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How Apple Changed Under Tim Cook: 15 Years in Numbers
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PachaEOD
macrumors member
I've worked for Apple two times in my life. Mid to late 80s as a hardware repair tech and I taught computer classes to teachers in the local school district. Late 90s to mid 2000s as an Apple Systems Engineer. During the first tenure Steve was pushed out and Sculley took over. As an SE Steve was firmly in charge again and what I see missing in the incredible rise of Apple under Cooke was Steve's emphasis on things just working for the end user.
Mr. Cook is a great corporate business manager......... He has very little tech or innovative vision but he can sure generate sky high gross margins and basic revenue growth which is what Wall Street loves.....
All eyes will be on Ternus to see if he can truly innovate and buff up Apples innovative shine it had 20+ years ago.........
All eyes will be on Ternus to see if he can truly innovate and buff up Apples innovative shine it had 20+ years ago.........
Tim Cook's only product is the stock price and customer retention. He nailed both like only a couple CEOs in history.
You might hate him, you may hate his business practices, you may think he makes all the wrong machines - but these are all things that relate to how you think. Apple has thousands of people that do nothing but market research, product feedback, R&D, etc and Tim Cook has clearly worked tremndously with them to maximize overall revenue and overall (i.e. not YOUR) satisfaction and loyalty.
You act like Apple was successful despite Tim, and that would be idiotic. Even Steve Jobs said what Tim Cook does, thinks, and prioritizes was exactly what Apple needed and that he knew Tim wouldn't just try to think like Jobs, but that he would work towards making it a global giant.
Go back to hating but a 23x stock increase is absolutely incredible no matter your personal or product OPINIONS.
You might hate him, you may hate his business practices, you may think he makes all the wrong machines - but these are all things that relate to how you think. Apple has thousands of people that do nothing but market research, product feedback, R&D, etc and Tim Cook has clearly worked tremndously with them to maximize overall revenue and overall (i.e. not YOUR) satisfaction and loyalty.
You act like Apple was successful despite Tim, and that would be idiotic. Even Steve Jobs said what Tim Cook does, thinks, and prioritizes was exactly what Apple needed and that he knew Tim wouldn't just try to think like Jobs, but that he would work towards making it a global giant.
Go back to hating but a 23x stock increase is absolutely incredible no matter your personal or product OPINIONS.
If Apple 23x while other tech companies struggled, then I’d agree with you. I’m glad people love what he did but damn son, I’m looking forward to him leaving.
Tim Cook probably made several of the members here multi-millionaires. True story, and thanks😉
IMO, the iPod released in 2001 is what turned Apple around commercially. It became a device anyone could buy, not just Mac users, and they sure did. The tech in that led to the iPhone, and the rest is history.
Tim Cook took the reins and continued what Jobs had started, both in 1976 and in 1996.
In 2011 if you went to a coffee shop, maybe 25% of the computers were Macs. Today, it’s about all of them.
Sure, there have been some duds. The worst imo was the butterfly keyboard that affected 4 years of notebooks. I got stuck with 2 of them and cursed them at every moment.
The trashcan Mac Pro was another dud. A seemingly good idea, but they completely abondoned it. At least they are not repeating that now with the Mac Studio.
Moving the platform to Apple Silicon and away from Intel was his best move, imo, and set the platform up for the next 20 years. Just like buying NeXT set up the Mac (and iPhone) for 20 years.
He did a fine job expanding the business and getting Apple products into many more customers.
IMO, the iPod released in 2001 is what turned Apple around commercially. It became a device anyone could buy, not just Mac users, and they sure did. The tech in that led to the iPhone, and the rest is history.
Tim Cook took the reins and continued what Jobs had started, both in 1976 and in 1996.
In 2011 if you went to a coffee shop, maybe 25% of the computers were Macs. Today, it’s about all of them.
Sure, there have been some duds. The worst imo was the butterfly keyboard that affected 4 years of notebooks. I got stuck with 2 of them and cursed them at every moment.
The trashcan Mac Pro was another dud. A seemingly good idea, but they completely abondoned it. At least they are not repeating that now with the Mac Studio.
Moving the platform to Apple Silicon and away from Intel was his best move, imo, and set the platform up for the next 20 years. Just like buying NeXT set up the Mac (and iPhone) for 20 years.
He did a fine job expanding the business and getting Apple products into many more customers.
adh1003
macrumors member
Inflation, people. Inflation.
2011's 108 billion to 2025's 416 is touted as a fourfold increase - yes, if we thought the value of a dollar hadn't changed in all that time. But inflation's been horrific and that cuts both ways. According to https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/, that 108 billion in 2011 is worth about 352 billion in 2025 money, so Tim Cook did increase revenue - but by less than a 19% rise, in total, across 14 years.
Given the litany of sacrifices seen across the board in software quality, and given how many other things they decided to spread their attention over in services and product categories, that is surely very bad, is it not?
2011's 108 billion to 2025's 416 is touted as a fourfold increase - yes, if we thought the value of a dollar hadn't changed in all that time. But inflation's been horrific and that cuts both ways. According to https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/, that 108 billion in 2011 is worth about 352 billion in 2025 money, so Tim Cook did increase revenue - but by less than a 19% rise, in total, across 14 years.
Given the litany of sacrifices seen across the board in software quality, and given how many other things they decided to spread their attention over in services and product categories, that is surely very bad, is it not?
Adjusting for inflation doesn’t change the picture. 19% per year real growth for 14 years is a phenomenal achievement.
Shanghaichica
macrumors G5
Klagarde
macrumors member
Ending higher on the list when users type in "restaurants nearby" is considered advertisement too.
iPay
macrumors 6502
More figures:
Trillion one, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
Trillion one, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
Trillion one!
Trillion two, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
[...]
Trillion five, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo...
Trillion one, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
Trillion one, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
Trillion one!
Trillion two, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
[...]
Trillion five, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo...
Last edited:
GuyDouche
macrumors regular
I can't think of any publicly traded, American company, that doesn't care about generating revenue and paying back their shareholders. Welcome to the real world. Vote with your pocketbook. If you don't like something, don't purchase it. Found something you need? Purchase it.
Boeing certainly is interested in shareholder value. But they went back from their extreme days with stock buy backs instead of funding development programs, to a more moderate approach taking care of time schedules, product delivery, customer relations and future product lines. It still will take years to repair.
d-klumpp
macrumors 6502
Sorry to any developers out there, but the App Store isn't in the Top 10 -- 20? 30? -- of apps that I use, so an occasional ad there isn't a problem.
B4U
macrumors 601
There isn't a problem to you only because you don't use that. But that does not make it a non-problem.
And that is just one example.
The ads are just bloody everywhere in Apple apps now.
News is another one come up in mind. Maps is coming next.
I strongly disagree. Apple Silicon is incredible in every way. MacOS is by far the best OS, and the Darwin kernel underpinnings are unmatched by any other platform including Windows, Linux and FreeBSD upon which it is based. My watch talks to my phone which talks to my computer and they all work seamlessly.
My laptop is leagues better than what I had at the end of Steve Jobs tenure. It's faster, lighter, longer battery life, better screen, better webcam and dramatically more capable. And we haven't yet completed receiving the products that Tim worked on - the Macbook Ultra, iPhone XX, etc. - so there is a lot more to come.
As a user this experience is bar none the best in the industry, and the innovations and advancements have been not just welcoming but outright exciting. That's why the share price is where it's at.
Abazigal
Contributor
Clearly, Apple should have also raised iPhone prices in keeping with inflation.
They are clearly undercosted and have cost Apple a pretty penny over the last half a decade.
Jumpthesnark
macrumors 68000
Exactly. Do people expect nothing more than a search bar when they open the App Store? Or, for that matter, Amazon? The whole point of a store is to separate shoppers from their money.
danielfgom
macrumors newbie
Correction: Apple silicon came under Steve Jobs. It was the A4 chip and debuted in iPhone 4.
That was not Tim. Maybe you meant Apple silicon on the Mac but that was always the plan from Steve.
Another thing Tim created: unaffordable devices. If you are going to make a dent in universe you need to get your devices into everyone’s hands. Not just 21% of humanity (latest iPhone global market share is 21%).
This is a MASSIVE FAILURE on Tim’s behalf. Apple make literally the best and most desired phone on the planet, which when introduced had a 5 year technology leap compared to anyone else.
How is it that iPhone doesn’t have an 80% global market share?????
Everyone wants one yet only 21% sales worldwide.
Why? Because they priced it out of affordability. They priced it for Americans but should have priced it for the Vietnamese fisherman.
Sales would have been through the roof. Forget $5 trillion evaluation, they would end been worth €100 trillion by now at least.
Massive failure. Tim turned Apple into IBM, from whence he came.
That was not Tim. Maybe you meant Apple silicon on the Mac but that was always the plan from Steve.
Another thing Tim created: unaffordable devices. If you are going to make a dent in universe you need to get your devices into everyone’s hands. Not just 21% of humanity (latest iPhone global market share is 21%).
This is a MASSIVE FAILURE on Tim’s behalf. Apple make literally the best and most desired phone on the planet, which when introduced had a 5 year technology leap compared to anyone else.
How is it that iPhone doesn’t have an 80% global market share?????
Everyone wants one yet only 21% sales worldwide.
Why? Because they priced it out of affordability. They priced it for Americans but should have priced it for the Vietnamese fisherman.
Sales would have been through the roof. Forget $5 trillion evaluation, they would end been worth €100 trillion by now at least.
Massive failure. Tim turned Apple into IBM, from whence he came.
Steves Padawan
macrumors member
its like spot 1984,
now xiaomi which was like imposter have 1" camera sensor and better zoom and better display,
middle class phones for 500-600 are now with better storage, camera, display than basic iPhone 17
adh1003
macrumors member
No. Reading comprehension fail.
19% across all 14 years. Not 19% each year - 19% in total. That's all.