Tim Cook Discusses His Job, Apple's Long-Term Future, AI, Virtual Reality, and More

[CFreymarc]

I hope they fire him or he resigns BEFORE he's allowed to settle in that new office. I suspect he's burnt out but I also get this weird hunch that he may not be getting along with Jony. Giving Jony the CCO position was a sign of weakness letting him do his thing without questioning the design process. It almost reminds me a bit of two CEOs at a certain company that screwed up their mobile phone market.

I want the new CEO to come in and say " Jony, report to me directly or leave Apple. I will not kiss your a$$ and let you run rampage with your insanity ".

My view is that Anglea has disrupted the business as usual of the Apple exec circle far more that is being let on and not in a good way. There is way too much of a rift on product image over underlying technology than even in the Scully years. While Steve Jobs was not an engineer, he gave the t-shirts a lot of say at the board level.

Here I see Apple looking at engineers as an "overhead cost" instead of seeing them as an essential asset within the creative process. Anglea may have been the one to cause the over emphasis of aesthetics over technology, Tim went with her and the rest of the exec crew as been pushed aside.

 

[mtneer]

As far as I am concerned, its time for Apple to stop talking and start releasing products. I am sick of the bald guy talking about the greatest and best whatever. Where's the beef?

 

[entropi]

He seems to be doing a lot of interviews lately. I wonder if he is trying to give some optimism to the currently stale product lineup?

Yeah, I think so too - this is some kind of "damage control" for creating positive spin - just like the John Gruber interview that wasn't related to wwdc (daring fireball/the talk show podcast early 2016 I think). This is clearly done for a specific reason.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

My view is that Anglea has disrupted the business as usual of the Apple exec circle far more that is being let on and not in a good way. There is way too much of a rift on product image over underlying technology than even in the Scully years. While Steve Jobs was not an engineer, he gave the t-shirts a lot of say at the board level.

Here I see Apple looking at engineers as an "overhead cost" instead of seeing them as an essential asset within the creative process. Anglea may have been the one to cause the over emphasis of aesthetics over technology, Tim went with her and the rest of the exec crew as been pushed aside.

That's an excellent point of view there. Oddly, we don't have Apple stores here in Vermont except Small Dog. Although I can imagine the changes she's made to the stores along with Jony. They're both equally responsible for that but her presence did made some paradigm shift in the company.

The onus is on Tim for recruiting her for the wrong reasons, I believe.

 

[44267547]

In reference to Siri, there is definitely room to improve. Siri seems to me, more off and less accurate in a lot of situations. I hope this is an area for improvement in the future.

 

[CFreymarc]

That's an excellent point of view there. Oddly, we don't have Apple stores here in Vermont except Small Dog. Although I can imagine the changes she's made to the stores along with Jony. They're both equally responsible for that but her presence did made some paradigm shift in the company.

The onus is on Tim for recruiting her for the wrong reasons, I believe.

I predict we'll see a big, school yard style, blame game when the stock starts to dip. A short list of people will take the blame publicly, take their parachutes and move on. If the real cause is not removed, the company will continue to decline 'til another bull comes in smashing the china shop.

 

[Cole Slaw]

The only question worth asking is when he plans to leave.

 

[maxsix]

Another puff piece in which Cook pontificates with abandon. Too big to fail, Apple is a fixture amongst large establishment corporations. No longer an innovator of exciting new products, they're just another consumer electronics company.

 

[JamesDo]

Apple has started to become the old Apple. History repeats itself again, thanks to mr Cook.

The only cool device that they put out since the death of Steve Jobs is the 12-inch MacBook.

 

[simonmet]

"AI will make this product even more essential to you. It will become even a better assistant than it is today. So where you probably aren’t leaving home without it today — you’re really going to be connected to it in the future. That level of performance is going to skyrocket."

That sounds kind of creepy. So he's saying our phones will track even more than they do by default already (which is a huge amount) for the purposes of AI and this is Cook's vision for the future?

How about focusing on your core strengths like building a beautiful phone again and keeping your product lines up to date?

 

[ThunderSkunk]

It's about the product.
And from a product standpoint, Apple is deep in a lull.
iOS expanded on to too many products before it was mature and ready, giving everything a half-baked feel, and progress on OS X, Macs, and Pro apps has slowed to a crawl or disappeared, leaving the backbone weak. 2007-2010 Apple looked like a steak dinner. Now it looks like the day-old donut shelf.

 

[CFreymarc]

He seems to be doing a lot of interviews lately. I wonder if he is trying to give some optimism to the currently stale product lineup?

That or shopping around for another Fortune 400 CEO position.

 

[JamesDo]

Well you have to give him credit because he did mention the word Mac once in the article. It's just time to realize that Apple doesn't really care about the Mac that much anymore because they see the traditional PC market in decline. That doesn't mean you or I feel that way, but Apple just isn't that interested in this market (especially pro stuff) anymore. Return on investment is much lower then the consumer mobile products.

This is Apple, they should care about they Mac even if it's not the best return on investment. That's the whole problem with Cook, he only cares about figures, Apple was special and that resulted in the gigantic fanbase, but me as a fan find their currents products to be boring and outdated, and if it wasn't for TouchWiz I would immediatelely get myself a Galaxy Note 7.

 

[Costino1]

If Apple doesn't release something worth buying, most people will just buy something else that is worth buying. Only investors and Apple fans have hate for Tim because they are "locked in" to the Apple ecosystem.

I'm going to agree with your statement.

I'm too deep in the ecosystem to leave.

Mac, apple watch, iPhones, iPad

If just one item was removed, it'd cause issues for me across my devices.

The Samsung Note does intrigue me, but I'm jailed in the walled garden

 

[frankgrimes]

The problem with Cooke - while the interview is decent - is simple: the guy has a very untradtional thought process of what a CEO of forbes 500 company has to do.

For everyone interested in a more empiric definition: http://www.steverrobbins.com/articles/ceojob/

1. keep your political stuff to yourself, it isn't part of the job, period.
2. Outline a general example of what the company will be in X years
3. You need a hierarchy and given that he is basically the man in the company now, Yves, Schiller and all the other big dogs should have to report to him, sure with some leeway but there is no way Yves should be able to just do his thing. People are forgetting that Jony could do what he wanted under Jobs but at the end of the day Jobs was the one calling the shots. I remember in his biography him basically having "intense" meetings with Mr. Yves.
4. Allocation of ressources: and here I think Apple might have the same - yet extremely nice to have - problem of having too much cash! When a company has so much money you can invest in a lot of stuff but there still needs to be one clear focus and it can't just be the cash-cow, every company does need some "stars" once in a while in order to have something to replace the afore mentioned cash cows of the presence. That's a point where I think Apple is falling behind under Tim Cook, he doesn't seem to know enough about potential new stars in the company. I know I'm in the minority but I highly doubt smartwatches (excuse me Applewatch), fitnessbands and VR stuff will reach the point of smartphone success in the next 5 years.
5. Stand behind the products that's something nobody did better than Jobs (including Bill Gates). Jobs would throw millions and millions of $ into a recycle bin if he didn't like the design, hardware of something. Tim coming out and saying that the IPP will replace the PC, while having the MBP and MP line is some sort of underselling your own products.

Anyhow that's just my opinion so I'm sure a lot of people will lable it as hatred but so be it.

 

[AppleScruff1]

That or shopping around for another Fortune 400 CEO position.

I don't think he could land a deal as good as he has with Apple. He got 1,000,000 shares of Apple stock, but I forget how many years he has to stay to get all of them.

 

[AxoNeuron]

I like Tim but he's really got to stop putting such mediocre components in Apple's products - 16GB of storage in a $650 phone....in the year 2016? That might have been ok...FIVE YEARS ago, but not today. AMD GPU's in your highest end laptops....? Come on now!

If you build a really amazing product, the margins will take care of themselves.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I'm going to agree with your statement.

I'm too deep in the ecosystem to leave.

Mac, apple watch, iPhones, iPad

If just one item was removed, it'd cause issues for me across my devices.

The Samsung Note does intrigue me, but I'm jailed in the walled garden

And I'm guessing that Apple counts on that to a degree. They can get away with more than other companies because people feel locked in to the ecosystem. If people started to leave in significant numbers, they'd change quicker.

 

[satchmo]

That doesn't mean you or I feel that way, but Apple just isn't that interested in this market (especially pro stuff) anymore. Return on investment is much lower then the consumer mobile products.

But is that sentiment or lack of interest in Macs driven by Tim Cook? (who we all know uses an iPad)
I'm sure there are internal teams all vying for attention and resources. For all we know, Schiller's efforts to further push Mac hardware forward may be held back by Tim.

 

[Flow39]

Craig Federighi for CEO 2017!

 

[jimmirehman]

The only question worth asking is when he plans to leave.

and be replaced by who exactly!?!? People who scream to want it him gone aren't thinking of what direction the successor will take the company. Tim Cook is the only person who was handpicked by Steve to replace him.

 

[chrizzz09]

Despite all the hate here about un-released/to be released products, I really enjoyed the article as a whole.

 

[JamesDo]

The problem with Cooke - while the interview is decent - is simple: the guy has a very untradtional thought process of what a CEO of forbes 500 company has to do.

I know I'm in the minority but I highly doubt smartwatches (excuse me Applewatch), fitnessbands and VR stuff will reach the point of smartphone success in the next 5 years.

You were in the minority, it's already pretty clear that the Apple Watch or smartwatches in general aren't the next big thing. Not really a surprise, because we don't need it all. You can do much more with your phone and it only cost you a couple of seconds to get the phone out of your pocket. I would compare it to those curved televisions, they were made to be a big thing, but they already stopped making them. I expect that the smartwatch won't disappear completely, but i'm 100% sure that it will never come close to the sales figures of smartphones.

 

[Cole Slaw]

and be replaced by who exactly!?!? People who scream to want it him gone aren't thinking of what direction the successor will take the company. Tim Cook is the only person who was handpicked by Steve to replace him.

So he's there for life then, come what may, because Steve handpicked him?

 

[AppleScruff1]

and be replaced by who exactly!?!? People who scream to want it him gone aren't thinking of what direction the successor will take the company. Tim Cook is the only person who was handpicked by Steve to replace him.

Excellent point. Who is going to walk in the door and replace him and immediately bring to market a slew of new products and drastic changes to existing ones?