Tim Cook Remembers Steve Jobs on 8th Anniversary of His Death

[kazmac]

Steve made good design a thing in the tech world. He made folks want things they never knew they needed. For the most part Apple's products were worth the high price tag.

All I want is Apple tech that works and stays out of my way. That's it.

That's what Steve gave to the world and I am grateful for it. I'd be even more grateful if Apple went back to that.

In honor of that Apple, I'll stop here and just say, thank you Steve.

 

[Defthand]

The difference between Job's era and Cook's era is their customers. Each catered to their respective audiences/markets properly. Jobs' Apple designed for professionals and hobbyists foremost. Cook took the helm when Apple's consumer products stole the spotlight and attracted the larger consumer market.

Jobs' audience had niche technical needs. It created a club that made Apple's offerings and focus exclusive. Cook's consumer audience not so much. iOS is so prevalent that its club is not special. Indeed, it seems odd to have an obsession with iOS products when their abilities are actively imitated by competitors. The recurring explanation for their appeal are attributes borrowed from Steve Jobs' MacOS playbook: UX simplicity, ecosystem, walled security measures...

 

[I7guy]

I use Windows daily for work and have not seen it (the OS) crash in a decade. My 2018 MBP has a T2/bridgeOS kernel panic a couple of times per month, something that was not a problem with my 2012 MBA. That first hand experience leads me to agree with the person you are responding to: Apple's reliability has severely eroded while competitors have improved. That's a bad trend for Apple, I hope they choose reverse it in the near future.

My windows rarely crashes with BSOD, however bugs aren't about hard crashes. Bugs are also about unexpected behavior, even if this unexpected behavior is not noticable, but may affect operations, or display.

To say windows doesn't crash and therefore has no bugs, is not what I was getting at.

Based on how you use the products, one's vantage point about each platform will be different. Apple products didn't start having bugs in 2011, and I haven't seen, from my vantage point, apples' reliability eroding, android increasing or windows increase.

To much of general statements.

 

[jedy]

Tim is Boss now and Apple is a Billion Dollar Company. How could this happen? What did Tim wrong? Nothing but some people still say it would be better if it would be different. Steve Jobs was and is a huge figure for Apple but he passed away 8 years ago and apple did just fine without him.

I agree Apple are doing just fine. My main issues, from an end user perspective are that customer service has gone way down. Apple staff in their stores look bored and don’t seem to want to help their customers. I’ve given up on Apple laptops. Firstly the value for money is terrible (my top of the line PowerBook in the mid 00’s cost £1450 - today’s top of the line MacBook Pro is £2000+) and the amount of hardware failures simply are inexcusable. In fact value for money across the board is worse. The main thing going for Apple is it’s not Windows 10. At least I can have a mobile device and a fairly decent computer from the same company which runs professional software.

 

[kissmo]

Yeah hmmm plenty of half baked things came out when Steve was alive. You guys have to stop acting like Steve and the company were perfect. 2011 is like a century ago when it comes to technology.What existing product what Steve have revolutionized if he were alive? What devices to people use Or wear all the time besides their smartphone, computer, tablet or watch? Exactly.

At this point it’s hard to make a new product category. I mean, Steve didn’t even make a new category. He just revolutionized existing ones just as Apple did with the Watch.

Now we hear rumors of smart glasses and smart cars. It’s Apple’s logical next step...

Yeah, it's true, many things were not fully baked as they got release form HW tech perspective.
Some products even failed.

My bad - I meant - from vision for a new direction of a product.
And yes - you exactly said it - he revolutionized existing techs.
But he made it properly and kept looking for the next thing more than Apple does now.

Common, Tim Cook cares not about tech the same way Steve did. I mean, when the Mac Pro was announced he had J. Ive explaining him how it looks like and describing it. He was not involved in the product development.

That is not to say it's bad, it's just a different style of company - and I am not complaining just paying the respect to Steve and his approach.

You gotta give it to Steve that he really got himself involved in these processes and had a quite positive impact overall.

 

[jonblatho]

It did. The guy invented iPhone, iPad, Mac. What did Tim do? Innovation has been stale at Apple ever since his death.

Not that Steve Jobs “invented” any of those, but under Tim Cook, Apple has introduced the Apple Watch and AirPods, which are engineering marvels of miniaturization no matter what you think of their design, and undergone an incredibly successful push into services with remarkable growth in hardware as well. This while also working pretty tirelessly to realize Steve Jobs’s publicly stated vision of the post-PC era with the iPad Pro. They’ve also been enabling future software experiences with AR (and importantly, running it on-device), and there’s more they’re working on that we haven’t yet gotten to see.

If people didn’t want these things, they wouldn’t be buying them — kind of how the market works. But for whatever reason, they’re buying.

 

[Kabeyun]

I use Windows daily for work and have not seen it (the OS) crash in a decade. My 2018 MBP has a T2/bridgeOS kernel panic a couple of times per month, something that was not a problem with my 2012 MBA. That first hand experience leads me to agree with the person you are responding to: Apple's reliability has severely eroded while competitors have improved. That's a bad trend for Apple, I hope they choose reverse it in the near future.

If you understand science and statistics, you’ll agree that an n=1 study (i.e. your experience) has no validity. For example, my rMBP hasn’t crashed since I bought it new 7 years ago. Does my personal experience offset yours?

Fortunately, all due respect for your personal experience and those of your acquaintances, there is data on the question of OS stability. UNIX systems are more stable than Windows systems for a few reasons. GNU/Linux > macOS >> Windows. If you really love working in a Windows environment and have had a good experience, you need not feel threatened by this fact. Keep doing you.

 

[jonblatho]

If you understand science and statistics, you’ll agree that an n=1 study (i.e. your experience) has no validity. For example, my rMBP hasn’t crashed since I bought it new 7 years ago. Does my personal experience offset yours?

Considering that your rMBP doesn’t have bridgeOS and a T2 chip, which the person to whom you were replying blames (perhaps incorrectly, as bridgeOS and the T2 chip certainly aren’t the sole possible cause) for their kernel panics, I’d say that it doesn’t.

Still a near-meaningless observation both ways.

 

[Labeno]

It's been interesting reading on the posts on this story. Here's my high level take on SJ versus Tim Cook...

I have been both a customer of Apple products and a share holder for over a decade. Under Steve Jobs I could tangibly feel that he put customers first and share holders second. He made beautiful products with leading technology, but did not prioritize fashion above functionality or technology. Having lots of happy customers brought Apple from near bankruptcy to the most valuable company on the stock market. When Tim Cook took over, I could tangibly feel that share holders came first and customers came second. I still own shares because the Apple eco system is great, but it feels like the priority of the products is now fashion and not technology at an unreasonable price: $16,000 for a gold plated (not 8 ounces of gold @ $2000/ounce) throw-away watch versus the not gold plated was $250. That's ridiculous. $1000 for a monitor stand (not the monitor). That's ridiculous.

Think of Apple as a locomotive that Steve Jobs brought from barely moving to top speed. Tim cook was handed a top notch company that will take time to slow down. I feel he has slowed down the locomotive to make it barely faster than competing locomotives, which is why the company is still highly regarded. I just feel SJ would not have let the locomotive slow down as much.

This is just my opinion from the point of view of a product owner and share holder. I'm not trying to create hate, but a logical discussion with evidence.

 

[ElectricPotato]

...an n=1 study (i.e. your experience) has no validity.

Plenty of people have experienced a T2/bridgeOS kernel panic, so n=1 does not apply.

...my rMBP hasn’t crashed since I bought it new 7 years ago. Does my personal experience offset yours?

No, it does not offset the many people who have experienced a T2/bridgeOS kernel panic because it does not have the T2 chip.

If you really love working in a Windows environment...

Observing Windows current reliability is not the same as loving working with Windows.

 

[Mutepointer]

The AirPods base (my own name of it), look fake, or it could just be a concept. Doesn’t look like Apple.

 

[Macintoshrumors]

“The last person on earth that knew what the hell he was doing”
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Plenty of people have experienced a T2/bridgeOS kernel panic, so n=1 does not apply.




No, it does not offset the many people who have experienced a T2/bridgeOS kernel panic because it does not have the T2 chip.




Observing Windows current reliability is not the same as loving working with Windowsp

A couple Of people on apple rumor forums does not count as “plenty”, Out of the entire customer base. There are gonna be a few bad batches out of millions of devices. That’s a nobrainer and is expected in every product by every company.

 

[LizKat]

I can only imagine what Apple would be today if Steve hadn't been taken so early.

It would be about where it is today.

Heh. I can only imagine Steve Jobs reacting to Trump's tariffs on China. No one would have needed BT speakers to pick up Steve's side of the audio. The path Tim Cook chose to get Trump to extend waivers is probably not quite how it would have gone if Trump had been President and laid tariffs on Apple's gear in the Steve Jobs era.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-tim-cook-won-donald-trumps-ear-11570248040

Steve Jobs was very, very good at imagining how Apple's designs could improve the future. Tim Cook is very, very good at not letting heavy handed governments step on customers' plans for that gear, whether the plan seems as simple as getting an Apple Watch into someone's stack of holiday gifts, or as complicated as resisting efforts of governments and marketers alike to trample on customers' rights to their own data...

It's often said Cook is no visionary. His vision for Apple is different to that of Steve Jobs, but it has served the company and its customers extremely well nonetheless. His even tempered demeanor and acute awareness of how Apple gets from an idea on a drawing board to a piece of Apple gear in a customer's hand is one of Apple's best assets in the company's necessary dealings with the federal government.

 

[brewcitywi]

Impossible to replace Steve Jobs.

Maybe you‘d recommend the re-hire Scully and Amelio.

 

[newyorksole]

It’s not about being “cool;” it’s about a company that has become lazy and (very) greedy. I don’t feel the customer is any where near as important to them as they used to be. I don’t like the pious claims seldom reflected in actions taken. I don’t like the cynical and calculated (driven by profit) way some of their products are gimped from the get-go. Their greed has become a somewhat sinister driver for the business. They seek and exploit gullibility in their customer base and I feel they no longer respect their customers like they used to.

From a sentimental point of view, I don’t like the Apple that is turning into a services business, e.g. cloud, financial, banking and media rather than the tech company I used to root for. I understand why they are, but I don’t (need to) like it.

I’m not asking or expecting you to agree with me, but life is all about perceptions and frankly this how I perceive this company these days. I doubt I’m alone in that impression.

iCloud came out when Steve was alive. Services were a thing when Steve was alive. The BarclaysCard was a thing when Steve was alive. High prices were a thing when Steve was alive.

You and other people make it seem like Apple is a totally different company now, when in fact the company is extremely similar to how it was when Steve was alive.

They don’t care about the customer? Meanwhile Apple Stores are more profitable and better looking than ever before. Please give it a rest. Apple is doing just fine. Get over it.

 

[aknabi]

Tim is Boss now and Apple is a Billion Dollar Company. How could this happen? What did Tim wrong? Nothing but some people still say it would be better if it would be different. Steve Jobs was and is a huge figure for Apple but he passed away 8 years ago and apple did just fine without him.

I guess for many "old-timers" we expect more from Apple than "just fine"... we remember "insanely great"

 

[victorm1]

Hard to believe it’s been 8 years already. I feel like the naysayers have been proven somewhat wrong about the end of Apple innovation.

 

[pika2000]

People are talking as if Jobs was a great CEO.
He’s not.
That’s why he hired Tim Cook in 1998. And while Jobs had the CEO title, Tim Cook was the one doing the CEO functions. Jobs would rather meddle in the products with Ive. He was doing what he’s good at. So basically all the rave about Jobs era Apple had Tim Cook already doing the CEO functions. The only thing that is changed now is that Tim Cook having the actual CEO title.

Apple today is a different company altogether, and Tim Cook, being a more diplomatic CEO, is better suited for today’s big Apple than the hotheaded Jobs.

 

[TheWatchfulOne]

Apple died with him, unfortunately

My iPhone 8, Apple Watch, and AirPods disagree with you.

 

[bobob]

Apple doing well under Mr. Cook and the executive team. They really are committed to privacy.

The focus on privacy is an underappreciated innovation for which we can be grateful to Tim Cook.

 

[fairuz]

Apple died with him, unfortunately

Apple is doing ok, it's just not exciting anymore. When the time comes for the next big thing, Apple won't be the ones producing it. It takes someone crazy and controversial like Jobs. Elon Musk is comparable.
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Hard to believe it’s been 8 years already. I feel like the naysayers have been proven somewhat wrong about the end of Apple innovation.

I think they were right. There's nothing shockingly new.

 

[I7guy]

...I think they were right. There's nothing shockingly new.

In my opinion, innovation doesn’t have to be “shockingly new”. By that criteria even Steve Jobs has nothing “shockingly new”. Popular yes, shockingly new, no.

 

[fairuz]

I use Windows daily for work and have not seen it (the OS) crash in a decade. My 2018 MBP has a T2/bridgeOS kernel panic a couple of times per month, something that was not a problem with my 2012 MBA. That first hand experience leads me to agree with the person you are responding to: Apple's reliability has severely eroded while competitors have improved. That's a bad trend for Apple, I hope they choose reverse it in the near future.

A couple of crashes per month, while annoying, doesn't sound like a big problem.
FWIW, all tech has gotten a bit less useable lately in my experience
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In my opinion, innovation doesn’t have to be “shockingly new”. By that criteria even Steve Jobs has nothing “shockingly new”. Popular yes, shockingly new, no.

The incremental improvements are what mega corporations do by default. They do it only because they have the size/power to do so. The moment something about the status quo changes significantly, they're dead like Blackberry.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Thanks for agreeing that he didnt invent anything....

No, inventor is the right word. 458 patents so far, 141 of which have been awarded posthumously.

Steve Jobs Lives on at the Patent Office

Years after his death, the former Apple CEO still wins patents.

www.technologyreview.com

Why is it so important for you to pretend Jobs wasn’t an inventor? Really interested in your reasoning for that.

 

[I7guy]

...The incremental improvements are what mega corporations do by default. They do it only because they have the size/power to do so. The moment something about the status quo changes significantly, they're dead like Blackberry.

Incremental improvements are not necessarily innovation. This sounds like we have different definitions of innovation and invention and improvement. Nothing wrong with that, ymmv.

Apple imo, is not blackberry.