Tim Cook Comments on His Final Day as Apple CEO

[fathergll]

The company growth has high under his reign and they so can't fault him too much(though it was heading that direction no matter who was at the helm...just a question of how much growth).

With that said I still maintain he's not a good face for the company as he pretty much refuses to do live events and phones it in with awful prerecord events with just rotating countless faceless Apple executive and its the complete opposite of how Steve was able to take the company from the depths in late 90s to what it became with being a theatrical showman on stage. Tim was obviously forced to do them early on when Steve passed away but he definitely started moving towards getting as much of that load off of him as possible with having all the Apple executives do segments and once covid hit he did the prerecorded stuff mostly. Live events are massive pressure with lots of prep work and he clearly doesn't enjoy that process which I get but he's also the CEO of a multi trillion dollar company who is worth billions because of it. Might sound like nitpicking but live events are part of the Apple DNA that Steve built and I expect the live events to be there and not phone it in for billions of dollars.

 

[norbinhouston]

Thanks Tim!

 

[capamac]

Honestly, good riddance. Hopefully, we'll see some actual innovation again now that he's gone.

Innovation gets too much attention.

The way Apple is today, instead of innovation I'd rather see a macOS version that actually functioned properly and didn't have a goofy UI.

Edit: I mean, forget innovation ... Apple's not even capable of keeping on top of the software and UI design issues they have with *existing* products. IMO Apple is primarily a software company ... but the software ain't so hot right now. Primarily a software company because the hardware of competitors is so close to what Apple offers. For example, an Intel Panther Lake Thinkpad X1 vs a M5 Macbook. Or a Samsung Galaxy S26 vs iPhone. The hardware is a wash. So Apple's increasingly irrelevant "moat" for its business model is their Liquid Glass-compromised, error-laden OSes.

 

[Orange Bat]

I’m not going to get excited or cautious until we see where things go. I figure it will be about a year before we get a good feel for how Ternus does. We’ll know soon enough.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I still maintain he's not a good face for the company as he pretty much refuses to do live events and phones it in with awful prerecord events with just rotating countless faceless Apple executive and its the complete opposite of how Steve was able to take the company from the depths in late 90s to what it became with being a theatrical showman on stage.

It just never looks easy or comfortable for Tim.

It’s not really a slight on him, it just isn’t one of his core competencies, and being compared to Steve in this regard is basically an unwinnable situation.

 

[I7guy]

He did a great job of making Apple money, but a lousy job at running a tech company. A complete lack of innovation for his entire tenure.

- larger phones, apple silicon, Face ID, wearables, Apple Pay, Apple TV+, etc. Tim’s lack of innovation meet 1B devices and 5T in valuation. Imagine if he was GOOD at running a tech company.

But yeah absolute lack of innovation.

 

[TVreporter]

Imagine how he felt on Day 1 knowing you were replacing Jobs, handpicked by Jobs and the amount of pressure that must have carried.

Kudos to Tim for managing that and taking Apple to whole new levels. Jobs saw the potential that many didn’t.

I haven’t always liked Tim’s decisions but to turn Apple into a multi-trillion dollar company is nothing short of amazing.

 

[GigabitEthernet]

Objectively he's done a brilliant job as fundamentally Apple is a business.

But I do miss the more shall we say, "free flowing" Apple of years past? The live events, the innovation, I do miss it.

 

[fathergll]

It just never looks easy or comfortable for Tim.

It’s not really a slight on him, it just isn’t one of his core competencies, and being compared to Steve in this regard is basically an unwinnable situation.

Yes I don't expect he should be ever as slick as Steve but he can still do the live events. It's just an effort thing. He was forced to do them live early on and stopped because he didn't want to put the time into prepping for them. Even though Steve made them look effortless Steve spent an enormous amount of time prepping for them.

Just a complete different mentality between the two. Steve was almost on his death bed from cancer 4 months before his death and still was doing them live putting more effort into his last keynote than Tim has since at least pre 2020 covid events. I don't even know the last time Tim did 30 mins of stage time like Jobs did in 2011 right before his death. Tim is just a different person and has no problem phoning it in for years to the point he barely does much of the prerecorded events.

 

[inventor7777]

He posted that 𝕏 message at 10:31am my time, missed opportunity to post it at 9:41 am Cupertino time.

 

[MacUser4_20]

It would be amazing to hope that Tim would read these positive sentiments from those who have admired him, even before his role as CEO.

Tim- Thank you for everything that you provided to the Apple Family, and thank you for always serving the community with kindness and dedication!

 

[thadoggfather]

Tim Cook era had its ups and downs, tough act to follow after Steve Jobs.

I guess we won't really know how good or not good we had it until we have a couple years of Ternus under our belt.

Exciting times to be an Apple user, either way. Despite all the issues, we've remained in the Apple camp so he didn't do that bad of a job retrospectively.. but perhaps not that exciting of one either and definitely known as a supply chain guru bean counter more than a visionary.

Would like to see Apple get more ambitious than they've been instead of always playing it safe. I don't even consider the upcoming foldable all that bold considering Samsung has saturated the market with theirs for a few years now and found a real following behind the form factor.

 

[Luftkopf]

i have mixed feelings about Cook but anyone suggesting there was "no innovation" since Jobs died needs to use an iPhone 4S with iOS 5 and 2010 MacBook with OS X Lion for a few days

Many of the people who don’t use those will insist that they could if they wanted to, and they’re better than the current models anyway!

Just for fun: what if he suffered a spectacular eleventh-hour attack of “Actually, John, I’ve reconsidered”? He has still the authority to cause an unforgettable afternoon:

To: Apple Teams
Subject: One More Thing

Team,

After considerable reflection, I have concluded that Apple should cease operations effective immediately.

We have always believed in having the courage to say no to a thousand things.

Today, we say no to everything.

I have instructed the appropriate teams to begin an orderly liquidation of Apple’s assets, intellectual property, retail operations, cash reserves, campuses, inventory, and miscellaneous office furniture.

John, please disregard the transition materials.

With all I still have and all I still am,

Tim

I get the feeling that if that were to happen there would be some cheering on this forum.

 

[ClaraStahlbaum]

Many of the people who don’t use those will insist that they could if they wanted to, and they’re better than the current models anyway!

I get the feeling that if that were to happen there would be some cheering on this forum.

Makes me wonder what would seriously happen if that was the case? What if Apple just went belly up?

 

[NVDA]

Good riddance. All those stock buybacks have made people forget this guy brought zero innovation to Apple.

 

[Luftkopf]

Makes me wonder what would seriously happen if that was the case? What if Apple just went belly up?

It is an interesting thought experiment. I imagine the ripples would be large, and global.

 

[burgman]

Hadn't seen them together before, Apple buried the lead that they have perfected human cloning.

 

[BGPL]

"but the love I have for money, I mean the Apple community, never will."

 

[burgman]

- larger phones, apple silicon, Face ID, wearables, Apple Pay, Apple TV+, etc. Tim’s lack of innovation meet 1B devices and 5T in valuation. Imagine if he was GOOD at running a tech company.

But yeah absolute lack of innovation.

My first thought reading these tired lack of innovation cliche comments is how old were the commenters when Cook became CEO.

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

“With all I have and all I am, I am always

Yours,
Tim”


Dammm that’s nicely written

 

[CookeeTim]

My first thought reading these tired lack of innovation cliche comments is how old were the commenters when Cook became CEO.

Being honest, not much can be say about Tim's era, and there are some huge stinkers:

- Apple Maps launch
- Vision Pro launch
- The Apple Car project
- The Butterfly Keyboard saga

Those 4 I think are a bad stain. People here like to act and see everything with rose colored glasses, but those 4 were something only Apple suffered from. The Car project wasted resources that could have been spent on polishing iOS/MacOS/iPad OS, which is finally happening now from what we are seeing. At least with Vision Pro, we kinda got the new Liquid Glass design, so there's that I guess.

And that's ignoring, the pivoting towards services. Apple One, Arcade, Fitness, etc. I think if Apple wants to offer services, they should do that on another separate company. You cant be hardware-ecosystem focused and offer services at the same time. You will suck at either one or the other.

 

[Odan]

Thank you Tim Cook, well done! Multiplied Apple’s market cap by 5 or 6 ?!

 

[capamac]

Honestly, I think it woulda gone up 6 or 7 if Jobs were still alive. And the products would be better.

 

[I7guy]

Being honest, not much can be say about Tim's era, and there are some huge stinkers:

You may be honest to yourself but the above doesn’t resonate with me. IMO, you are very biased if you can’t objectively see the 15 year Tim Cook era was extraordinary.

- Apple Maps launch
- Vision Pro launch
- The Apple Car project
- The Butterfly Keyboard saga

As have been pointed out there are some huge stinkers prior to 2011.

Those 4 I think are a bad stain. People here like to act and see everything with rose colored glasses, but those 4 were something only Apple suffered from.

As a paying Apple customer whether I am wearing have rose colored glasses or not I think the Vision Pro was a success. Apple Maps and Scott forstall is now irrelevant. Butterfly keyboard is behind us and Apple learned a lot about the Apple car project.

The Car project wasted resources that could have been spent on polishing iOS/MacOS/iPad OS,

Pure conjecture.

which is finally happening now from what we are seeing. At least with Vision Pro, we kinda got the new Liquid Glass design, so there's that I guess.

And that's ignoring, the pivoting towards services. Apple One, Arcade, Fitness, etc. I think if Apple wants to offer services, they should do that on another separate company. You cant be hardware-ecosystem focused and offer services at the same time.

Apple can.

You will suck at either one or the other.

They suck at neither.

 

[ThomasJL]

The latest story comes from 9to5Mac, which said it has obtained Cook's full memo to Apple employees on his final day as CEO of the company.

We have pasted the memo as they shared it below:Cook also shared a message to customers today.

"Sending lots of love to the Apple community on my last day as CEO," said Cook, in a social media post. "My title changes tomorrow, but the love I have for the Apple community never will. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration. My gratitude is endless, and I'm excited for the next chapter!"

Sending lots of love to the Apple community on my last day as CEO. My title changes tomorrow, but the love I have for the Apple community never will. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration. My gratitude is endless, and I'm excited for the next chapter!— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) August 31, 2026​

Such a generic memo is fitting for such a generic CEO who has an MBA, which is a degree that teaches choosing to be generic over innovative if it leads to increased profits.

Cook turned Apple products from being the most innovative in the personal computer and smartphone spaces, into being more generic in order to maximize profits. And he was the best and most talented man in the world at doing that, so much so that Apple made astronomical profits and was the most valuable company in the world. Cook's supporters fallaciously believe that the highest profits must mean the highest quality products. That faulty logic would support the notion that Microsoft's products under CEO Steve Ballmer were higher quality than Apple's products under CEO Steve Jobs, since Microsoft during that time had far higher profits and a higher company value than Apple. Anyone who (correctly) disagrees with the notion that Ballmer's Microsoft products were higher quality than Jobs's Apple products because Microsoft made higher profits and had a higher company value, should be consistent and admit that Cook's Apple products are lower quality than Jobs's Apple products. But Cook supporters just cannot see their hypocrisy and double standard on that point.

As for Cook no longer being CEO starting tomorrow... Good riddance! Tomorrow is coming 15 years too late. That useless man should've never been made CEO in the first place. Scott Forstall should've been made CEO, or at least someone else who wouldn't have made the colossally idiotic decision to fire one of Apple's most Jobs-like visionaries, if not Apple's most Jobs-like visionary, which was Forstall.