How Apple Changed Under Tim Cook: 15 Years in Numbers

[HazeAndHahmahneez]

Thanks Timothy!! At the end of the day you don’t fully bug me (pun intended).

Hey terny, let’s ease up on the nickel and dimin’, huh?

Oh , Stevie Wundakid you’re still the best!!! How we love thee, let me count the ways!

Go Apple, iPhone the only way, baby!!!

🍏

 

[macbookj0e]

Well done Tim, there's been a few bloopers along the way but overall very impressive. You can see why Steve had so much faith.

I do hope Apple somehow retain Steve's DNA over the coming generations though.

 

[spazzcat]

So do Apple's 1+ Billion active and repeat customers who purchase Apple products year after year after year. Which also leads to shareholders liking him.

Happy and repeat Apple customers are the final arbiters of Apple's success. Not forum pundits.

People have a tendency to put a rose-tinted glasses when talkng about the past. In the meantime, Apple is one of the most successful companies out there.

 

[TJFDenver]

Software QA/QC is at an all time low

 

[Lioness~]

I have another, sign of Tim Apple’s greed, that I recommend to avoid.
When you sign up for subscriptions/payments in different places, the option 'pay through Apple' often comes up as it's probably recognised that the request comes from an Apple device.
Don’t do it!

Apple always takes ~25-30% extra comparing to other pay-alternatives.
Or if you want to make a donation to the ’poor’ Apple, feel free to do it, by all means 😉

 

[klm9210]

He did exactly what he was appointed by Steve to do.

 

[Abazigal]

If we consider user base the measure of success then windows is peak quality and ballmer was genius. Oh wait…

1 billion+ users chose to stick with the iPhone in the face of cheaper alternatives with supposedly better specs on paper. Enough to make Apple one of the richest companies in the world.

I guess there is no metric which will convince the haters to back off, if they are convinced that Apple has lost its way,

I feel that this is an impressive metric regardless. Not saying is perfect (what company is, really?), but it definitely deserves more credit than critics here would care to admit.

 

[triumvirate]

IT's everyone. Everything is an ad, subscription etc. It's sucks. I know. but if you want to use the products this is what we get.

True. But the benefit of paying the “Apple Tax” in the past, AKA these whacky premium prices, were that native Apple ads and services didn’t really include them, at least not nearly to the degree that they do today. At some point the premium no longer remains worth it when you’re flooded with ads on a daily basis regardless.

 

[ChrisChaval]

Tim being so over the edge positive and optimistic leaves me somewhat concerned

 

[StuBeck]

Service revenue is how he will be remembered, great for the stock holders but thats about it. Just like how Balmer isn't remembered despite doing the same at Microsoft.

Hopefully innovation will return with someone who knows that the bottom line takes care of itself with real products. When the iPhone Air is one of the key products you'll apparently be remembered for, you won't be known for the products launched under your leadership.

 

[Steves Padawan]

And the operating systems turned from classy and stable to a bug-fest. #achievements

iOS 26 - bugged keyboard on iPhone from october until april, slowing with each update

 

[citysnaps]

This is absolutely the best response to all the petty nitpicking about what Tim Cook did or didn’t do right.

As Abraham Lincoln is supposed to have said.…

“You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all of the time.”

Thanx... Slagging on Apple and Tim Cook every day of the year on tech forums apparently is the only way some people can feel good.

 

[macguy167]

And, my apple products still have flaws that after many iterations are still there. I do not like cook.

 

[ikramerica]

Apple is catching up with Microsoft on tossing native device ads into your face. 10 years down the line we may have ads popping up on device set up lol.

We do. For services.

 

[jaster2]

You should include the Mac Studio in the list of products launched.

 

[B4U]

Agreed.

Let us remember failures of Jobs era as well

• Apple Lisa
• iAds
• iReview
• MobileMe
• iTunes Ping
• G4 Cube (partial success, but not as solid as the later Mini, Trashcan Mac of its day)
• iPod version 1 (without windows support)
• Apple HiFi
• Initial Apple TV
• initial imac Hockey Puck Mouse
• White iBook G3 (Prone to logic board failures, display cable failures due to design "first" policy)
• ADC Port
• Firewire (Limited adoption compared to USB)

There were a host of other features that were highly touted and slowly died under his relm. The much hated "Liquid Glass" reminds me of the candy water look of the early versions of Aqua when OS X was new.

Don't get me wrong, I owned and used many items listed above, but financially many were total failures.

Hey, at least they are bring iAds back in some kind of form now! Hahahaha! 🤣

 

[macsimcon]

Remember how Timmy had the idea for Apple to build its own chip fabs for vertical integration, rather than wasting billions on share buybacks? Oh sorry, that never happened.

 

[StevieD100]

I'm not sure about that one. I haven't been hit with any ads, but maybe because it is an option you can opt out on.

I have yet to see an Ad on my devices other than the bovine excrement that the internet dishes up in spades, which are all blocked. Compared to every other Ad source, IMHO, Apple is small fry.

 

[turbineseaplane]

One image summarizes it all for me.

 

[Mega ST]

-No car, vision not really taking off, foreign AI.
-But: Still very good product quality and service, great MBP laptop line, hardware and operating system competitive.
-Undecided: iPhone, a tad aging by specs, prices slowly outclimbing mass market
-Below the line: I think he did well. Much better than a lot of business type leaders.

 

[egodspeed]

Whatever people think of individual decisions, Apple’s growth under Tim Cook has been remarkable. Fifteen years went by quickly.

 

[bushman4]

Ternus faces a big challenge. These are not normal times at Apple. Memory shortages, Huge Price Increases, Many AI engineers being poached by Meta and Alphabet
Ternus will face an uphill battle for a couple of years. Hopefully he’s up for the challenge
Timing is bad but it’s good to know Tim Cook will be around to consult with
Bottom Line: Apple has to start innovating. Not just offering a camera improvement or new colors People will keep their Apple products longer unless they’re compelled to change because of innovation, new Hardware etc

 

[robgreene]

Thx for your input Shareholder 🙂

He’s made every one of you very happy.

While I appreciate your cynicism, I had to stop and ask myself if I even AM a shareholder. Turns out I am, so your comment technically applies. But I'm not a big stock guy.

I'm an Apple fan first and foremost. I believe Apple has a more cohesive ecosystem today than it did when Tim Cook took over. I own 3 MacBook Pros, 7 Apple TVs, 18 HomePod or HomePod minis (paired in every room of the house), an iPhone, 2 iPads, an Apple Watch, 4 Studio Displays, and a Vision Pro (which I use less than I'd hoped... but wow is the tech amazing!).

I share all this to say... I appreciate Tim for how he led the company, and the products and services created during his tenure... not because of any stock growth I had to check to remember if I even had.

 

[JM]

I'd expect to see ads for apps in a store. That's kinda the point of a store... to go shopping.

That is astute, actually.

But I wish it applied to Maps 🙁

“I’d expect to see ads in a maps app. That’s kinda the point of a maps app… To be sold on businesses.”

No, no that won’t do. 🙃

 

[JohnWick1954]

Let’s look at Tim’s losses in numbers;

1. Apple Car (Project Titan)
   • Estimated spending: US$10–15 billion over roughly a decade.
   • Outcome: Cancelled in 2024 before a single car was sold.
   • Thousands of employees were reassigned or laid off.
   • This is widely regarded as Apple’s largest failed project.
2. Apple Vision Pro
   • Development likely cost many billions of dollars (Apple has never disclosed the figure).
   • Retail price launched at US$3,499, limiting mainstream demand.
   • Analysts estimate fewer than 500,000–600,000 units have been sold, far below what many expected. Apple itself has acknowledged it was aimed at early adopters rather than the mass market.
   • Reports in 2026 suggest Apple has scaled back or shifted its Vision Pro strategy after weak sales.
3. Apple Intelligence / Siri AI delays
   • Apple has faced criticism for falling behind competitors in generative AI.
   • Several promised Siri features have been delayed, affecting investor confidence and public perception.

A car was never coming....