Apple CEO Tim Cook Should Be Replaced, Research Firm Says

[Camerondonal]

I like John, he seems to be a very capable engineering leader; but I don’t know much more about him. What do you feel are John’s qualifications for CEO?

To be fair, I may have been overstating the case - I don't actually know his qualifications for CEOship But I suppose he must have some if he is rated as the front runner. I was just thinking of the fact that Ternus has a certain camera-friendly charisma - something that can't be said of other senior Apple execs with the exception of Craig Federighi. Camera-friendly charisma counted for a lot back in Steve Jobs' day

 

[heretiq]

In the world of a team of developers, like the one he was an addressing when he reportedly used the quote. He also said “It’s not done until it ships.” The term “shipping” has been used in this context within development teams for as long as I can remember (35+ years as a software developer) to mean “release”. Of course logistics and supply chain are important, but trying to use that particular quote out of context to prop up Tim Cook is, at best, disingenuous.

Apple has always been a product company from inception. Their mission was (and still is) to ship product. The quote “Real artists ship” was coined during the original Macintosh product development and directed at the Macintosh Product Team — not to some abstract “team of developers.” The context and motivation for the discussion was repeated Macintosh product delays.

Shipping that product was Jobs and Apple’s #1 priority. And that was the context for the “Real artists ship” quote — and can be easily confirmed.

Jobs knew that shipping product was essential to Apple’s success then and in the future.

Cook decisively and undeniably solved that problem for Apple for the long term and cemented Jobs desire as an institutionalized capability. That is an extraordinary accomplishment and a bedrock for Apple’s growth and sustainability. And that is why Jobs chose Cook to succeed him as CEO.

So, claiming that Jobs comment was somehow focused on software release and not physical product is a mischaracterization. Using that mischaracterization to withhold credit from Cook for his extraordinary achievement is something else.

 

[Mr_Ed]

Apple has always been a product company from inception. Their mission was (and still is) to ship product. The quote “Real artists ship” was coined during the original Macintosh product development and directed at the Macintosh Product Team — not to some abstract “team of developers.” The context and motivation for the discussion was repeated Macintosh product delays.

Shipping that product was Jobs and Apple’s #1 priority. And that was the context for the “Real artists ship” quote — and can be easily confirmed.

Jobs knew that shipping product was essential to Apple’s success then and in the future.

Cook decisively and undeniably solved that problem for Apple for the long term and cemented Jobs desire as an institutionalized capability. That is an extraordinary accomplishment and a bedrock for Apple’s growth and sustainability. And that is why Jobs chose Cook to succeed him as CEO.

So, claiming that Jobs comment was somehow focused on software release and not physical product is a mischaracterization. Using that mischaracterization to withhold credit from Cook for his extraordinary achievement is something else.

I’ve never said, or even implied, that Cook was not great at those aspects of the business. We’ll just have to disagree on the meaning of the term “shipping” in the context it was used.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I think Tim’s tenure is coming to a natural close anyhow. As far as lagging behind in AI, nine of the companies mentioned have a viable ai product on a phone, that’s actually useful in daily life. I’ll wait for the competition to show up at the doorstep.

Holy Moly, Tim has lost his base..

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Apple has always been a product company from inception. Their mission was (and still is) to ship product. The quote “Real artists ship” was coined during the original Macintosh product development and directed at the Macintosh Product Team — not to some abstract “team of developers.” The context and motivation for the discussion was repeated Macintosh product delays.

Shipping that product was Jobs and Apple’s #1 priority. And that was the context for the “Real artists ship” quote — and can be easily confirmed.

Jobs knew that shipping product was essential to Apple’s success then and in the future.

Cook decisively and undeniably solved that problem for Apple for the long term and cemented Jobs desire as an institutionalized capability. That is an extraordinary accomplishment and a bedrock for Apple’s growth and sustainability. And that is why Jobs chose Cook to succeed him as CEO.

So, claiming that Jobs comment was somehow focused on software release and not physical product is a mischaracterization. Using that mischaracterization to withhold credit from Cook for his extraordinary achievement is something else.

Steve also famously said "Good artists copy; great artists steal", and was a mixed bag in many respects. Personally, I try to evaluate Cook on his own merits, and not against Jobs...Steve has been dead for almost a decade and a half, and while he is still an important historical figure to Apple, he isn't relevant today.

Cook is fine..boring but fine. I'm fine with boring, and prefer companies where the CEOs aren't celebrities, and prefer to stay out of the limelight and just run the company. Product-wise, though... Apple Car and Apple Vision Pro, AI..all bummers under his watch.

 

[I7guy]

Steve also famously said "Good artists copy; great artists steal", and was a mixed bag in many respects. Personally, I try to evaluate Cook on his own merits, and not against Jobs...Steve has been dead for over a dead for almost a decade and a half, and while he is still an important historical figure to Apple, he isn't relevant today.

Cook is fine..boring but fine. I'm fine with boring, and prefer companies where the CEOs aren't celebrities, and prefer to stay out of the limelight and just run the company. Product-wise, though... Apple Car and Apple Vision Pro, AI..all bummers under his watch.

Steve had his share of failures. But the AVP to me is a failure like the HomePod. Something that still exists but is going off in a different direction.

 

[Frixos]

“a decade-long drought of breakthrough mainstream hardware”

A decade? Silicon is less than a decade old and it was quite the breakthrough.

 

[wood1208]

Tim Cook should be replaced kind of thing whichever research or brokerage company said is idiot and that company must be boycott and replaced.
Under Tim Cook, Apple did excellent and I as well millions of investors made ton of money in Apple stock.

 

[needsomecoffee]

and Apple Silicon.

Please do not forget this guy. Think he deserves the most credit for where AS is today:

The Most Important Apple Executive You’ve Never Heard Of

www.bloomberg.com

 

[timmodugdale]

It is an interesting perspective. A logistic-focused leadership has served Apple well and made it successful at times when other companies were suffering. It is also true that Apple has not been as innovative as they were in the past. I don't think it is an either/or scenario, though. The question is whether Tim Cook can shift the company's focus back to a product-driven worldview. The Siri-gate situation doesn't provide much optimism on that front.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Scott Forstall wasn't in charge of AI he was in charge of the UI. And whatever "AI" there was in 2012, over a decade ago, wouldn't be anything like what we have today.

Scott wasn’t even in charge of the UI necessarily.
he was a senior vice president of software platforms until 2007, and then senior vice president of iPhone software until 2012.
he was never head of Mac OS X, which is a common myth that is pushed here.
and even when it comes to artificial intelligence, Scott made his first big move with Siri… by handing it off to one of his employees, Richard Williamson, in 2011. even when it first launched, Scott himself didn’t want to have to deal with it.
this idea that Apple‘s trajectory completely changed when Scott Forstall was let go is just so silly. he literally began by making the exact same mistake that everyone else at Apple has made, trying to hand Siri off to someone else as a “project” instead of being a headline feature.

 

[citysnaps]

And with another CEO, things could go downhill all the more. Apple's image is quite big and important, so you can quickly do irrevocable damage. As long as sales are stable, there is no reason for a change at the top.

Spot-on... It seems many here insist on forgetting Jobs had it very easy when personal computing and cellular telephony were in their infancy and wide open for innovation. And Jobs could collaborate with the *real pioneers* in those fields (Xerox PARC, SRI, and Motorola) developing the Macintosh, iPhone, iPad, etc..

That above luxury is simply not available today as those are extremely mature product spaces. Apparently that is something those claiming "Apple can't innovate anymore" will never understand.

 

[abracadaver]

I'm horrible at reading business tea leaves but the "missing on AI" thing sounds a little .. alarmist? Maybe not the best choice of words, but if/when this AI bubble bursts and Apple didn't chase the shiny object as feverishly as everyone else - then what? More a rhetorical question. The other claims, I can see that but who's doing big mainstream hardware breakthroughs? Folding phones? I don't care about that personally.

 

[GioGiusi]

Apple is worth too much money. It is fundamentally impossible for it to do anything except try to keep making heaps of money. Tim Cook should be replaced, yes, by someone with a focus on products and customers. But that will not and cannot happen. Too much money at stake now.

 

[GioGiusi]

but if/when this AI bubble bursts

AI is not a bubble, and anyone who uses that word in reference to it is just clueless. There may be many "me too" empty AI efforts out there, but those are just the imitators of the big successes.

 

[drcre8tive]

Are they psychohistorians? Will the Apple board decant another Brother Dawn? Will Tim walk into the incinerator on his own or must he be coerced? Many Questions; must consult Hari Seldon.

 

[SGSfanboy]

As long as trump keeps noodling with Apple’s supply chain with on/off tariffs, Tim is the right man for the job.

 

[MVMNT]

The firm: Trust me, bro

 

[HiVolt]

The weird thing is, If you watch some of his earlier keynotes, he actually seemed to have a personality back then. The problem is, especially since the post COVID video keynotes, he's clearly been to the same media training school as all the other 55 presenters on the Apple keynote videos these days, and they all look and sound the same. It seems to be the one thing in AI that they've actually pioneered on, making their presenters look AI generated.

You have to wonder why Tim himself wants to still be the CEO of Apple. Surely he's at the age where he himself wants to retire and let someone else deal with Apple now.

it's true that these video keynotes are so perfectly sanitized and prepared, it's like all those people's farts don't smell. I do wish they would bring back the keynote in the auditorium, heck they have a nice one at the office, and live demos.

But even still, Cook just doesn't look like he's comfortable in public speaking, and therefore looks robotics and without any sort of emotion.

Guys like Phil Schiller or Craig Federighi have much more charisma and are much more likeable as an executive delivering a promotional message for the product.

 

[satchmo]

Well here’s a few things Tim’s “known” for:

• • Apple Watch:
    The Apple Watch, released in 2015, was Apple's first new product in the post-Jobs era.
  • AirPods:
    The introduction of AirPods in 2016 marked another successful product launch under Cook's leadership.
  • M1 Chip:
    The development and launch of the M1 chip, which replaced Intel processors, represented a significant step in Apple's vertical integration.
  • Apple Vision Pro:
    The recent unveiling of the Apple Vision Pro mixed-reality headset demonstrates Cook's continued commitment to innovation

Honest question…how many of these did Cook actually envision? And how many ideas by others and were simply green lit under Tim’s watch.

I’ve always understood that Jobs for the most part, had a singular vision of the products he produced. Yes, we know he stole ideas from Xerox and of course he worked with Ive and others to get it to where he was happy with it. But whether it was the Mac, iPod, iMac, or iPhone, these were his pet projects where he was intimately involved from materials, to fonts, and every step of the way.

I don’t question Tim’s ability to ship products and make shareholders money. I just don’t see him as a ‘products’ guy in the way perhaps Steve was.

 

[simidene]

AI is more than chatbots. People who aren’t studying the advancements aren’t going to understand. LLMs are just the beginning. AI will be bigger than computers or the iPhone/smartphones.

And yes, Windows PCs have advanced incredibly compared to what they used to be. Microsoft actually tailors their offerings for enterprises.

The reason AAPL is down is stagnation with innovation. Been a long time since Apple truly innovated. Even Apple SoCs were built using other technologies which is why other chips are catching up fast. Nvidia is blowing everyone out of the water.

Tim Crook wants to own every bit of the technology vertically so Apple can lock in via anticompetitive methods and economies of scale in operations. It’s all based on money and greed not to innovate. This is why Apple needs a leader with some foresight into advancing product technologies. Not just let’s capitalize on services and the ecosystem we can payoff people to not rein us in everywhere except Europe - the one place that cares about consumers and SMBs.

Edit. Oh and the Vision Pro proves just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should if you aren’t in touch with the tech and reality of consumer purchasing power

Exactly! It’s quite remarkable how many people are either unaware of what AI is or how crucial it will be for the foreseeable future or they just don't want it to disrupt there...lets take pictures and video with my phone and pretend that we are professional photographers on YouTube. In the near future, AI will surpass the simple functionality of having an iPhone and taking pictures. It will have the capability to complete on-demand tasks, such as responding to emails and texts etc.., which is the ultimate goal. What you see in sci-fi movies with an AI model controlling a spaceship, drawing up the solar system and stars, and figuring out large equations for outer space exploration etc.., which was once considered silly, will soon become a reality. I understand that there is some resistance, but I can’t see this progress being halted. AI implementation is not confined to a smartphone bubble; it’s being utilized across the entire economy and world.

 

[hasanahmad]

This is the Analyst on the Firm who said this

 

[I7guy]

Honest question…how many of these did Cook actually envision? And how many ideas by others and were simply green lit under Tim’s watch.

I think all of them were envisioned by cook. Cook then green lit the final iteration.

I’ve always understood that Jobs for the most part, had a singular vision of the products he produced. Yes, we know he stole ideas from Xerox and of course he worked with Ive and others to get it to where he was happy with it. But whether it was the Mac, iPod, iMac, or iPhone, these were his pet projects where he was intimately involved from materials, to fonts, and every step of the way.

You can say cook wasn’t intimately involved or was because we don’t know.

I don’t question Tim’s ability to ship products and make shareholders money. I just don’t see him as a ‘products’ guy in the way perhaps Steve was.

Different skill sets at different times.

 

[AgeOfSpiracles]

Apple should definitely consider an overhaul. Tim may be a good operation guy but he is far behind the guys like Nadella.

Tim’s milk-customers-like-cow strategy has finally worn me out and I am switxhing to Galaxy Fold 7 after using iPhone from 3G until 15.

lmao, Nadella? Microsoft? Look, they're obviously massive and making money, but so is Apple. But as a consumer facing organization, MS is an absolute joke. Windows is as bad as it has ever been, for basically no reason. Xbox is drowning in a puddle despite owning half the gaming industry. They've been run out of nearly every single hardware market they've entered, despite being pretty okay at it. Azure seems to be trucking along, despite being evershifting nonsense from a product and marketing perspective, probably just due to the inertia of their business marketshare.

 

[257Loner]

What a load of hogwash! Tim Cook led Apple to becoming a $3 trillion company, and many new products were released during his leadership, like the Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro. Services like Apple Music and Apple TV+ were also grown during his leadership. Moreover, the Mac has been the best it has ever been.

I don't know who should lead next, but Tim Cook is the best leader Apple could have ever hoped for after Steve Jobs.