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What it feels like is people just want Apple, no matter what the product is, to invent the “iPhone killer”.
And that product just doesn’t exist.
Apple hasn’t created it, open AI hasn’t created it, Google hasn’t created it, Samsung hasn’t created it, even the Meta glasses are basically just a phone accessory at the end of the day.

Spot-on. Those are once in a very long time innovations.

Jobs was very lucky being in the right place at the right time being exposed to what other companies invented. Which lead to the Mac and iPhone becoming Apple products.
 
Let's celebrate!!! Best news after he took over Apple! Please get rid of him on January 1, 2026. It is time for somebody with a technical background to take over. Hopfully not as greedy as the current guy. Please have 1TB as the base SSD configuration without extra cost.
Um. He has a degree in industrial engineering. How much more technical do you need?🙄
 
Of course he was. And again, it doesn't negate anything about his contributions to the Mac.

Of course. But as I said above, innovations which have a huge impact on the human population, such as graphical user interface computers and personal cellular telephony, come about very rarely.

Like Cook, don't expect the next CEO to be lucky enough to participate in developing such products based on others' or Apple's inventions.
 
I can think of a few CEO's that have been worse than Cook over the years.... Just to name a few:

1) John Stankey
2) Michael Corbat
3) Steve Ballmer

With that said, Cook is nothing special, either. Apple has become a very boring company under him. iOS is buggy -- it's ugly. Same with MacOS. Same with iPad OS. I'll give him credit where it's due, though... At least he isn't a scum bag CEO like most of them are.
 
Spot-on. Those are once in a very long time innovations.

Jobs was very lucky being in the right place at the right time being exposed to what other companies invented. Which lead to the Mac and iPhone becoming Apple products.
Right, and even products like the Mac and the iPod were not initial successes.
The Mac didn’t reach its first peak until 1989, six years after it hit the market, and it really didn’t become the “Mac” of today until the iMac in 1998, 12 years after the initial introduction.
The first iPod took almost 2 years to sell a measly 1 million units.
We talk about these products now as if they were instant successes the day they went on sale, but that was just not the case.
 
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Completely agree. I see a lot of people thinking that a new CEO means that they are about to get a whole bunch of free stuff, and… No, you’re not.
John Ternus isn’t starting the MacBook Air at a terabyte of storage with an upgradable SSD and bringing back every Apple failure like the iPhone Mini.
Whoever the choice will be, we definitely will not be getting another Steve Jobs. That's the thing people here don't seem to understand or be able to accept. Steve Jobs worked because he was there at Apple at the right time in Apple's history. He took over a demoralised company on the precipice of bankruptcy, and reminded the people there that they were special, and that, Jobs was unique. It was the beginning of a new chapter.

Apple does not need another Steve Jobs (at least not at this point). Anyone that says otherwise doesn’t understand revolutions, doesn’t understand culture, and doesn’t understand Apple, and they are only thinking about themselves and their desire for cheaper ram and modular Macs (which still wouldn't materialise anyways). 😏

They also think that Tim Cook is being let go because of his poor performance and political bent, rather than simply returning because of his age. From the perspective of the board and shareholders (which I am not), I will say that Tim Cook has done an admirable job of balancing both the short and long term priorities for Apple.

At the scale at which Appel operates, it still needs to prioritise its supply chain. This is a necessity if you are to reliably ship over 200 million iPhones every year. And that will more or less have an impact on how products are designed and manufactured.

Developer relations is not exactly fantastic at this point - but I am not sure what a new CEO could do to mend that, or if they even see it as an issue. Cutting the App Store commission to 15% or less would severely curtail Apple's profitability, and we know that developers have to support the iOS App Store anyways (for their own sustainability).

Or managing the DMA? Would his successor just want to wipe the slate clean and giving in to every single one of the EU's demands? He is certainly in a position to simply decide that he doesn't want to deal with the hassle, pin the blame on previous leadership, and start on a clean slate. I am fine either way.

As for Trump, well, it's always easy to tell someone what to do when you are not the one to have to deal with the fallout. But maybe Apple's board is expecting a major republican upset during midterms, and are timing a new CEO around that time who can then openly distance Apple from Trump without fear of repercussions? As it is, Apple has already gotten off fairly lightly when it comes to tariff impacts.

Tim Cook is an excellent CEO who has done more than simply hold Apple together following Steve Job's absence. Whoever his next successor will be, I don't expect too much of a change in direction or focus. :cool:
 
Tim Cook did a tremendous job. Anyone who doesn't see that needs to think about how bad things could have gone after Steve Jobs. But now is a great time for a change of leadership, because the tech landscape is starting to drastically change. A fresh pair of eyes will be welcome.
Tremendous? How so? From my POV, Tim has:

  1. Ridden the gravy train of iPad and iPhone which were developed under the leadership of Jobs far before Tim.
  2. Been basically a bean counter.
  3. Hasn't introduced, in 14+ years of his CEO tenure, a single new product unless you are counting AirTags and Beats. Not very impressive for this long of a tenure as well as a $75 accessory and a headphone line they bought for billions.
  4. In my view butchered the iMac/desktop Mac line. Um, we all don't need or want a laptop. Period.
  5. Killed the iPod line for no other reason other than attempt to convince parents to buy their <13 year-old kids $1000 iPhones instead of $150 iPods. As an adult, I still beg for an iPod...but Tim killed it.

Tim's leaving because he knows he's far overstayed his welcome, the Siri/AI debacle is a complete understatement, and he has no real vision of a new product. Apple doesn't need some super risky CEO...it needs a CEO who doesn't just ride the wave of the last CEO for 15 years.
 
I will do this job for a mere $5M/year.
  • On the iPhone I will give you the physical mute toggle back and move the action button to the top right of the power button and remove the camera touch bar.
  • I will give you the option to have a digital clock with seconds across iOS, iPadOS and macOS instead of the analog clock that no one can legibly see.
  • I will support LDAC and FLAC natively.
  • I will remove Tim Cook's CSAM scanning of your private photos.
  • I will place a high emphasis on debugging before rolling out a product or update.
  • And much more...
Vote Mity!!!
 
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Whoever the choice will be, we definitely will not be getting another Steve Jobs. That's the thing people here don't seem to understand or be able to accept. Steve Jobs worked because he was there at Apple at the right time in Apple's history. :cool:
And arguably, it’s not even about Steve himself, or it wasn’t.
It was mostly just about that place in time, Steve happened to return to Apple *right* as the Internet was taking off, and because of that Apple was able to use it to their advantage.
The Internet for everyone was the iMac, the Internet in your pocket was the iPhone, the Internet on your couch was the iPad.
Now we have the Internet on our wrists, in our ears, Cars, TVs… hell there are even toilets that can connect to the Internet these days, and no, I am not joking.
Exactly where else is there to go?
Until the next Revolution comes about, maybe it’s AI but more likely it’s not, even Apple under Jobs if he happen to still be alive today would eventually start hitting walls of diminishing returns.
The Internet in your pocket was special in 2007, it was something that was nothing but a fantasy just a couple years before.
Today my Watch is tracking my sleep and sending it over the Internet to all of my other Apple devices… While I’m literally not awake.
There is no iPhone type product on the horizon, at least not anytime soon.

I mean, just look at Johnny Ive, guy left Apple to go work for OpenAI to try to invent the next revolutionary device, and… even over there they are literally struggling to even come up with ideas of what the next device should be.
The fundamental problem isn’t a problem of CEO or a company. The problem is, when you have a device in your pocket that can literally do anything and has more powerthan the majority of its users can even take advantage of, where do you go from there? Easy to forget, but when Steve came back to Apple, even something as simple as a phone that wasn’t connected to the wall was foreign to the majority of people.
 
I don’t know who is responsible for these iPhone with flat sides with right angle back edges (and no, gently curved edges don’t count), I hope under new leadership we get phones with rounded sides and edges again (aka iPhone 6 through 11) THAT ARE COMFORTABLE TO HOLD! I also hope the next person brings back colorful watches.

He had a good run though. I’m sure it’s a tough and demanding job.
 
What made Jobs great is his appreciation of liberal arts: "We’ve always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts."

That is, design.

Not so much "innovation" or "1TB SSDs for cheap" but art, aesthetics, balance.

"Aquinas says: 'The aesthetic experience is in three moments.' And he names them Integritas, Convenientia and Claritas."
 
Macrumors comments in 2030: John Ternus sucks, I miss Tim Cook, Tim Cook would never do this, etc.
Are you kidding?
There were Mac rumors comments in 2007 saying Steve had lost it after the introduction of the iPhone.
The announcement that Apple would be changing their name from Apple computer Inc. to just Apple Inc. was met with some of the harshest criticism this place has ever seen, that was at the same event as the iPhone.
Plenty of “Steve should give up on his touch screen toy and update the MacPro” comments even then.
A very common sentiment on here at the time was “Steve is turning Apple into Sony instead of focusing on the og Mac customers”. And this was 2007.
Thank God these people never had a say.
 
Tremendous? How so? From my POV, Tim has:

  1. Ridden the gravy train of iPad and iPhone which were developed under the leadership of Jobs far before Tim.
  2. Been basically a bean counter.
  3. Hasn't introduced, in 14+ years of his CEO tenure, a single new product unless you are counting AirTags and Beats. Not very impressive for this long of a tenure as well as a $75 accessory and a headphone line they bought for billions.
  4. In my view butchered the iMac/desktop Mac line. Um, we all don't need or want a laptop. Period.
  5. Killed the iPod line for no other reason other than attempt to convince parents to buy their <13 year-old kids $1000 iPhones instead of $150 iPods. As an adult, I still beg for an iPod...but Tim killed it.

Tim's leaving because he knows he's far overstayed his welcome, the Siri/AI debacle is a complete understatement, and he has no real vision of a new product. Apple doesn't need some super risky CEO...it needs a CEO who doesn't just ride the wave of the last CEO for 15 years.

Cook joined Apple in 1998. And played an integral role in supplying parts and other operational logistics for the iPhone and other Apple products. But even beside that. Jobs didn't create the iPhone by himself, in fact he merely oversaw the iPhone's development. you know like what all CEO's do. It's not like it was just Jobs.

As to your other statement that Cook has not introduced a single new product since Jobs death, that is laughable. Not even worth responding to that.
 
Cook joined Apple in 1998. And played an integral role in supplying parts and other operational logistics for the iPhone and other Apple products. But even beside that. Jobs didn't create the iPhone by himself, in fact he merely oversaw the iPhone's development. you know like what all CEO's do. It's not like it was just Jobs.

As to your other statement that Cook has not introduced a single new product since Jobs death, that is laughable. Not even worth responding to that.

I never said Tim or any CEO (of any company)oversaw the creation of any device. CEOs, as you mention, just don't do that...they're not that deep in the weeds.

You can't sit here and tell me (us) that Tim has overseen, as a CEO, grand new inventions in his almost 15 years as CEO . You say my comment about new products under Tim is laughable. I said under his watch we got Airtags and Beats. So what other products (that didn't completely fail like the Homepod and Vision) did he release (oh, again, in his ~15 years)? Please don't name the newly-introduced iPhone Pocket.
 
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