just noise that doesn't need to be said and is even distracting from what needs to be highlighted. Cutting down the time spent in the keynotes to this is probably overdue, but it is all true.

Well, profit has been higher. Margins have been higher and growth used to be stronger. So while Steve actually had a lot to brag about, Tims situation needs a more nuanced description. I don't expect him to point out every weakness. But aknowledging that there may be some issues and that Apple is willing to address them would be better. Look at old Footage of Steve at AllthingsD conferences. He would discuss issues and defend himself by explaining why he thinks the critics are wrong. Tim just states Apple has the best line up and everybody is confident. That does not address investor concerns. Basically he has the same strategy as a school kid when mom asks whether he prepared for a test.

 

[gnasher729]

Not saying they aren't underpaid, but what about the Foxconn workers that are essentially slaves? Wouldn't even make a slight difference to Apple's profits if they doubled or tripled their wages. You know, raise it from 10 cent to 20 something?

You are really just repeating they same nonsense that many others are repeating.

People are rushing to Foxconn because they have the best jobs and the most well-paid jobs in the area. They are in China; wages are lower in China. Cost of living is lower in China as well. Your dentist bill may be two months wages in China, but the dentist that a Foxconn worker uses gets paid Chinese wages as well, and that Foxconn worker doesn't work longer to pay the dentist bill than you do. If you work at McDonald's and make three times more money, you'll work twice as long to pay that bill. And unlike that Foxconn worker, you won't have saved a penny after three years at McDonald's unless you live with your parents, while that Foxconn worker returns home as a rich man after three years (according to local living standards).

And your guess about hourly wages is off by about a factor of twenty.

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Agreed! Steve's former protégé Scott (Forstall), is a very talented guy, and like the former, also a perfectionist who deserves credit for his contributions to Apple, not derision.

What I hear is quite the opposite. I'll blame the disaster that was iTunes 11 on him, and all the improvements since then are mostly due to him not interfering anymore. When you're so bad as a human being that your peers don't want to talk to you without Tim Cook present, you have to go.

 

[MrX8503]

You're right, I don't know the future. All I can do is look at the past and present trends and create an informed opinion. You make good points, and true Apple was far from perfect under Jobs. But the intangibles from having a CEO who cares cannot be ignored. It's what separated Apple from Google, Samsung, Microsoft, etc.

You don't know the future, yet you pretend you do. The only thing we can say is that Steve cared about his company a great deal more than anyone. Nothing else beyond that to predict the future.

Its funny to hear how people think they know Steve Jobs and almost to the point of where they know him better than himself.

 

[oliversl]

Collaboration is good, too bad the current success of Apple was not build on this new "collaboration" celebration.

 

[reden]

Cool, what are they having for lunch?

 

[Mactendo]

Tim should be extremely ashamed for crappy iOS design, bad new hardware design and buggy and step-back software releases. We expect an apologies letter, Tim and feel free to fire yourself if you don't sign it.

 

[ekiro]

Cheer on your work horses. Cheer 'em on!

 

[Chatter]

Collaboration is a good thing if it leads to innovation. However, when collaboration leads to a disaster like iOS 7's hopping on the flat design bandwagon, it is not a good thing. I thought Apple was above acting like teenaged girls by mindlessly following fashionable trends, but I was wrong. Windows 8 with it's flat design proved itself to be a dud. Then Google and Yahoo follow Microsoft's failed lead by implementing flat design. Then Apple jumps on the flat design bandwagon.I.

Yup, Windows 8 is a dud due to its flat design. Ergo...all flat design must be bad as MS is THE LEADER in OS design.

When you return to earth, stop by and say hi to us mere mortals.

 

[reno]

typo

Seriously, nobody proofread this email that went out to all of Apple's employees!?!

I am happy to report that Apple's business has never been stronger, and we are heading into the holidays within amazing lineup led by the new iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c,​

Apple is known for attention to details, but when the guy at the top ain't doing it, why should anyone else?

 

[jnc]

While that could be nice, I have seen no store in UK with more employees then Apple store!! I mean for almost every customer I see inside, I see a member of staff with the blue t-shirt next to it.

If you mean Manchester, that's one of the dual store cities... it might be better there!

 

[fortheus]

You might get that wish when Apple announces iWork Pro! Featuring a bunch of the features that were removed from '09! And maybe two or three new ones. Just $19.99 each!

I figure I'm too easy on Apple on these forums, so I might throw a little bashing in to be fair.

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Regarding iWork and Mavericks, rushing out free software isn't exactly greedy. Poorly thought, sure, but there's not really a lot of "greed" behind jumping the gun in giving free stuff out to people. Unless somebody at Apple presented the idea that giving away iWork will somehow cause a bunch of people to go buy iMacs. (iLife and the latest OS X was already free to new Macs, of course.)

What I mean by greedy is how they price their hardware especially for the 5C and ipad2.

 

[9000]

Go back and watch Steve's keynotes. This isn't something created by Tim. Steve said it better, but Tim isn't lying. Business is stronger than ever at Apple. The problem is it was getting sort of tired by the end of the Steve era. Now it is just noise that doesn't need to be said and is even distracting from what needs to be highlighted. Cutting down the time spent in the keynotes to this is probably overdue, but it is all true.

When Steve Jobs was saying it, business actually was getting better. He turned Apple into the most valuable company in the world.

 

[Tech198]

Who doesn't like being stronger.


Apple should be doing much more than just "holding a meeting"

Everyone deserves a vacation.

(Oh wait, they can't do that either.... darm it...)

 

[macs4nw]

…...What I hear is quite the opposite. I'll blame the disaster that was iTunes 11 on him, and all the improvements since then are mostly due to him not interfering anymore. When you're so bad as a human being that your peers don't want to talk to you without Tim Cook present, you have to go.

I said "he is talented", not "he was easy to get along with". Granted, for team harmony's sake, Tim had little choice but to purge him from the team.

Perfectionists are more often than not extremely demanding and difficult if not impossible, to get along with, in their dealings with co-workers or other team members. The executive VPs put up with that sort of thing from Steve, but wouldn't tolerate it from Scott, after the former's untimely death. I believe Steve valued Scott, and saw eye to eye with him in many areas, and Scott maybe felt a certain invincibility with that; couple that fact with Scott's easier access to Steve, as well as his having a bit of an ego, and you have a recipe for tension with other team members.

Not defending any sides here, but trying to understand the dynamics that led to the loss of an undeniably very smart and talented guy from the 'A-team'.

 

[Mr Fusion]

You don't know the future, yet you pretend you do. The only thing we can say is that Steve cared about his company a great deal more than anyone. Nothing else beyond that to predict the future.

Its funny to hear how people think they know Steve Jobs and almost to the point of where they know him better than himself.

I pretend to know the future? Is my English getting lost in translation?

I made a prediction. Predictions are not fact, and coincidentally they're made quite often on "rumors" websites.

wholehearted agree with you my man.

i'm not even disgruntled that the current generation of products are not up to par, just disappointed. Like a parent watching his wayward child taking the wrong steps.

YES!

I don't get it. I really don't. The blueprint for ANY tech company to become the next Apple is there for anyone to see, yet no one has even tried. It's as if Cook showed up in the boardroom on Day 1 of his CEO reign and said, "All the stuff Apple has done differently from other tech companies in the past has worked GREAT for us... But it's too risky. Let's go back to doing what every other corporation does: Mass produce a huge pile of **** but add a little "Apple flair" to it by launching things at Keynote speeches. It may not be the best option, but it's what every other corporate clone does so it's risk-averse and acceptable to shareholders."

I guess the old adage is true: "If you want something done right, do it yourself." Steve understood that.

 

[MrX8503]

I pretend to know the future? Is my English getting lost in translation?

I made a prediction. Predictions are not fact, and coincidentally they're made quite often on "rumors" websites.

I'm saying that I disagree with your prediction and that it's ill-informed.

 

[Mr Fusion]

I'm saying that I disagree with your prediction and that it's ill-informed.

Oh ok, cool!

 

[SusanK]

Tim should be extremely ashamed for crappy iOS design, bad new hardware design and buggy and step-back software releases. We expect an apologies letter, Tim and feel free to fire yourself if you don't sign it.

Please don't sign it

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I said "he is talented", not "he was easy to get along with".

Not defending any sides here, but trying to understand the dynamics that led to the loss of an undeniably very smart and talented guy from the 'A-team'.

That's the kicker! Cook is "not a product guy" and it shows. Steve was able to envision, invent, pitch products and referee. What is the deal with Cook? This is not preschool. He's CEO of a huge company. There will be days with discord. Ideas must prevail not people and collaboration nonsense.

 

[Squilly]

Cook is a great CEO, and at the same time is setting Apple on the same course to obscurity as Sony & HP before it.

He's maximizes profits by continuing to sell outdated models and re-packaging others (iPhone 5C.) He won over people by apologizing for Maps and donating to charities. He's aggressively expanding into new markets. You really couldn't ask for a better bean counter.

But all that isn't what made Apple the company I used to admire. I appreciated a simplified product lineup rather than selling anything it could still churn out (like every other corporation.) I was won over by hardware and software that not only looked good with attention to detail, but "just worked." And above all, I respected a company that wasn't out to be the biggest, but the best. They didn't listen to shareholders because they didn't have to: What they did was great and didn't need advice.

Instead, software and hardware are being rushed into mass production without proper testing. Attention to detail is gone. And Cook's obsession with China shows he hasn't gotten a clue from the last three decades of Corporate America failure in the worlds most populous nation.

My favorite lie out of the entire post-Jobs era: "Steve left us five years of product roadmap before he passed on." What a load of nonsense, perfectly crafted to calm stock prices. There is no roadmap. They don't have a clue what the "next big thing" is. And to be perfectly honest, not a soul in Apple's boardroom cares.

And why should they? The billions keep pouring in and they'll all be long gone by the time the revenues dry up.

I think through this reflection, I understand now why Apple, Sony & HP were most successful under their founders. If corporations were people, we'd classify most of their actions as psychotic. But if there's a "human" touch, from a leader that truly cares about their company, people see it in their products and recognize that quality. It resonates with them. And that's what made Steve so special.

Very well said. With this, do you believe the Apple name will live on for 2/3 generations (equivalent to how prevalent it is now)? Or fall to the ground leaving Google the only, large, mobile company? Speaking of which, Google has a new CEO since the original founders and numerous divisions Apple doesn't follow yet they have no signs of falling to the ground.

 

[joshdammit]

What I mean by greedy is how they price their hardware especially for the 5C and ipad2.

So greedy they cut prices on the newest MacBooks.

You do know all of that profit they make doesn't go entirely into Tim Cook's paycheck, right?

 

[fortheus]

they drop the price because the mac lines is not performing well

 

[dumastudetto]

Ask any consumer anywhere in the world about the products they most desire to own, and every single one of them will have that sacred Apple logo embedded on them. That's something to be proud about.

 

[DanTSX]

And sort out the damn ventilation. Apple Stores get too smelly, too fast.

Perhaps if the customers bathed more???

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Collaboration is a good thing if it leads to innovation. However, when collaboration leads to a disaster like iOS 7's hopping on the flat design bandwagon, it is not a good thing. I thought Apple was above acting like teenaged girls by mindlessly following fashionable trends, but I was wrong. Windows 8 with it's flat design proved itself to be a dud. Then Google and Yahoo follow Microsoft's failed lead by implementing flat design. Then Apple jumps on the flat design bandwagon.

From the very first iPhone up until iOS 6, Apple's use of skeuomorphism was innovation. It made the most of Apple's industry-leading high-resolution Retina display. Skeuomorphism made the unfamiliar familiar, and made products more user friendly, even for non-tech savvy people.

For anyone who supports flat design and opposes skeuomorphism, I challenge you to answer this: If you could only chose one of those (flat design or skeuomorphic design) taken to its extreme, which would you choose? Keep in mind that skeuomorphic design taken to its extreme would result in something similar to iOS 6, whereas flat design taken to its extreme would be a command prompt interface with no GUI.

This is a ridiculous argument.

May would either design go to either extreme for the sake if it?

You are projecting your wants/fears onto apple.

Either sit back and enjoy the change, or try to enjoy the older tech with the designs that you desire for as long as you can.

 

[Keane16]

Cook is a great CEO, and at the same time is setting Apple on the same course to obscurity as Sony & HP before it.

We don't know the future, you could be right.

He's maximizes profits by continuing to sell outdated models and re-packaging others (iPhone 5C.) He won over people by apologizing for Maps and donating to charities. He's aggressively expanding into new markets. You really couldn't ask for a better bean counter.

Nothing has changed. Steve continued selling the 3G when the 3GS was released. He continued selling the OG iPad when iPad 2 was released. Ever since Steve returned in the late nineties Apple have done this with their products. Tim hasn't changed anything here.

Steve during his keynote speeches was always immensely proud of their speed of expansion. From how the OG iPhone was released in a small number of markets and how subsequent releases opened in a larger number. Again Tim has done nothing new here, just continued Steve's ways.

Speak to any of your non-tech friends (those that don't know what MacRumors is) - how many of them know that Apple never used to donate to charity under Steve but now do under Cook? It's a nice thing, but I don't think the fact that Apple is now donating publically to charities has helped sell any more devices.

Who did he win over with the apology? The apology over Maps isn't what won people over - it's the fact that they're actively improving the product that has impressed me. I don't care about the apology I care about the actions. In and around the North of England maps has actually been solid for me. I know there were issues in some areas for some people (just as with pretty much every map ever) – but they are getting there.

But all that isn't what made Apple the company I used to admire. I appreciated a simplified product lineup rather than selling anything it could still churn out (like every other corporation.) I was won over by hardware and software that not only looked good with attention to detail, but "just worked." And above all, I respected a company that wasn't out to be the biggest, but the best. They didn't listen to shareholders because they didn't have to: What they did was great and didn't need advice.

Instead, software and hardware are being rushed into mass production without proper testing. Attention to detail is gone. And Cook's obsession with China shows he hasn't gotten a clue from the last three decades of Corporate America failure in the worlds most populous nation.

What has changed in terms of product line up? 3 years ago we had:

• 3 laptop lines MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro - we now have Air and Pro.
• We had 2 iPhones 4 ($199) and 3GS ($99) - We now have 3 iPhones flagship 5s ($199), 5c ($99) and 4S (free).
• We had 1 iPad (original) - We now have Air and Mini

It's hardly grown much? Is it no longer simplified? At one stage when Steve was alive we had 5 types of iPod on sale - streamlined you say?

Also these things still just work as well as they ever have.

In fact they work together better than ever, with little user intervention thanks to the tight integration between the desktop and mobile operating systems. iCloud also helps in this regard in making it easy for devs to tie the ecosystem together.

What exactly are you having problems with? I assume you didn't use a Mac a decade ago when even sharing documents with Windows users wasn't completely smooth. You obviously also weren't around during Mac OS X 10.0 which was quite frankly a mess. Slow, buggy it was awful. So much so that 10.1 was given as a free update as an acknowledgement that 10.0 was unacceptable. It took a few versions of OS X before it was good. If Apple did that today with their operating systems there would be madness on the internet.

A few years ago when the iPhone 3G was released there was a serious issue where the keyboard lagged in the messages app. It killed the UX, bit took a few bug fix releases to iron the problem out.

Have Apple listened to Shareholders recently? In what way? I can't think of any product related decisions that have been made to appease shareholder concerns - it they did the 5c would have been a very cheap phone to target emerging markets.

Now when it comes to the cash hoard they have listened - they seem to have given more back to the shareholders and increased their share buyback than they initially were going to. This is fine as long as they have enough cash on hand to run the business freely.

My favorite lie out of the entire post-Jobs era: "Steve left us five years of product roadmap before he passed on." What a load of nonsense, perfectly crafted to calm stock prices. There is no roadmap. They don't have a clue what the "next big thing" is. And to be perfectly honest, not a soul in Apple's boardroom cares.

Roadmap does not equal completely new product categories.

The 4S was new after Steve's death. The 5 was new etc. They work on the latest models years in advance - iPhone 6 and 6s, iPad Air 2, mini 3 etc are well on their way design wise in a lab somewhere. These things aren't churned out in 6 months. Steve probably had input into this roadmap and that's what he was saying.

There might be no "next big thing", but nobody has ever said there was.

And why should they? The billions keep pouring in and they'll all be long gone by the time the revenues dry up.

You could say that about any profitable company.

The fact that over the last few weeks we've been given a new mobile OS, a new desktop OS, new iWork and iLife suites (with feature parity across desktop, tablet, phone and web) for free, an iPad Air with solid reviews, the Retina iPad mini that everyone has wanted, a move to a 64-bit architecture, a screaming A7 chip which bests the competion on most benchmarks, TouchID (which is my favourite smartphone addition since Retina) etc, etc.

The board Cook and all the Vice Presidents have more money than they could realistically spend. If they didn't care they would just sell crap. Crap would not sell, crap would not get good reviews. On the contrary the goods are selling and they are getting great reviews.

You reflection to me sounds like someone who has used Apple products for a few years and think they have historically been perfect. They really haven’t.

Throughout my response to your reflection I've realised Apple is still the company it always was, and is evolving IMO nicely. Their current crop of products are some of the best reviewed they've ever had. I'm glad Tim isn't trying to be Jobs - he's just doing things his own way.