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

[nt5672]

I don't know about you but if a CEO doesn't know every detail about the product they shouldn't be selling the product. I want someone with a passion for details. Thats what really matters and that's why so many little details are overlooked nowadays with Apple plain and simple.

The many little product details are overlook today at Apple because the top guy, Cook, does not understand how important they are. They are just details, so some of his staff get them right and some don't. Cook really does not care and has no idea until it shows up in the media. Why? Because he is not a product person, he cannot foresee the ramifications of the little decisions like moving people or de-staffing particular projects. They are just cost centers to him.

There is a reason why most CEOs in most companies come from strong backgrounds in the company's core competency. The core competency of Apple is tech, not supply chain. While supply chain is extremely important for a company the size of Apple, no board would have hired Cook as CEO of a major tech company without Jobs making it happen.

Now everyone (the board) is just setting back waiting till the profits start declining, then you'll see Cook gone so fast that you'll think it was magic. No one will fry the golden goose, but once the gold is gone look out because Cook does not have what it takes. He knows this, the board know this and that is why he gooses the prices so hard and cuts the costs to the bare minimum, while hopping that the products staff comes up with something. This is just business school 101.

 

[simonmet]

I’ve been very critical of Tim Cook, because I feel he’s had more than enough time to have processes of review and quality control in place. Weren’t these already in place when he became CEO? If so then how did the Butterfly keyboard happen? Not to mention the multitude of other anti-consumer/pro-profit decisions?

It still astonishes me that the first-gen Butterfly keyboard was released. I remember going to several Apple stores and every single MacBook Pro on display had a poorly or barely functioning keyboard (if not downright faulty)—and I thought: no way I’m buying this, especially not for the massive price hike over the previous generation. You couldn’t even tell if you’d pressed the space bar. How could such a big, rich, and growing company have taken such a backwards step?

Fast forward 3-4 generations and the keyboards are hopefully finally functional and reliable, but c’mon. There were so many other cuts to the Pro model as well: battery size, MagSafe, SD, optical audio etc. So despite some of the questionable improvements (Touch Bar, oversized trackpad etc) it was hardly a good value.

MacBook Pros were King in the laptop space and Tim Cook’s Apple has screwed their reputation. Let’s just hope the rumoured 16” starts to right some of these wrongs.

 

[rhinosrcool]

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.

Yeah, I was going to say to say this, too.

Cook's a bean counter. In the long term, it will hurt Apple.

 

[Doomtomb]

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

I miss Forstall. He had the same crazy look in his eye Steve had.

 

[sahnjuro]

For some Tim has been a great CEO for Apple. For others he has been a terrible CEO for Apple.

College students are paying $1500+ or more for MBP. And they get 8GB and 128GB. Something is not right.

 

[jmgregory1]

The thing that a lot of people, in my opinion, get wrong in situations like this, where a company founder who was not only the public face of the company, but also was responsible for a big part of the vision of the company and its products, is replaced / passes away, etc., is that it is rare to find a replacement that has the same level of expertise and generates excitement in the same way.

Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs, full stop. But that doesn’t make Tim Cook less of a good or great CEO. He most definitely lacks the same kind of charisma and salesmanship that Steve had, but I can’t think of anyone who does have that same kind of passion and innate skill to get the world excited about any individual product. Tim Cook is a smart guy and has put together a team that continues developing and making great products, which quite frankly is what a CEO is supposed to do.

I think Jony Ive, for a period of time, took on some of the on-stage responsibilities that Steve once had in selling us on whatever new product they were launching. But Jony was no Steve either.

And the thing is, a big company like Apple really can’t afford to make someone be more like Steve. That time has passed and there is always a danger in making a single person appear to be responsible for multiple things like sales, marketing, product development, design, etc., given Apple is a public company and there is structure in how and what they do for a reason.

For a lot of people who grew up and lived through Steve’s creation of, and reign at, Apple, myself included, there has been a sense of loss felt because there isn’t a replacement for Steve that gets us excited for product launches in the same way that Steve elicited. It’s why the comparisons continue to be made.

 

[UK-MacAddict]

Since then Apple has produced the Apple Watch and AirPods. Both HUGELY successful products. How many "great new products" do you want in a span of 4 years?

I wouldn't say hugely successful. They are still classed under "others" when it comes to financial reporting. If they were massive sellers they would have their own category.

The AirPods I love but the Apple watch was not necessary.

Also its not about wanting new categories of products all the time, I couldn't care less. What I care about is really focusing and making existing products the best they possibly can be.

For example the MacBook Air. £200-£400 price hike for the new retina models yet they use inferior CPU's than the generation it replaced. The MacBook line has a premium price tag yet still lacks even a HD FaceTime camera, 480p, really!? The MacBook Pros, only the 15 inch models have proper graphics cards and everything else has Intel integrated graphics. Intel integrated graphics is not a pro level GPU.

I love Apple for its Mac computer line up. Its the product that got me into Apple. It would not bother me if Apple stopped selling everything else and just went back to focusing on Mac computers again. In fact I have said before I actually wished Apple never grew so big after the iPhone blew up. I preferred it when they were they underdogs small market share but focused on its products.

 

[5105973]

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 $$$.

Er what now? The health strategy is what gives the Apple Watch value for the money. If people want fashion they get a Rolex or something.

What did Hollywood have to do with anything?

A religion? Well we do own a Steve Jobs bobble head figure, but we finally stopped sacrificing puppies to it when it wouldn’t cure bending iPhones.

All joking aside, you do know the Apple Watch was always a bit too geeky to sell based on fashion alone? They had to give it away to celebrities at first to show them off. The nerds here that actually bought them were all eager to see apps running on our wrists.

It really sincerely needed to be able to do a helluva lot more than it did upon release for it to start showing up on every other person’s wrist the way it seems to be doing now. The only other wearable gadget I see more of are FitBits. And those are...wait for it...fitness trackers!

 

[I7guy]

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 $$$.

And I will continue to buy their products because I feel they are best in class. Tim Cook proved Apple is more than the company Steve Jobs left him and can on with mgmt turnover.

But if you want to believe Apple is an empty hull, doesn’t change my mind and, for sure, the stock isn’t moving down because of this sentiment.

 

[Nuno Lopes]

Tim was the right men to ride the iPhone profit potential.

His decisions regarding anything else leaves much to be desired. Take for instance Music. One contender is on par in revenue and that without using any tech clutch besides doing a pod job. On the other hand he seams to be zigzagging with the Mac. The iPad OS may have come a bit late. The smart home appliance vision looks to have left the building ...

Don’t know if he is the person to take Apple to the next stage. A bit like Ballmer but with exception that the point of rupture has not yet arrived and he lacks other well established businesses to rely on when it does.

 

[5105973]

Well the upcoming cheese grater looks awesome. iOS 13 looks exciting. Well maybe not to jaded people here, but from someone who also uses Android and has to keep fighting figurative privacy incursions into my sock and underwear drawer, hey yeah, it looks good.

I’ve made plenty of complaints about Tim Cook.

Frankly I think he got bogged down, as many CEO’s find to their chagrin or ruin, in trying to carve out a niche in China. He let way too many things slide while doing that, and perhaps whatever the hell was going on behind the scenes with automobiles.

He was also keeping the company going while a huge new HQ was being built and then again leading everyone as they moved into this new building. I’ve seen some moves like that on a much more modest scale of course. It’s easy for things to go bumpy and stall out.

Now that they’re established in the new building and circumstances are forcing them to look past China for expansion, while not totally writing China off, perhaps we will see Mr. Cook refocus on Apple’s ideal of making insanely great products. He doesn’t have to flog them to totally reinvent every product line, but he does need to make them all great again.

I think they are rediscovering the idea that these gadgets aren’t the stars, we are. We need these products to work well and stay out of our way so we can consume AND create.

 

[Pootie Tang]

The way Apple’s Board of Directors appraises Tim Cook as CEO is very different from the way Apple’s critics see him. Apple gave Tim Cook a 22 percent pay raise in 2018, bringing his total compensation for the year to almost $15.7 million according to a filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The figure comprised a base salary of $3 million, a $12 million bonus and $680,000 in what it called "other compensation" that includes private air travel and security expenses.
Apple's compensation committee cited the company's strong sales performance over the year in justifying the bonus.
"For 2018... we achieved net sales of $265.6 billion and operating income of $70.9 billion, each representing a year-over-year increase of 16 percent, and exceeding the 2018 maximum annual cash incentive program goals for both of those performance measures," the document said. It was the second year running that the 58-year-old successor to the late Steve Jobs got a major pay raise. In 2017 he received $12.8 million while in 2016 he made $8.7 million.

 

[tkukoc]

I don't see this as a bad thing at all. Steve was an all around player. He did it all. You cannot expect a person like that to find a successor to suddenly drop in their lap and do it all again going forward. It takes time! Tim is definitely not a product guy, it's obvious. But that doesn't mean he's not right for the job he's got. At some point things will change and Tim will more then likely listen to others on his team.. and within that will come something new. Yes.. again it takes time. People can trash Tim all they want. End of the day he pushed Apple forward.. might not be in the category of innovation.. but may that wasn't needed? I think it's only recent people are demanding more from Apple on multiple fronts. Before it was just one single frame.. and Steve was a genius at taking that one frame.. wrapping it into several hundred and showing you an image you didn't even think of. Again.. not everyone can do that.

 

[modul8tr]

There’s nothing Steve revealed to Isaacson that he hasn’t said to Tim Cook’s face, likely many times. As someone that spent a good deal of time with Steve Jobs he knows that. So his taking it upon himself to “soften” Steve words is silly. I think he just likes getting in front of the cameras every now and then.


And Isaacson being critical of Apple matters to whom exactly???

 

[CWallace]

I don't see this as a bad thing at all. Steve was an all around player. He did it all. You cannot expect a person like that to find a successor to suddenly drop in their lap and do it all again going forward.

And honestly, even if Steve was still with us today as CEO, would he really have the focus to be able to handle all the products Apple has launched since his passing?


And yes, one can say that maybe Apple would have launched none of those other products and only focused on iPhone, iPad and (maybe) Mac, but then Apple would be a fair bit smaller company than it is now and far more at risk of being "doomed" if one leg of that triangle collapsed.

This is only my opinion, but Steve picked Tim to continue with the company because Steve felt Tim was the one who could grow the company on the fundamentals most companies grow on and not the...unique...ones that Steve grew Apple on when he returned.

 

[tkukoc]

And honestly, even if Steve was still with us today as CEO, would he really have the focus to be able to handle all the products Apple has launched since his passing?


And yes, one can say that maybe Apple would have launched none of those other products and only focused on iPhone, iPad and (maybe) Mac, but then Apple would be a fair bit smaller company than it is now and far more at risk of being "doomed" if one leg of that triangle collapsed.

This is only my opinion, but Steve picked Tim to continue with the company because Steve felt Tim was the one who could grow the company on the fundamentals most companies grow on and not the...unique...ones that Steve grew Apple on when he returned.

Couldn't agree more and yes true.. I don't think Steve would be handling it all now. It was where the company was at the time. I do miss him. Tim isn't as bad as some people make him out to be. Always easier to blame the one that takes over.. I mean seriously who could come out of the shadows of Steve Jobs and be loved by everyone? It just doesn't happen.

 

[Black Tiger]

Apple has done so poorly under Cook.

 

[casperes1996]

If memory serves... That quote was in the book... And it's not really a criticism, is it? I mean, Steve picked Tim fo CEO. Whether he's a "product person" or not, he clearly saw him as fit for duty as CEO. That's praise. Not everyone needs to be the same. That's why we specialise and hold different positions. Steve also wasn't a very good programmer. And he also wasn't exactly handy with a soldering iron... Not criticism, just different interests and expertises. Tim is honestly wonderful as CEO.

 

[vtrautia]

Product CEO are rare in large corporations. Elon Musk and Nick Woodman comes to mind.

 

[IxRich]

Cook puts too much stock in "social justice" rather than innovation. He's steered Apple more into subscription territory at the expense of devices.
When I see Cook, I think of how much of an embarrassment he is. He makes the rest of us gay men look bad, it makes us look as if we're incapable of being a good CEO.
His quasi religious speech about "hate speech" was just atrocious. I don't want Apple to take moral stances. I want them to create new and interesting products. Promises of corporations to "not be evil" tend to be ignored by the corporations eventually anyway. Just look at Google. They don't believe in that statement anymore.

Apple has always taken social stances I've never quite been a fan of, but they've become zealous under Cook. If he put half as much effort into product development that he did with censorship, we would've had a better Mac Pro sooner.

It's my belief that the company would be better off sacking Cook and asking Forstall to return as CEO.

 

[medazinol]

Of course Tim is not a product person, he's an operations person who was responsible for Apple's switch to "just in time" manufacturing instead of keeping tons of inventory on hand. He came from Compaq and was instrumental in getting Apple sorted out after their disastrous $700M white-off in 1996.

 

[B4U]

He was right.

He IS still right.

 

[macsimcon]

...Tim Cook has had 2 brilliant successful products while he’s been in charge, Apple Watch and Airpods.

Brilliant? Not a chance. Those were iterative, and neither amounts to more than a rounding error on Apple's balance sheet.

What's a brilliant product? A $50B to $100B autonomous electric car service that people can summon with their iPhones or Watches. Apple's AI keeps the 2M cars where they need to be in order to service customers the fastest. Customers can schedule recurring pick-ups. The cars even allow customers to play audio from their iPhones on the vehicle's sound system. The whole thing is run by Apple AI which always monitors the charge in the cars, and sends them to tens of thousands of automated stations for fast charging as needed.

Only Apple has the money for R&D, infrastructure, and the "campaign contributions" needed to allow autonomous vehicles on the roads of all 50 states. Only Apple has the know-how to make the UX something customers will love.

That idea increases Apple's gross sales by at least one-third. There's a brilliant product.

 

[peletrane]

Strange that Cook with his degrees an engineering and science background is not a "product person" but Jobs with no degrees and no science background was

 

[johners]

So maybe Jony Ive is to blame. Tim 'thrilled' Cook has run the company for shareholders and done an amazing job. Maybe Tim has been too loyal to his design Head. Keyboards, needlessly overweight non-durable glass backed iPhones, overdue Mac Pros, tired looking iMacs, ugly watches (my opinion). This could be a turning point where function and form can co-exist again.