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You can't knock the performance from a investor's perspective.

The cons on Tim Cook compared to Steve is how much more Steve would obese over details on products and marketing. Tim seems like a guy who doesn't like doing giant in person events where Steve treated it like a show and was a magician up there. He probably would have scrutinized things like the Vision Pro much more.

With that said I do think we got some benefits from Tim with just mass amount of choices in hardware which I have no doubts Steve wouldn't have had as much. Everyone complains about the lack of 'pro' level stuff but that direction was set when Steve was in charge as he was focused on the money makers iOS. Final Cut X was dumb down with criticism at release and the direction of the trashcan Mac Pro would have been in development when Steve was around.
 
All the hate on Cook and modern Apple proves how effective Cook has been. He's done a fantastic job bringing Apple to the mainstream-- Apple used to have a cult following because they were a boutique brand and the underdog. Now they're the hegemon. All the reflexive whinging and complaining follow from that.

I think we'll find that Apple did the right thing by not trying to lead in AI-- better to sit back while others blow through piles of money obsoleting each other every couple months and then benefit from those advancements.
 
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He probably would have scrutinized things like the Vision Pro much more.

He would have spun and pitched Vision Pro much more. My one complaint about Cook is that he takes a "the customer is right" approach much more often than Jobs would have-- Jobs would have gotten on stage and talked about what a miracle Vision Pro is, and held a firm belief that anyone who disagreed was a moron. Product quality isn't all that different, rate of innovation isn't really all that different. Cook accepts customer feedback, Jobs shaped it.
 
I’m a Tim Cook fan, even acknowledging that Apple has had some misses. Every company does. The difference is Apple operates under an insane microscope because of its size and influence across so many categories in tech. When you’re swinging for the fences trying to push entire industries forward, you’re going to have some strikeouts. Not every product is going to be a gem…that’s the cost of innovation. What gets overlooked is that under Cook, Apple has become one of the most successful companies in history, massively expanding its ecosystem, services, and product categories while maintaining incredible customer loyalty. You don’t get that by playing it safe all the time.
 
Without him Apple wouldn't be here today. He saved Steve.
In a way this is absolutely true.
I think sometimes people forget truly how bad of a state Apple was in, even after Jobs returned.
There’s a presentation from early 1998, before Tim joined the company, where Steve is talking about the recent launch of the Apple online store and how Apple was struggling to keep up with G3 demand… for 130,000 units in 60 days and how he was just happy to make deliveries of thousands of units on time without having to watch them go through the channels for months.

Obviously, all of the recognition can’t be put on one guy, but it’s pretty clear that Tim was absolutely instrumental in allowing products like the iMac and iPod to succeed, even during the period where Apple was growing but still wasn’t the absolute behemoth they are today.
Put another way, even just five years later, you never really heard them talking about the channel distribution of iMac and iPod units, and certainly by the time of the iPhone launching all of that talk had pretty much vanished. It was just, here’s the thing, it’s out next week, even if there’s some supply issues on day one if you want one, you can find one.
 
He would have spun and pitched Vision Pro much more. My one complaint about Cook is that he takes a "the customer is right" approach much more often than Jobs would have-- Jobs would have gotten on stage and talked about what a miracle Vision Pro is, and held a firm belief that anyone who disagreed was a moron. Product quality isn't all that different, rate of innovation isn't really all that different. Cook accepts customer feedback, Jobs shaped it.
Completely agree, Steve pretty much pitched the exact product of the Vision Pro is all the way back in 2005, without it even existing.
Also, despite popular belief, he was very willing to accept product flaw and compromise if using the thing was, to use his favorite word, “magical”. Which most vision pro customers or people who have given their reviews on it say that using it is.
This was the same guy who released an iPod Shuffle without any buttons because, well, it was cool.
 
Bro at this point, just retire.

Liquid Glass is a mess.
Apple Intelligence is an oxymoron.

IF Apple did have any Intelligence they'd declare him obsolete 😆

The nightmare continues apace
Tim Cook haters are such a joke. Apple has the best CEO, in. the. world. Go ahead, name another CEO that puts customer privacy first over profits.

I'll wait...

And that's just the tip of the considerable iceberg. Is Apple perfect? Absolutely not. But Cook is absolutely the BEST person to guide Apple through these times... this administration, the soaring memory prices, and especially the monetization of personal data and privacy era. You want to know how much worse it could be? Just look around you.

"but but Liquid Glass sux..."

aw... too bad. I want Launchpad back, but I'm not going to get it. Does that mean Tim Cook is bad at his job? I'm typing this on an M2 Max Studio that has been running flawlessly for 3 years with no sign of slowing down, with a decent iPhone, iPad mini, 2 sets of AirPods Pros, and 2 Apple TV 4Ks all working flawlessly. And Apple is worth nearly 4 TRILLION dollars and is healthy, prosperous, and still growing. But because Liquid Glass "sux" Tim Cook should be fired. Not only is that ludicrous, you're becoming a parody of yourselves.

Go ahead and offer constructive criticism. That's healthy for all of us, including Apple. But these overreacting tantrums because Apple or Tim Cook makes decisions you don't agree with, without acknowledging all that they have done right, for decades, just make you come off like spoiled, ungrateful little babies.

Or maybe you're just jealous Android, Meta, and/or Samsung fanboys planting dissension in the forums...
 
There is no question Cook has been good for Apple's bottom line, and that isn't nothing, but I stopped watching the keynotes shortly after he took over. I'm not sorry Apple is a profitable company, but the rest since he has been CEO - sigh. Just a small example: I cannot believe Apple is about to resurrect Google Glass, and it tells me they have a good number of former Google people in their midst. That is not Apple, and though I get 2026 is not 2011, the case remains that Microsoft or Google are worse options, and that is pretty much it, yet here we have Apple replicating Google. That the alternatives are worse options is not exactly high praise.

Anyone reading this should try to understand that at one time, Apple was the highest and best. That is no longer the case, it's just the best of awful options.
 
All the hate on Cook and modern Apple proves how effective Cook has been. He's done a fantastic job bringing Apple to the mainstream-- people used to have a cult following because they were a boutique brand and the underdog. Now they're the hegemon. All the reflexive whinging and complaining follow from that.

I think we'll find that Apple did the right thing by not trying to lead in AI-- better to sit back while others blow through piles of money obsoleting each other every couple months and then benefit from those advancements.

Many here can't seem to understand how Cook propelling Apple to having 1+ Billion active/repeat/happy customers who love to purchase Apple products year after year after year directly translates into Apple having outstanding products that people love to buy.

And thus the Cook hate continues. Every day, going back 20 years. Apparently it feels good and is empowering to some.
 


In an interview with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan this week, Apple's CEO Tim Cook responded to rumors about his potential retirement.

Tim-Cook-MacBook-16x9.jpeg

Cook said the idea that he wants to step back at Apple is merely "a rumor."

Cook did not explicitly confirm or deny that he will be stepping down as CEO any time soon, but he said "I can't imagine life without Apple."

The full interview clip is available on YouTube below.


Last year, the Financial Times reported that Apple was preparing for Cook to step down as soon as early 2026, but it is already mid-March, and Cook has made no public indication that he plans to give up his position in the near future.

Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, is widely viewed as Cook's most likely successor. Cook reportedly gave oversight of Apple's design teams to Ternus at the end of last year, and Ternus has been making a lot more public appearances in interviews and in product introduction videos over the past few years.

Cook has been Apple's CEO since August 2011, and he reached the typical retirement age of 65 last year. His time in charge of the company might be inching to an end, but his comments suggest that a change in guard is not imminent.

Article Link: Apple CEO Tim Cook Responds to Retirement Rumors
"Cook ......said "I can't imagine life without Apple."

Maybe he ought to get a hobby and let someone take the reins who understands what Apple's technological leadership used to be under Jobs, and the sorry sack of emoji's it has become under him.
 
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Many here can't seem to understand how Cook propelling Apple to having 1+ Billion active/repeat/happy customers who love to purchase Apple products year after year after year directly translates into Apple having outstanding products that people love to buy.

And thus the Cook hate continues. Going back 20 years.
If my wife is any example that would be 1+ billion minus 1 and she is a non-technical user. I have lots of friends and family (also non technical users) that happen to not be teenagers, and they also hate what Apple software has become.
 
There is no question Cook has been good for Apple's bottom line, and that isn't nothing, but I stopped watching the keynotes shortly after he took over. I'm not sorry Apple is a profitable company, but the rest since he has been CEO - sigh. Just a small example: I cannot believe Apple is about to resurrect Google Glass, and it tells me they have a good number of former Google people in their midst. That is not Apple, and though I get 2026 is not 2011, the case remains that Microsoft or Google are worse options, and that is pretty much it, yet here we have Apple replicating Google. That the alternatives are worse options is not exactly high praise.

Anyone reading this should try to understand that at one time, Apple was the highest and best. That is no longer the case, it's just the best of awful options.
You realize your assumptions and disapproval of "Apple Glass" are based on a rumor, don't you? Even if that rumor is true, that only means they are in the R&D phase. The actual product may never even be produced.
 
Completely agree, Steve pretty much pitched the exact product of the Vision Pro is all the way back in 2005, without it even existing.
Also, despite popular belief, he was very willing to accept product flaw and compromise if using the thing was, to use his favorite word, “magical”. Which most vision pro customers or people who have given their reviews on it say that using it is.
This was the same guy who released an iPod Shuffle without any buttons because, well, it was cool.
 
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