Seven Years Ago Today: Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple, Tim Cook Named His Successor

[Analog Kid]

If Steve were alive, he never would have named Tim as his successor...

 

[travelsheep]

The new and big customer base knows only Cook, they only know the iPhone 7, 8, X. They know the iPad Pro and Airpods. They think the MacBook is awesome. They don't know the Mac Mini. They think the MacBook Air is ancient tech. For them Apple is an amazing company, full of innovation and style.

But EUR 3.300 (USD 3,800) for an entry level MacBook PRO (13", 1 TB SSD, 16GB RAM, Apple Care) is hard to digest. Painful even.

 

[dan110]

And here are just a few facts to support Cook's leadership of Apple:

• Cook has taken the stock from an adjusted $50/share to $215.
• Cook has created around $700 BILLION in shareholder value.
• Cook has over doubled total revenue from $100B in 2011 to $230B in 2017.
• Cook has taken iPhone from 70M units/yr to well over 210M.
• Cook has introduced the best selling Watch in the world.
• Cook has taken "other products" with Watch, Airpods, HomePod, etc to $20B/yr business.
• Cook has made Apple the undisputed leader in Mobile Silicon
• Cook has pushed Services into a 30% growth, $30B/yr business.

I think you're a bit too enthusiastic about Tim's performance. While I'll tip my hat to him as an astute CEO, we cannot forget that much of Apple's development cycle up until fairly recently was already set by Steve before he left the company and passed away.

So, if (n) is the number of years that Steve's influence was felt after he left, it's probably fair to say that with n-7, the public is probably just now starting to have to deal with a non-Steve Job's influenced product development cycle.

With that in mind, I believe it's also fair to say that Tim inherited a "golden goose" for which all that he had to do was make sure that it was fed, watered, and protected.

 

[SeattleMoose]

I think the most detrimental aspect of Steve leaving is that there is nobody to push back on Jony Ive who is brilliant but favors form over function. A lot of design decisions he has made leave one going ???

 

[citysnaps]

No, but he was handed over a goldcow with great innovation. Mostly Tim have expand Apple.
Been a few new products, give him that. Wouldn’t want to be without my AirPods.

Now it’s only ”think money money” more then everyone else.

Apple as a company isn’t anything that inspire me today, it did 7-25 yrs ago. There’s no vision there of interest for me. It’s just products I use.

Too early yet to say if it was right or wrong person Steve named his successor. Wait another 7 yrs. Tim have mostly been ridning on Steve’s innovation and done what he’s good at, expanding business, building tons of Apple Stores. Still none in my city though
We’ll see what all these stores sell in 7 more years.

It's always been about money.

Take the MacBook Air that Jobs introduced in 2008...

1 USB port, non user-upgradeable 2GB of RAM, an 80GB spinning hard disk, a non user-removable battery, and an underpowered CPU that still caused overheating issues...all for the price of $1,799.

 

[MRrainer]

“The best products” is completely subjective. But, Apple isn’t putting a gun to anyone’s head forcing them to buy Apple products. The idea that sales, revenue and stock price don’t matter is ridiculous.
[doublepost=1535122670][/doublepost]
This is what MR forum members said about the leaked iPhone that was found in a bar.

In fairness, the 4S was the much better phone. Still use it today.
IMO, the X is the first phone since the 4S that I like holding in my hand.
Just wasn't prepared to shell out close to 900 CHF for it (via carrier subsidies). We'll see for how much it goes this year.

 

[BWhaler]

The power and efficiency of the writing. The warmth without being saccharine..

I miss having Steve with us.

 

[bunnicula]

I think the most detrimental aspect of Steve leaving is that there is nobody to push back on Jony Ive who is brilliant but favors form over function. A lot of design decisions he has made leave one going ???

I think the most detrimental aspect (aside from the "he's dead and his friends and family miss him" part) of Steve not being here is that he's not here to screw up and remind people that he was a human being and not a demigod.

 

[needfx]

Yeah, I've been hearing about how Windows PCs have caught up for a couple years and then I recently spent 3 weeks using Adobe CC and Powerpoint on Windows 10. It hasn't caught up! LOL Windows is still garbage.

Believe me, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to build my own PC using nVidia's brand new GPU. But the OS is just garbage.

You know how in OS X you can grab a JPEG and just drag it onto the Photoshop icon in your dock and it gets launched into Photoshop? Forget about doing that in Windows.

You know how if you have a Photoshop file open and you go to the Finder and you decide you want to move that file to a different folder, or you want to rename it? Forget about doing that in Windows. You will get an error message. You have to close the file first, then you can move the file or rename it. And if you want to rename or move files on the company network, you'll have to do that in the middle of the night because if one employee has one file open on that network, you get an error.

The open/save dialogue in Windows is the same as it was a decade ago. You know how in the Finder you have a sidebar with your favorites and that sidebar shows up in the open/save dialogue? Not in Windows! In Windows, you will be browsing your file system ALL THE TIME because it doesn't have a list of recent places like OS X, and it doesn't give you your favorites from your sidebar.

And just switching between open apps in Windows requires more steps. It doesn't switch between apps, it switches between WINDOWS. So if you have a few open in Photoshop and you click on the Photoshop icon in the taskbar, it brings up every open document as a thumb for you to pick. Insane!

I could go on and on. Windows is still garbage. Believe me.

Not to diminish the little pro/con quirks you list here, but a professional can work on any able machine, irrelevant of personal choice.

I work both on mac & pc, and I can positively state on empirical evidence that both have their shortcomings, random software freezes, and so and so forth. The crux of this response is that I prefer to work on a pc, even though I would rather press space for file previews, but for some reason W10 feels more snappy. Moreover, if I bust a gpu, I can replace it, in no time, by myself, which in terms of professional services rendered, my down-time in such a case is far FAR less than what apple service can offer, and with less tress involved.

ps
Ps, Ai, Ae, Pr, Au, Lr & some 3Ds

 

[0947347]

maybe The original sentence was like this.

“As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute Tim Cook.”

Certainly lots of macrumours members would welcome it

 

[Guy Clark]

No innovation? What do you call the "Touch Bar", the T2 chip and the iMac Pro cooling fans?

Who wants a TouchBar at the expense of a traditionally laid out Apple scissor mechanism keyboard?
[doublepost=1535152277][/doublepost]

And here are just a few facts to support Cook's leadership of Apple:

• Cook has taken the stock from an adjusted $50/share to $215.
• Cook has created around $700 BILLION in shareholder value.
• Cook has over doubled total revenue from $100B in 2011 to $230B in 2017.
• Cook has taken iPhone from 70M units/yr to well over 210M.
• Cook has introduced the best selling Watch in the world.
• Cook has taken "other products" with Watch, Airpods, HomePod, etc to $20B/yr business.
• Cook has made Apple the undisputed leader in Mobile Silicon
• Cook has pushed Services into a 30% growth, $30B/yr business.

Yet there is a glaring omission from what you have listed above. The Mac which was Steve Jobs pride and Joy.

 

[Baymowe335]

Who wants a TouchBar at the expense of a traditionally laid out Apple scissor mechanism keyboard?
[doublepost=1535152277][/doublepost]
Yet there is a glaring omission from what you have listed above. The Mac which was Steve Jobs pride and Joy.

Computing needs change and they have changed. Apple still makes good Macs, but computing moves on to mobile.
[doublepost=1535154484][/doublepost]

I think you're a bit too enthusiastic about Tim's performance. While I'll tip my hat to him as an astute CEO, we cannot forget that much of Apple's development cycle up until fairly recently was already set by Steve before he left the company and passed away.

So, if (n) is the number of years that Steve's influence was felt after he left, it's probably fair to say that with n-7, the public is probably just now starting to have to deal with a non-Steve Job's influenced product development cycle.

With that in mind, I believe it's also fair to say that Tim inherited a "golden goose" for which all that he had to do was make sure that it was fed, watered, and protected.

Why? His performance has been stellar. What more do you want? You don’t do what he’s done by just inheriting a golden goose.

 

[hugodrax]

"I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it"

The biggest mistake Steve Jobs ever made.

Complete lack of innovation.

Poorly designed Hardware.

Shoddy after sales service.

The shareholder is doing well though.

The problem is you cant find another Steve Jobs.

 

[Guy Clark]

Apple still makes good Macs

I have two 21.5" iMacs one mid 2011 the other late 2015 4k Retina.

The mid 2011 iMac is far superior.

 

[davester]

I still remember this announcement like it was yesterday...
[doublepost=1535156184][/doublepost]

I have two 21.5" iMacs one mid 2011 the other late 2015 4k Retina.

The mid 2011 iMac is far superior.

Good thing it wasn’t the 27” mid-2011, with it’s superior failing graphics card.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I think despite what some people think, one VERY important aspect of Apple is that because only Apple sells cellphones that run iOS, it means that all software updates are controlled by Apple, not beholden to cellphone manufacturer or cellphone carrier certification (emphasis mine). That very policy means that with any iPhone that uses a 64-bit A-series SoC and a brand-new battery installed, a Restore (e.g., from scratch) install of the latest version of iOS means the phone works surprisingly fast and quite well. As such, a five-year old iPhone 5S can get a new lease on life, something that can't be said with most older Android phones.

This is the legacy of Tim Cook, a man who in many ways was Steve Jobs' most trusted man, especially given how Cook worked a lot on supply chain issues for Apple for many years.

 

[SuperMatt]

You all know Steve Jobs is still alive, right? Look at the picture:

https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/8/6/17654434/betsy-devos-yacht-mcmansion-hell

 

[femike]

And that was a mistake.
Good for the institutional shareholders and board though.

 

[z970]

-

 

[Abazigal]

It’s just as well.

I’m still not convinced Apple would have been better off with Jobs at the helm with the company at its current size and trajectory anyway.

 

[eco7777]

I grew up using Mac computers, not stupid phones.
[doublepost=1535164291][/doublepost]

maybe The original sentence was like this.

“As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute Tim Cook.”

Certainly lots of macrumours members would welcome it

Best post ever!

 

[Baymowe335]

I have two 21.5" iMacs one mid 2011 the other late 2015 4k Retina.

The mid 2011 iMac is far superior.

Wow, I guess that proves it...lol. Glad you enjoy the 2011.

 

[n_detweiler]

Is there something special about the 7th anniversary?

No?

 

[d0nK]

I still use my iPhone 5. Have no desire to bother upgrading it.
My late 2011 15" mbp on the other hand.. I use it 10+ hours a day and will need an upgrade eventually. I just can't stomach the 2018 mbp's with their naff keyboard, tiny hard drive sizes (as standard) and stupid, stupid ports that I'd have to spend about £150 on dongles for so I can have a big mess of wires hung out of my mbp..... and I'd have to cart all the dongles around with me..... plus I'd have to cart an external hard drive around because Apple still don't fit decent-sized hard drives into a £2700 15" laptop! My late 2011 15" cost me £1550.. That's some price inflation! As much as I LOVE my 2011 mbp and OSX, Apple stinks on their new mbp's.

 

[-BigMac-]

Apple is nothing like it would’ve been if Jobs were still around. I know this because I’m from an alternate timeline in which this very thing happened.



11 years of aging in a single GIF:

View attachment 777679

Then why you in this timeline? I’d rather be in that timeline
[doublepost=1535167476][/doublepost]

I don't have the time to give a long list of things, but one quick thing to mention is the iPhone 6.

Every iPhone prior was very unique when compared to the competition. The competition would sometimes copy certain features of the iPhone, but the iPhone alway stood out from the others.

I remember being excited on the day of the iPhone 6 event, I waited until after it was over to get all the info at once from one of the live feeds. When I was scrolling down the screen on my iPhone 5s to see the new iPhone, I thought I couldn't find it or I scrolled over it.

But, I did see it, I just didn't recognize it as an iPhone.

I thought the iPhone 6 was an android phone from another manufacture. I thought Apple was comparing their phone to the competition during the keynote, but I was mistaken, it was the iPhone 6.

The the iPhone 6, 6s, 6ss, and 6ss+glass, Apple lost their uniqueness and originality that I have grown to love.

I guess another way of explaining, if there was a pile of smart phone in the center of a table in 2013, it would not be very hard to pick out the iPhones quickly, an iPhone could be easily recognizable even at a distance. Fast-forward to a few years later, and they all look alike now.

Today, a statement that I hear often from one person to another standing right next to them while holding their iPhone is "do you use Android or iPhone?" A few years ago, most of the time you didn't have to ask.

So, that explains my issue with the iPhone 6 event.
And then, iOS 9 happened....

... Do you consider maybe Apple is infact different and innovative (notch/bezeless), but everyone immediately copies them? Now everyone has a notch. Last october if you chucked all the available phones on a table - the iPhone would have stood out. Now? Not so much.