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

[steve333]

Tim Cook put a 128Mb Hard Drive in a product in 2018. That says it all.
Cook is not a product person, but he is a putz

 

[Analog Kid]

needlessly overweight non-durable glass backed iPhones

FWIW, I love the heft and feel of the glass backed iPhone X.

 

[lulumink]

Steve was damn right, again! But Tim doesn't have to be that person. He's the leader and CEO, someone gotta do the product right!

 

[L-Viz]

As I mentioned before, Bozos took Apple over and that is why we still don't have a SE2.

 

[chatin]

Double whammy for Apple today as Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang downgraded Apple to sell and said iPhone XS has been a "major flop". There should be some turnover in board seats soon as lots have slipped past this crew.

 

[tripmusic]

Some things never change

 

[MacBH928]

That’s why Tim Cook hasn’t replaced Steve Jobs. No one will. And Apple knows that. Cook is an actual CEO, performing the tasks of a CEO. He knows to defer to people in the company that have the skills needed to imagine, engineer and market a product. He surrounds himself with the best people in their respective areas of expertise. That’s what a CEO is supposed to do.

Steve was unique in that he wasn’t exactly a CEO in the traditional sense. He was a Chief Executive Visionary. Even while Jobs was here, day to day running of the company, traditionally tasks run the CEO, were run by the COO — non other than Tim Cook. That’s why he transitioned so seamlessly into the role.

We’re lucky that Tim Cook knows that he’s not a product guy. That was the problem with Gil Amelio. He wasn’t either but the difference between Amelio and Cook is that he thought he was and tried to be another Steve Jobs. Someone with a lack of introspection and a self critical eye, who thinks they know best about what a product should do and look like, who has the power to push forward despite what people with actual talent advise against, could destroy the company. Gil Amelio almost did. Tim Cook, on the other hand has deferred to his experts, knowing that designing and engineering products is not his expertise. And Apple has flourished under his tenure.

I wouldn't be too critical of Amelio,
1-He was there for like just 1-2 years
2-He chose to purchase NextOS, the OS we are still using
3-He brought Jobs back.

I think we should accredit him by turning the company to the most valuable in the world after being weeks away from bankruptcy. I think you meant Scully not Amelio.

 

[Mactendo]

Even while Jobs was here, day to day running of the company, traditionally tasks run the CEO, were run by the COO — non other than Tim Cook.

Day to day tasks are the responsibilities of COO, chief operating officer.

And CEO actually has to be the product guy. He has to be the one with the vision of where to lead the company. Amazon and Microsoft now have such CEOs. Apple is basically having COO without any clear vision.
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Also, get rid of dead weight with 1990s ideas like "Fast" Eddy Cue.

Cook already got rid of almost every key person at Apple, so no worries... Soon he’ll do everything alone - designing, building, inventing, coming up with ideas for new products...

 

[Dave245]

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.

Nope. They are brilliant products, the Apple Watch is the number one watch, selling more than the entire Swiss Watch industry. The Apple Watch has made a product category (smartwatches) great, therefore the Apple Watch is a brilliant product.

The Airpods are also a brilliant product, they are great wireless earbuds that are extremely popular. You can’t walk through London or Birmingham here in the U.K. without seeing people wearing them. A brilliant product.

My point was that since Tim Cook has taken over as C.E.O Apple has still released brilliant products.

 

[Peruna]

"Steve Jobs" biographer Walter Isaacson was on Squawk Box this week, and in an interview he mentioned that he "softened" parts of the book when it came to certain Jobs quotes (via CNBC).

Particularly, Jobs was said to have criticized current Apple CEO Tim Cook for not being a "product person." According to Isaacson, "Steve says how Tim Cook can do everything, and then he looked at me and said, 'Tim's not a product person.'"

Isaacson said that he wanted to soften certain things that he thought were too harsh in his biography of Steve Jobs. The book first launched in October 2011, just 19 days after Jobs died from pancreatic cancer.
Cook was also mentioned in a recent piece by The Wall Street Journal, which focused on Jony Ive, who reportedly became "dispirited" because of Cook's lack of interest in the product development process. Ive announced that he will leave Apple later this year and start his own design studio, with Apple as one of its primary clients.

Isaacson has been critical of Apple as a whole in the past, believing in 2014 that Amazon and Google had overtaken Apple to become the most innovative technology companies of the modern day. At the time, he specifically referenced virtual assistants as a space where Apple needed improvement.

Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs went on to be the basis for Aaron Sorkin's screenplay of the Danny Boyle-directed film "Steve Jobs." The film was well received by critics, earning four Golden Globe Award nominations and two Academy Award nominations.

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

 

[Peruna]

The soul of Apple dies on October 5, 2011 and it has remained on life support ever since. Among a career of both poor and historically brilliant decisions, Jobs' last one was one of his worst. For his successor, he chose his business parter and not his soul mate and Apple has never been the same since. Yes, they make money and yes they are very socially responsible - but who cares - all politically mindful companies do that today. What Apple did WAS different - they wowed us, they inspired us, they were geniuses. They took pre-existing tech, turned it on its head, made something no one had envisioned before and rewrote the book in doing so. Jobs was a once in several generations genius. He was different, he was a crazy one, he pushed the human race forward.

 

[I7guy]

The soul of Apple dies on October 5, 2011 and it has remained on life support ever since. Among a career of both poor and historically brilliant decisions, Jobs' last one was one of his worst. For his successor, he chose his business parter and not his soul mate and Apple has never been the same since. Yes, they make money and yes they are very socially responsible - but who cares - all politically mindful companies do that today. What Apple did WAS different - they wowed us, they inspired us, they were geniuses. They took pre-existing tech, turned it on its head and made something not only that on one had envisioned before, but also rewrote the book in doing so. Jobs was a once in several generations genius. He was different, he was a crazy one, he pushed the human race forward.

I was never wowed by Apple, like that, prior to 10/5/11 and am still not wowed by them. However having bought the first Apple product for the family an iPhone 4, I got in with an iPhone 5s. Today I like their products, like the companys’ thinking and like the interaction between their products.

But never felt like you described.

 

[CordovaLark]

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

Then explain how Eddy Cue still has a job.

 

[I7guy]

Double whammy for Apple today as Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang downgraded Apple to sell and said iPhone XS has been a "major flop". There should be some turnover in board seats soon as lots have slipped past this crew.

Unless you’re a day trader I wouldn’t worry about it. Historically Apple stock has gone up over time. No turnover in the board room or senior management in sight.

 

[citysnaps]

Then explain how Eddy Cue still has a job.

Explain? Why? Apple Maps and Siri have improved significantly since released. Haven't used google maps in years.

 

[JagdTiger]

Nope. They are brilliant products, the Apple Watch is the number one watch, selling more than the entire Swiss Watch industry. The Apple Watch has made a product category (smartwatches) great, therefore the Apple Watch is a brilliant product.

The Airpods are also a brilliant product, they are great wireless earbuds that are extremely popular. You can’t walk through London or Birmingham here in the U.K. without seeing people wearing them. A brilliant product.

My point was that since Tim Cook has taken over as C.E.O Apple has still released brilliant products.

A round watch would be a better design.

 

[CWallace]

Tim Cook put a 128Mb Hard Drive in a product in 2018. That says it all. Cook is not a product person, but he is a putz

He must have heard you as he just updated the MacBook Air and dropped the price, updated the 13" MacBook Pro with more content at the same price and halved the price of most SSD upgrades across the line.

Double whammy for Apple today as Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang downgraded Apple to sell and said iPhone XS has been a "major flop". There should be some turnover in board seats soon as lots have slipped past this crew.

I have a strong suspicion Rosenblatt Securities and/or their clients have been shorting Apple stock.

 

[cult hero]

I can see where you’re coming from, but honestly you’re not seeing it from a consumer angle.

When you make an argument that the supply chain is strong, the only connotation most people expect is lower prices. Most consumers don’t care about leadership from a financial perspective. If it doesn’t give them any incentive, then what’s the point?

I don't understand your point. No one person does anything in a company of Apple's size or really... anything beyond a one or two man operation. You can be the product visionary and delegate logistics to your COO (a la Steve Jobs) or you can flip that script.

Apple's sales and market cap implies they're doing just fine with consumers. They've grown since Cook took over. People want to paste one person over the top of every little decision when they complain, but at the end of the day, Cook is the CEO of a huge company and he does what he does and delegates what he doesn't.

I don't love everything Apple has done post Jobs, but I didn't love everything during Jobs either. The keynotes are never going to be the same, but I'm still using their products and they're still doing quite well. (And man, you'd think Jobs never blew it with the way Cook gets criticized.)

Well, I still need my headphone jack. I don't give a crap about the CPU speed; I'm just trying to play my music and send my messages like a normal person. What do I need the extra speed for? Apparently nothing cause I'm still holding onto my iPhone 6.

You do not need a headphone jack. You simply don't want to use an adapter. And I understand that, but no actual functionality was taken away. I'd still be using my 6S if I didn't jump in a pool with it. I use maps, email, iMessage, and Safari 95% of the time. Heck, my 5S was fine.

Whether you need the speed or not doesn't change the fact that the year over year improvements to performance and power consumption are amazing. My only point is that it's silly to ignore what are really cool technology advances and say, "These guys aren't innovative..." because the new phone looks too much like the old phone. Regardless of whether you, me, or anyone else wants or cares about a particular advancement doesn't change whether or not the related technology is innovative.
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A round watch would be a better design.

Gross. Round is perfect for... analog clocks. What other screen do you work on that's round?

 

[fairuz]

You do not need a headphone jack. You simply don't want to use an adapter. And I understand that, but no actual functionality was taken away. I'd still be using my 6S if I didn't jump in a pool with it. I use maps, email, iMessage, and Safari 95% of the time. Heck, my 5S was fine.

Whether you need the speed or not doesn't change the fact that the year over year improvements to performance and power consumption are amazing. My only point is that it's silly to ignore what are really cool technology advances and say, "These guys aren't innovative..." because the new phone looks too much like the old phone. Regardless of whether you, me, or anyone else wants or cares about a particular advancement doesn't change whether or not the related technology is innovative.

It is innovative, but it's not much better than the competitors. I'd even argue that whatever hardware advantages Apple has (I think the neural processor), it's because they have tighter control, which is because they make their own software. Most of performance is in how you use your hardware, not what hardware you have.

Also, being a product person means ignoring all that and just focusing on what the consumer will want.
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A round watch would be a better design.

Competitors do that, and it's ugly. I'd never buy a smartwatch, but if for some reason I did, I'd take Apple's.
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Double whammy for Apple today as Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang downgraded Apple to sell and said iPhone XS has been a "major flop". There should be some turnover in board seats soon as lots have slipped past this crew.

All that really matters is the stock price. Obviously not everyone agrees with the analyst, just enough people for a 2.5% (?) drop, not a big deal. (btw I own no AAPL stock)

 

[imageWIS]

You need to focus on the product from the top down, or else things slowly turn to crap. A lame CEO can't pick good sub-leaders, and so on. IMO, Tim Cook is decent but nothing like Jobs. Apple still has their eye on the ball way more than Google does, but they don't innovate, and Amazon is the leader in that now.
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Hardware is commodity that any old Chinese company can do well. That's like saying air is valuable because everyone needs it. It's extremely hard to design the best ecosystem, or even to hire basic software engineers. A great one is like 100X as effective as an average one, and I'm not even exaggerating. Software development is fast, and decisions snowball.

Not to belittle hardware engineers. Their work is difficult and their prerequisites steep, and Apple has some of the best. It's just that many other companies produce equivalent hardware, while obviously nobody has software or an ecosystem like Apple's.

If hardware is so easy, how come Apple has tons of hardware design and quality issues? AHEM Butterfly Keyboard AHEM.
[doublepost=1562726856][/doublepost]

Nope. They are brilliant products, the Apple Watch is the number one watch, selling more than the entire Swiss Watch industry. The Apple Watch has made a product category (smartwatches) great, therefore the Apple Watch is a brilliant product.

The Airpods are also a brilliant product, they are great wireless earbuds that are extremely popular. You can’t walk through London or Birmingham here in the U.K. without seeing people wearing them. A brilliant product.

My point was that since Tim Cook has taken over as C.E.O Apple has still released brilliant products.

The Swiss watch industry really doesn't make watches with the Apple Watch or vice versa. Your comparison is erroneous.

 

[cult hero]

It is innovative, but it's not much better than the competitors.

I dunno man, Apple's silicon is some of the best stuff out there. I think it's one of the most under appreciated parts of the what the company does.

I'd even argue that whatever hardware advantages Apple has (I think the neural processor), it's because they have tighter control, which is because they make their own software. Most of performance is in how you use your hardware, not what hardware you have.

I agree that the tighter control is a huge factor, but the hardware matters. It used to be said a lot that Apple was a "hardware company" and used software to sell its hardware. I never agreed with this. Apple is a platform company. It's all of it.

Also, being a product person means ignoring all that and just focusing on what the consumer will want.

I don't agree. Steve Jobs was very much about giving the customer what they didn't know they wanted yet. I mean, it was mixed with what they did want, but removing arrow keys on the old Macs (specifically to force developers to adopt GUIs and not just port console apps), dropping floppies (because it was time), removing "legacy" ports from the first iMacs (because parallel ports needed to go away) were "typical Apple."

With that said, Apple's market cap implies that pleasing consumers enough to get them to buy a lot of devices is not a problem—and they do it with higher profit margins than most of their competition.

Cook ain't a product guy—and I get it—but as a guy that seems like a smart consensus leader, he clearly doesn't ignore the other people in their ranks that are. You don't need to be a "product guy" to understand its importance. You just need to be smart enough to let your product guys do what they do. I think Cook has done that. I think the oft thrown around idea that he's some kind of penny-pinching bean counter personally responsible for basically every little problem related to hardware or design is just insane.

I'm really not down on the guy. I keep upgrading and am firmly embedded in Apple's ecosystem (MBP, Mini, iPhone, Watch, AppleTV, etc.) so... what can I say?

 

[oldmacs]

We all already know this!

Despite what Steve said, he also decided Tim was the best person to succeed him.

Hopefully there are product people at Apple that are doing what Steve used to do. Steve really had a knack for things that people would want to use.

 

[fairuz]

If hardware is so easy, how come Apple has tons of hardware design and quality issues? AHEM Butterfly Keyboard AHEM.

Because they tried to do something very out of the ordinary there. Also, don't even get me started on the 2016+ MBP. They ruined the best laptop ever.
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I don't agree. Steve Jobs was very much about giving the customer what they didn't know they wanted yet. I mean, it was mixed with what they did want, but removing arrow keys on the old Macs (specifically to force developers to adopt GUIs and not just port console apps), dropping floppies (because it was time), removing "legacy" ports from the first iMacs (because parallel ports needed to go away) were "typical Apple."

With that said, Apple's market cap implies that pleasing consumers enough to get them to buy a lot of devices is not a problem—and they do it with higher profit margins than most of their competition.

Cook ain't a product guy—and I get it—but as a guy that seems like a smart consensus leader, he clearly doesn't ignore the other people in their ranks that are. You don't need to be a "product guy" to understand its importance. You just need to be smart enough to let your product guys do what they do. I think Cook has done that. I think the oft thrown around idea that he's some kind of penny-pinching bean counter personally responsible for basically every little problem related to hardware or design is just insane.

I'm really not down on the guy. I keep upgrading and am firmly embedded in Apple's ecosystem (MBP, Mini, iPhone, Watch, AppleTV, etc.) so... what can I say?

That's why I said "will want." I've heard this before, and it's right, part of why Jobs was one of my favorite CEOs (though not a great person in other respects).

 

[Dave245]

The Swiss watch industry really doesn't make watches with the Apple Watch or vice versa. Your comparison is erroneous.

Just look at the sales numbers, the Apple Watch is obviously selling really well, and continuing to grow. You may not consider it a brilliant product but there are a lot of people who do, the same goes for AirPods.

 

[fairuz]

Is it not obvious that it's John Scully all over again with the exception that Tim has some tech background? The guy is a businessman who knows how to please board members. Nothing more, nothing less. That whole team was full of idiots that hid behind Steve's ideas and the last one just left and was given way more credit than he ever deserved. All apple does now is put out fluffy junk to please the millenials. Change my mind

I think someone already changed your mind, judging by the fairly recent Apple products you own.
I don't think Apple innovates anymore, but they make generally good stuff.