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Apple COO Tim Cook as Possible Steve Jobs Replacement?

Saladinos said:
Whilst you're right about those being problems, I don't think that's the overwhelming problem. The problem is that companies are being run by marketing people, not engineers.

Ballmer is a marketing guy. He's not interested in what makes the best product, he's interested in putting bullet points on posters.
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I believe the problem lies at both extremes, as engineers without visionary leadership are too mechanical and (without being rude, and ever so generalizing) lack soul.
I have witnessed rooms of exceptionally intelligent people trying to design a product which is cool...
..the moment you 'try' to make a product which is 'cool' your doomed.
'cool' is a byproduct of exceptional design, and not the starting block :)
 
Can I vote against Tim Cook? If only because he came to the plant and promised us all our jobs were safe, nothing to worry about.. a few weeks later hundreds of us were out. :)

(Ok, no hard feelings, I rejoined Apple a year later; but it didn't exactly warm the cockles of the heart when I read he'd just made millions from the sale of Apple share options).
 
whooleytoo said:
Can I vote against Tim Cook? If only because he came to the plant and promised us all our jobs were safe, nothing to worry about.. a few weeks later hundreds of us were out. :)

(Ok, no hard feelings, I rejoined Apple a year later; but it didn't exactly warm the cockles of the heart when I read he'd just made millions from the sale of Apple share options).
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What is he supposed to do? Tell you all and let you talk to the press, let you all down tools and hurt production before the new plant was ramped up?

Its business, you earn more than someone in China, which means Apple, the company you love, make less money per unit manufacturing in Ireland because the costs are higher. When the figures are announced to Wall St they look at costs and margins - the share price would go down without sound and prudent fiscal management.

NOBODY, not even Apple, owes anybody a living, they are in business to make money, NOT employ people.

Its a harsh and sad reality of being employed
 
Tim Cook was so boring during the last keynote. He has no charisma. Still, his keynote performance reflect little his ability to run Apple. Nobody can parallel Steve Jobs, and so anyone who replaces him will probably be inferior in some way.
 
I have to say that I'm sure Tim Cook has the makings of a great future CEO, however, as many have noted, he's not the best at keynotes. I noticed this at the new MacBook keynote - he just seemed a bit bland and lacked that spark that Steve, Jony Ive & Phil Schiller have.

I think Schiller, Ive and Forstall would probably get the job.
 
Small White Car said:
So a "bean counter" would be a bad CEO...and as examples you list a bunch of things that have occured while Jobs is in charge.

So your point is that things have already gone to heck? Well, if that's the case then why are we worried about who the next guy will be?
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Hard to say, we don't see what happens in the board room, maybe Jobs wanted the firewire to remain but the bean counters won him over. Maybe the changes were going to be more extremem but jobs was able to convince them to tone them done.
 
montypython said:
Sure Tim Cook would be a great leader of Apple, but to call him a Steve Jobs replacement is impossible. Apple will continue to move forward after Steve as stepped down, but we all know that things will never be the same.

As a shareholder I am glad to see that Apple is moving on and looking down the road to replace the one thing that has made Apple, Apple for the last two decades. However, as a 'mac addict' I dread the day when Steve steps down.

Basicly this move is good for business but will deffinetly hurt Apple's popular image.

Long live Apple and Steve Jobs.
:apple:
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He has it right I mean Steve jobs took a chance and tried to compete with windows and I don't think there is any one else that can build a company like Jobs did.

It would suck if he died though
 
No Vision == Tim Cook

He is not a visionary, period.

He has no experience with product design and does not understand the marriage between hardware and software.

Scott Forstall [who I worked with at NeXT and Apple] and personally find a bit of an ass happens to be a far wiser choice--he knows the software and hardware and being an Architect of Openstep and OS X with the ability to give public speeches well can swing it.
 
stuarthatto said:
What is he supposed to do? Tell you all and let you talk to the press, let you all down tools and hurt production before the new plant was ramped up?

Its business, you earn more than someone in China, which means Apple, the company you love, make less money per unit manufacturing in Ireland because the costs are higher. When the figures are announced to Wall St they look at costs and margins - the share price would go down without sound and prudent fiscal management.

NOBODY, not even Apple, owes anybody a living, they are in business to make money, NOT employ people.

Its a harsh and sad reality of being employed
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I just don't like being lied to, that's all. Quality rant on your part though! ;)

(FWIW, I do think a single-minded obsessive pursuit of lower costs/higher margins/bottom line to the exclusion of all else is counter-productive, as less tangible -but no less important - benefits can easily be ignored. Quality of work, fluency in English, morale of employees who are retained, etc.)
 
gifford said:
With due respect, many are left scratching their heads because most people do not have the capacity to understand visionary decisions. I see it time and time again on here, people blaming apple for an apparent bad decision that in reality is calculated, visionary and forward thinking beyond the comprehension of the majority .
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Oh, please.... Stop generalizing people. I'm not one of the ones who said the iPod (or any other Apple product) would be a failure. I'm talking about no MMS. I don't see the foward visionary thinking here. Can you? Or, are you still one of the people who can't see how this is fantastic news?

You act like Jobs is some kind of god or something. He just runs a computer company - one that still remains a little less than 10% of the marketshare. And he really hasn't done much technological innovation either. He takes an exisitng technology, re-packages it, calls it iSomething, and then all fanbois flock to it thinking it is something new to this universe. For the iPhone, he even took features away and then repackaged it and then convinced everyone it was innovative. And for this very reason, he is a marketing genius.
 
enumerated said:
Honestly, Steve Jobs importance is very overrated. He is a good presenter but that is about it. Woz did the Apple, Raskin did the Mac, Fadell did the iPod, Susan Kare did the original os icons and the metaphor of the desktop, Ive does the ID.

There are so many brilliant people at Apple and to say the company NEEDS Jobs is insulting.

Jobs....presents.
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Raskin invented the Mac? HA! Clearly you've been drinking HIS Kool-Aid. Raskin was designing a $500 appliance computer when Jobs took over the project. Jobs turned the Mac in a mini-Lisa, and succeeded where the Lisa failed. Raskin quit soon after Jobs took over. Almost none of Raskin's ideas where in the final product, save the name. The mouse, GUI, etc where all incorporated at Job's insistence. You should try doing some research before spouting off anti-Jobs diarrhea out of your mouth.
 
If someone where to ever replace Steve it would probably be someone extremely unexpected like a Brad Peebler or something.
 
ageha said:
Who said Steve is stepping down any time soon?
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I suppose they're speculating so since the visionless Bill Gates [great at raping over businesses when it was truly legal] stepped down then that means Steve must be doing the same soon.

It's a load of crap, but then again these journalists have never worked for Steven P. Jobs.
 
kas23 said:
Oh, please.... Stop generalizing people. I'm not one of the ones who said the iPod (or any other Apple product) would be a failure. I'm talking about no MMS. I don't see the foward visionary thinking here. Can you? Or, are you still one of the lowly people who can't see how this is fantastic news?

Jeez, you act like Jobs is some kind of god or something. He just runs a computer company - one that still remains a little less than 10% of the marketshare. And he really hasn't done much technological innovation either. He takes an exisitng technology, re-packages it, calls it iSomething, and then all fanbois flock to it thinking it is something new to this universe. For the iPhone, he even took features away and then repackaged it and then convinced everyone it was innovative. And for this very reason, he is a marketing genius.
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Hey since Steve Jobs has it so easy, why don't you go start your own company, repackage things and sell it genius. :rolleyes:
 
Do not worry...

Jobs is Jobs and it doesn't matter who takes his place Apple won't be the same.

Jobs is a creator and he has his own vision, is just like thinking what song U2 will be creating? and trying to create something like it, U2 is U2.

Apple will change, it will not be the same any more.

If the leader of the corporation becomes some one not interested in creativity and does not has the vision to choose and sonsolidate those creative minds... those minds will fade and Apple will end up more like M$.
 
Johnny Ive would be the best candidate. Apple is such a "Charisma" oriented company that they can't risk losing Ive, Hell turning him loose is what saved Apple from the post Jobs days and largely creatives are the people that buy Apple's expensive toys the most. Ive is more Apple than Jobs is, because he could actually do a tech demo of Shake, or some Apple spawned 3D app and then just as easily speak to the average consumer about the cool new features of the next iPhone.
 
Imhotep397 said:
Johnny Ive would be the best candidate.
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It's often been said that he doesn't want to do it. He's supposed to quite shy and a very private person. That could be political positioning (unlikely) or it could be that he's happy leading the design team.
 
Seems like a good idea; although the mention of how T. Cook doesn't have the same vision as Steve Jobs makes me think he won't be very successful with Apple's products.

They need someone with the same vision... and who really is that anyways? There's J. Ive and others working with the design team. They seem more likely than an operations executive.
 
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