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Tim Cook Stepping Down as Apple CEO Next Week: 15 Years in Quotes

swingerofbirch said:
He never, publicly at least, offered much insight into tech, but this well considered collection of quotes makes his thoughts more interesting as they punctuate interesting moments in Apple and the world's history. I hadn't forgotten about his coming out essay, but it wasn't top of mind. It is probably out of all the quotes the one that most brings me back to a particular moment in time. Not that progress then or now is better or worse; it's all in flux. Just that his act in doing so at that time, in the lead up to the Supreme Court ruling that would follow the next year and with general direction of the country, had a quality and movement that is very specific to 2014.
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I’ve always felt like the vast majority of the animosity against him is simply because of this, the fact that he has a well known aversion to actually talking about the products that Apple makes outside of taglines.
The magic mouse clip comes to mind.
It kind of breaks down the tech cult Steve built if the new leader only speaks his mind once every seven years or so.
I have a theory that if Tim Cook was more comfortable in the spotlight and presented the keynotes entirely himself he would be regarded in the Apple community a little bit more warmly. But he is just not that type of guy.
John Ternus isn’t really either, there’s absolutely no way you are going to see John Ternus captivate an audience like Steve did, but he has the benefit of being extremely involved with the products for 25 years in a way Tim never was.
 
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I once wrote to him and got a reply, I believe it was directly from him. It was nice to get. He's known to start his days reading a lot of emails from users, and occasionally sends very short replies, which was what mine was.

I had read (on macrumors) that Apple was working on something to help blind people with their products. He got push back about it not being good ROI, and he snapped back that the company would do things because they are right and not just for ROI, that if the investor only cared about ROI and not what's morally right he should take his money elsewhere. I wrote a very short paragraph thanking him for this, and telling him he is a good person. I got back:

[My name],

Thanks for your support. I really appreciate this note.

Best,

Tim

Sent from my iPad
 
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The 2014 coming-out was really only because Cook had never made a public statement on it (and he never needed to as COO) but with the visibility inherent in being CEO it was time to end three years of hushed "is he gay?" across the tech world.

And so he came out and said it, once, and has never made a big thing of it since. Never spoken about a partner, never weighed in on pride apart from introducing some watch bands every June. He has been quite a private person, which I think was in some ways a driving force on Apple's renewed focus on privacy over his tenure.
 
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contacos said:
Let's hope the new guy (I keep forgetting his name) doesn't start the keynote always taaaaaalkIIIIING like thaaaaaAAAT
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It’s not much of a mystery how he will talk.
He introduced the 2018 iPad Pro and the 2019 Mac Pro at those events, you can see how he would do a live event.
And he has appeared a ton in the product introductions done via video over the last six years.
 
Before even reading a single sentence or comment….i swear if, “we think you’re gonna love it!” Isn’t up there, I’ll be at a complete and total loss for words…
 
maruyama said:
The 2014 coming-out was really only because Cook had never made a public statement on it (and he never needed to as COO) but with the visibility inherent in being CEO it was time to end three years of hushed "is he gay?" across the tech world.
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Do you remember at the time Samsung was copying almost everything Apple was doing (down to pixel-to-pixel icons), and the joke was they expected Samsung CEO to come out too? That cracked me up for weeks.
 
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JPack said:
"We did it because we're in what I would characterize as a 100-year flood on the memory pricing, with exponential increases in memory prices."
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He's leaving in Ternus' hands a big problem regarding the memory supply. A big problem that a "supply chain man" as Cook should have enough expertise to deal with (although no miracles can be done) . But I guess he's done the best during this 15 years and he wants some deserved rest.

We'll see how Ternus deals with memory prices rising more and more and what's worse, the shortages that are still in the horizon. At least during 2027 and beginning of 2028. Precisely at a moment when Apple is betting heavy on local AI.
 
Lounge vibes 05 said:
I’ve always felt like the vast majority of the animosity against him is simply because of this, the fact that he has a well known aversion to actually talking about the products that Apple makes outside of taglines.
The magic mouse clip comes to mind.
It kind of breaks down the tech cult Steve built if the new leader only speaks his mind once every seven years or so.
I have a theory that if Tim Cook was more comfortable in the spotlight and presented the keynotes entirely himself he would be regarded in the Apple community a little bit more warmly. But he is just not that type of guy.
John Ternus isn’t really either, there’s absolutely no way you are going to see John Ternus captivate an audience like Steve did, but he has the benefit of being extremely involved with the products for 25 years in a way Tim never was.
Click to expand...
There are many possible reasons he's been so taciturn, but I think one is likely that he didn't want to ruin the mystique of what Steve had built. The old adage "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt" sort of applies; although, obviously no one thought he was a fool at business. I do recall one time he made a comment in which he said he though the future would be like The Jetsons, and it made me think maybe he was wise not to pontificate too much on the industry. Talking about the part of the industry he did have acumen in would be more like describing how the sausage is made. He could give a masterclass in international economics and the world of China. Would have been interesting to me, but would not have added to the lore Apple is known for.
 
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swingerofbirch said:
There are many possible reasons he's been so taciturn, but I think one is likely that he didn't want to ruin the mystique of what Steve had built. The old adage "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt" sort of applies; although, obviously no one thought he was a fool at business. I do recall one time he made a comment in which he said he though the future would be like The Jetsons, and it made me think maybe he was wise not to pontificate too much on the industry. Talking about the part of the industry he did have acumen in would be more like describing how the sausage is made. He could give a masterclass in international economics and the world of China. Would have been interesting to me, but would not have added to the lore Apple is known for.
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I think you are very much correct here.
I would also like to add that, despite people thinking the contrary, I feel like Apple today is more similar to the Apple that existed under Steve than people like to admit.
A lot of mythologizing has been created simply due to his absence.
On any given day, you can find people yammering on about how Steve’s products were affordable, bug-free, completely lacking in any advertisements, and with absolutely no extensions or services attached, which is not true, not true, not true, and very much not true.
 
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User 6502 said:
He could be a stuffed toy and still be a better CEO than Tim crook.
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Always comical. He is/was the CEO of a publicly traded 4+ trillion dollar company that has billions of repeat customers worldwide. Did so for 15 years...most of this board doesn't have the faintest clue what a CEO is responsible for.

How many of Apple's competitors would trade places with Apple in a second if given the chance.
 
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Dolly Parton had far more interesting quotes. I mean, the man was simply a good bean counter, end of story. I hope Ternus brings some of the magic back and stops all the insidious nickel and diming but I fear Cook will continue to be heavily involved and effectively be Ternus’ boss.
 
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