Steve Jobs Criticized Tim Cook as 'Not a Product Person,' Says Biographer Walter Isaacson

[thePhil907]

It’s been a long time since I read the book, but I seem to remember that exact quote being in there. Am I wrong?

 

[Romeo_Nightfall]

Steve being a product person while running the company is arguably the exception rather than the norm.

And he had other blind spots instead, some of which Tim doesn't have.

Does Apple currently lack a good products guy near the top? Maybe. But it doesn't follow that Tim is a poor CEO, which seems to be the argument that Isaacson is making (if Isaacson is really saying anything at all other than "hey guys remember my book?").

Tim Hollywood is the worst ceo possible. A complete Desaster , a Killer of enthusiasm , a team destroyer, a hire and fire type. A mean human being!

 

[blacktape242]

hahaha and he was 100% correct.

 

[Romeo_Nightfall]

Tim Cook ruined Apple. Apple is a product company, it need more revolutionary product to survive. I agree that Tim Cook make Apple the most profitable company, but that doesn’t last long if there aren’t more revolutionary product being launched.

Apple is an empty hull, finally ... a heart without a soul.
A disgusting lying economic entity. Once it was a religion, a spiritual entity, even Ive admits this suckers have burnt him out with stupidity while the Apple Watch implementation.

I can totally feel it. Ive was right to Position it as a fashion item, Hollywood ruined mit with the health strategy.
The gold watch should have included free tech upgrade for at least 3 years. That would have been revolutionary and killed the classic watches. But greedy Hollywood only saw the $$$.

 

[Bin Cook]

Plot twist in 12 months' time: Jony and Scott start to collaborate having realised the wedge was driven between them by Tim. And hopefully the world get the third way tech co it so desperately needs.

Dream big or go home.

 

[kaneda]

Then why did Jobs wanted Tim to be CEO? I see Tim as a PC guy and not a MAC guy.

 

[Rogifan]

Plot twist in 12 months' time: Jony and Scott start to collaborate having realised the wedge was driven between them by Tim. And hopefully the world get the third way tech co it so desperately needs.

Dream big or go home.

Why do people keep forgetting this?

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/11/0...edly-influenced-by-scott-forstalls-departure/

 

[Bin Cook]

Why do people keep forgetting this?

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/11/0...edly-influenced-by-scott-forstalls-departure/

That worked out well. Apart from Watch, which may or may not have involved Mansfield, where are these 'new products' he was charged with delivering? It's been more than six years since he moved into his new role. https://www.macrumors.com/2013/08/0...ucts-other-execs-take-over-management-duties/

Scott Forstall seems to be a great excuse to use for execs having a midlife crisis at the time.

 

[smaffei]

Tim has been a good leader in his own right with his commitment to privacy, ethics in big tech etc., but it is just telling when Scott Forstall, Steve Jobs, and Jony Ive all had the same issue with him. Jobs notwithstanding, Forstall and Ive left before the ship started sailing adrift

Forstall was basically pushed out by Cook. Forstall resigned because he wouldn't take the fall for the Apple Maps debacle.

 

[citysnaps]

Forstall was basically pushed out by Cook. Forstall resigned because he wouldn't take the fall for the Apple Maps debacle.

Apple Maps and Siri were Forstall's responsibility. I think most people would agree their early/premature release was a failure.

 

[Rogifan]

That worked out well. Apart from Watch, which may or may not have involved Mansfield, where are these 'new products' he was charged with delivering? It's been more than six years since he moved into his new role. https://www.macrumors.com/2013/08/0...ucts-other-execs-take-over-management-duties/

Scott Forstall seems to be a great excuse to use for execs having a midlife crisis at the time.

I’m just saying everyone says Ive and Forstall didn’t get along yet the only story we have is about Bob Mansfield. The last we heard about Mansfield is he was leading the car project.

 

[KGBguy]

LOL Cook can only dream to be anywhere close to Steve Jobs!

 

[Jim Lahey]

He said she said. I don’t care so long as the company continues to make brilliant products.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Interesting how this tidbit surfaces 8 years later.

But “Tim can do everything” but he’s not “a product person”? Seems contradictory or maybe he got it wrong.

Or maybe he was sick and not in his right mind in those moments. Meaning sometimes people say things they would never say when they are sick.

 

[Rogifan]

Apple Maps and Siri were Forstall's responsibility. I think most people would agree their early/premature release was a failure.

Sticking it under Eddy Cue after Forstall left didn’t help. When Forstall left Cook should have brought on an SVP to oversee iCloud, Siri, maps and have the role eventually transition into overseeing all of Apple’s ML and AI efforts. Leave Eddy Cue to manage content services and pro apps like logic and final cut.

 

[AdonisSMU]

i like the ying and yang of tim and steve
[doublepost=1562602889][/doublepost]

Plot twist in 12 months' time: Jony and Scott start to collaborate having realised the wedge was driven between them by Tim. And hopefully the world get the third way tech co it so desperately needs.

Dream big or go home.

You mean skewomorphic guy?

 

[lostngone]

Didn't Steve Job more or less pick/groom Tim Cook for that position? I am not the biggest Tim Cook fan but come on, Apple is doing pretty well. As long as he keeps Apple moving forward I support him.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Ive started out building amazing products but with the notoriety he gained in later years was accompanied with being a premadonna status. He was totally disengaged and the products suffered as a result. He needed a break from apple. Apple needed a break from him. They cant groom anyone else because Johnny was in the way and the politics are awkward.

 

[imasterus]

Weird how once every couple of years Isaacson comes forward with another revelation that for some reason didn’t make it into his book.

I wonder how many users here actually read the book. I read the book and can tell you that this "revelation" (quote from Steve)) was already in the book. So, I don't know why this have come up as something new.

 

[BWhaler]

Steve’s greatest mistake was selecting Isaacson as his biographer.

A true tragedy that the telling of Steve’s story was left to such a dull instrument.

 

[theotherside]

Walter Isaacson is an opportunist who wants to milk his horribly-written biography even more.

Exactly

 

[lostngone]

He was totally disengaged and the products suffered as a result. He needed a break from apple.

Oh please, he isn't a one hit wonder he has proved himself time and time again.

 

[Kaibelf]

I have no issues with Cook not being a "Product Person". It doesn't have to be his job. He is great at being the face of the company.
But make sure you hire someone who really is the product person and make them in charge of that area.
Also, get rid of dead weight with 1990s ideas like "Fast" Eddy Cue.
It seems like Cook is loyal to a fault.

I don't know. I always got the vibe that Cue was a Steve guy, and perhaps Steve personally asked Tim to keep him around. Every family needs a Fredo.

 

[vonj]

Tim has been a good leader in his own right with his commitment to privacy, ethics in big tech etc., but it is just telling when Scott Forstall, Steve Jobs, and Jony Ive all had the same issue with him. Jobs notwithstanding, Forstall and Ive left before the ship started sailing adrift

Privacy ain’t

 

[paul4339]

Then why did Jobs wanted Tim to be CEO? I see Tim as a PC guy and not a MAC guy.

Jobs wanted Tim to be CEO because

- he believed Tim would make the best CEO, and
- Tim was co-CEO since 2009, while Jobs was sick
- Tim was basically running the company since mid-2000's because Jobs didn't like the duties of the CEO and wanted to be a designer.
- Tim was heavily responsible with the revival of Apple (that's pre-itunes around the time of the original iMac G3)

The bigger question is why Jobs wanted to be CEO
... and the answer from Issacson's book was because he didn't like to be told what to do, and want to be a designer/architect. So Jobs built a team around him that would do all the regular CEO stuff and eventually assigned it Tim.

Now we have Cook who is a good CEO, and he needs to build a team around him that complements his strengths and weaknesses, the same way Jobs built a team around himself.