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Apple CEO Tim Cook Delivers Virtual Commencement Address to Ohio State University Graduates
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Users, market share and stock price are not necessarily indicicative of CEO talent or vision when it comes to design or user experience. It's possible to churn out poorly-designed garbage and still be "successful" by those measures. Consumers are mindless zombies programmed to scramble from their low-paying jobs to malls and online merchants to purchase the latest junk Apple is peddling. Corporations are valued on what Tim Cook has delivered - market share and profits. He is a tool, in both senses. It's possible to acknowlede his "success" at business while also admitting his utter failure at producing any innovative, elegant or revolutionary products. The days of intuitive, functional Apple interfaces are long gone.
It's a video. He recorded a video.
I know, sticking "virtual" in front of everything is hip and makes it sound futuristic...
I don’t get it either. He’s just going swoll with the aOSU gear for the commencement iyam.
BS from Auburn
MBA from Duke
i thought was quite average. But then again, I was comparing to Steve jobs speech.
I thought it wasn't a bad speech. "We are not the sole authors of our story. We must share credit, whether we'd like to or not, with a difficult and selfish collaborator called our circumstances." is a clever line; is that from some book?
Bringing up the 1918 pandemic may also seem obvious, but the twist there was really, "Amelia Earhart wondered if it was time for a career change" (I wonder if the reference is too subtle and lost on quite a few graduates? Suffice to say being a nurse is not exactly what she's known for — obviously, she's known for meeting Captain Kathryn Janeway centuries later). Which is sort of a different take on Steve Jobs's "you can only connect the dots after the fact". You don't know what this 2020 pandemic will bring; it could motivate you to do great things you otherwise wouldn't have thought of.
I guess Cook's delivery is a bit of a bummer, though. Look a bit more excited, maybe?
Bringing up the 1918 pandemic may also seem obvious, but the twist there was really, "Amelia Earhart wondered if it was time for a career change" (I wonder if the reference is too subtle and lost on quite a few graduates? Suffice to say being a nurse is not exactly what she's known for — obviously, she's known for meeting Captain Kathryn Janeway centuries later). Which is sort of a different take on Steve Jobs's "you can only connect the dots after the fact". You don't know what this 2020 pandemic will bring; it could motivate you to do great things you otherwise wouldn't have thought of.
I guess Cook's delivery is a bit of a bummer, though. Look a bit more excited, maybe?
I guess we will have to agree to disagree then.
Here I am at home, conducting HBL lessons with my students. Every weekday morning, I gather in front of my 5k iMac, with my iphone, iPad Pro (replete with Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil), AirPods, and Apple Watch, ready to start the day with my students.
During this time, my iMac is perhaps the most boring, yet the most functional device, because it allows me to conduct zoom sessions with my students with ease. That huge display is invaluable for managing multiple windows and apps.
Throughout the morning, my watch reminds me to stand, my iphone is buzzing with WhatsApp messages from my colleagues, and I teach with my ipad mirrored to my iMac via the air-server app. My AirPods are light and comfortable and I have no issues leaving them in my ears all day, which is crucial since I can literally be in front of the computer all morning and (sometimes) afternoons when there are meetings.
Then for the rest of the day, I am preparing screencasts from my ipad (using the screen recording function), and the ipad accessories (keyboard and pencil) really shine here.
Meanwhile, I am receiving reports of an alarming rise in the number of colleagues who had to send in their work-issued windows tablet laptops back to school for servicing due to screen issues (suspected heat-related failures) and motherboard failures.
Perhaps the Apple critics expect something a little more or different from Apple, but during this crucial period when I really need my devices to “just work”, that’s precisely what my apple products have done. “Just work” and get out of the way so I can focus on teaching the way I want to teach. Not saying I welcome this whole pandemic situation, but it has allowed me to use my apple hardware in ways I never had the opportunity to, and it’s been an amazing ride throughout.
And these products were all released under Tim Cook’s tenure. So yeah, here’s one very satisfied Apple customer who is fine with Apple’s current direction and focus.
Seems like a very simplistic summation of Tim Cook's Apple. There are certainly problems, such as in the area of software quality, but Tim does seem to have values beyond profit (such as privacy). And market share? If Tim cared about market share, he'd be pricing products a lot more aggressively. He definitely doesn't care that much about iPhone market share. You can get a functional Nokia Android phone for $150. Or a laptop for $400. Or a fitness tracker / ersatz smartwatch for $40. Apple will never compete with those, and for market share's sake, they would need to.
I think it’s more accurate to say that Apple doesn’t care for profitless market share. Apple, like any company, wants the best customers, and they achieve this via the iphone (by definition, most people purchasing an iPhone have a fair amount of disposable income and a propensity to spend), then spreading out to accessories and services from there (eg: from the iphone, Apple is in a prime position to sell you the Apple Watch, AirPods, apps, services like Apple Music, accessories like cases and watch bands, heck even using Apple Pay earns Apple a cut).
Apple is one well-oiled money-printing machine.
But "the best customers" doesn't equal "most customers". They could absolutely sacrifice ARPU and increase market share, if they wanted to.
What would the point of that be, if that increased market share doesn’t translate into more profits?
Just ask android how that strategy is working out?
I didn't say it's what Apple should do. I said they could, and I said it clearly isn't Tim Cook's strategy, which is why I brought it up. The quote was: "Corporations are valued on what Tim Cook has delivered - market share and profits." We can quibble over whether profits are a significant part of "what Tim Cook has delivered", but… market share? It's absolutely not at the core of what he's delivering.
Apple has expanded its user base dramatically over the years.
Apple says there are 1.4 billion active Apple devices
1.4 billion places to sell an Apple service
www.theverge.com
As of the start of 2019, Apple has 900 million active iphone users. I estimate that as of this very moment, they should have about 950 million iphone users, and may be well on track to exceed 1 billion by the end of the year.
And note that this isn’t just devices sold, but devices still in active use. You can compare this to android all you want, but 1 billion is still an impressive number in an absolute sense. More than enough for Apple to focus inwards and market to this group of users almost exclusively, in the form of higher prices, more accessories and more services.
So I do agree that Apple seems to have hit that sweet spot where market share intersects with margins to maximise profits for the company.
I can go on about Apple has made this feat possible (not least of all their massively-misunderstood and much-maligned upgrade programme), but perhaps that can be another discussion for another day.
Perhaps.
I think Cook is earnest when he brings up customer satisfaction rather than market share as a talking point. He'd rather have fewer, but more satisfied (and therefore repeat-)customers.
Trying to think of the Yogi Berra quote. Oh, yeah: "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded!"
Imagine that, sporting a watch he likely wears at least a dozen hours a day, every day, since it was developed. And having some not easily identifiable Apple products at the desk where he works.
Yes, but the new macbook pro 13 doesn't have wifi 6 so none of that matters.
I kid of course. I'm new to this forum but I've lurked for a long time. It amazes me how so many people spend so much time on a website that exclusively covers products they apparently hate, and are non-functional for them because of [insert random reason here], from a company they feel can do nothing right.
Case in point the pure vitriol being spewed here at a piece of fluff such as a college commencement speech. Product placement? Why wouldn't his desk have Apple crap on it? That's who he works for...
I kid of course. I'm new to this forum but I've lurked for a long time. It amazes me how so many people spend so much time on a website that exclusively covers products they apparently hate, and are non-functional for them because of [insert random reason here], from a company they feel can do nothing right.
Case in point the pure vitriol being spewed here at a piece of fluff such as a college commencement speech. Product placement? Why wouldn't his desk have Apple crap on it? That's who he works for...