Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Tim Cook's Impact on Apple Detailed in New Profile Along With Plans for New Board Members

It's the Truman effect. It's tough to play second fiddle to FDR. No matter how good you are, you are being compared to the very best of your predecessor.
 
TheRainKing said:
Me and many others said that Apple would not be the same company without Steve and we've been proven correct time and time again. Tim Cook is not a useless hack, but he's simply not Steve Jobs. He doesn't know what Apple should or shouldn't be doing, he leaves those decisions to other people, and those people don't have the guidance of Steve anymore. The end result is a bunch of B+ products and another successful company. Not the insanely great company Apple use to be under Steve Jobs.
Click to expand...

Imagine what people would have said had Apple had released iPhone 3G/3GS and 1st gen iPad under Cook. Heck at Apple's shareholder meeting this year Tim Cook even joked that looking back on it he's a bit embarrassed about the 1st gen iPad. The difference with Steve is he had a magnetism and dynamism that Tim doesn't have. He was the ultimate showman. He could make you want anything he was selling and could make just about anything sound exciting. IMO the products Apple is releasing now (not counting minor spec bumps to existing products) are just as good as anything released under Steve. Only difference is Apple no longer has a Steve like figure to sell them to us.
 
TIM COOK or TIM TOOK?

Tim Cook or is his real name really Tim Took?

he owes 2010 MBP w/GT330M and 2011 MBP's w/ Radeongate owners a $3000 refund. cash. or check.
 
Rogifan said:
Hey I said Beats is still a head scratcher for me. I can defend Cook without being rah rah about Beats.

Anyway my belief is that Steve knew how big Apple would become and felt the right man to run Big Apple was Tim Cook. Obviously the executives that work for Cook (many of whom also worked for Jobs) feel the same way as none of them have left.
Click to expand...

Steve Jobs also felt the same way about John Scully, and we know how that worked out. Steve Jobs' staggering imagination, coupled with his unyielding ego, and a talented team, birthed many products that changed the way the world works, how it listens to music, & even enjoys animation. But Steve Jobs people skills were not so keen. He was a good motivator but many times he chased after ones that he thought were good just out of instinct but turned out not so great (again the ego thing, this time working against him).

His "team" has a vested interest in boosting him as their fortunes are tied to his. I'm sure they all have very tight contracts with non-compete, non-disclosure clauses. They have a boat load of stock options yet to vest. Why would they do something to purposely harm their own fortunes & also not look like a team player. (Even when they can leave Apple, who would hire someone to tells tales out of school?)

So judging Cook by the lack of what the executive team might not being saying or doing, i.e., leaving Apple isn't a great metric. But I think you'd agree judging Cook by his own positive impact on Apple's future would be, and to-date, nothing major has been created organically under his watch. We'll have to see what happens this fall.
 
MacRumors said:
Cook is labeled as more of a manager and less of a visionary, causing current and former Apple employees to worry that without Steve Jobs, Apple is losing its "frenetic pace and focus" on new products. Employees also worry that the company may be working on too many projects at once.
Article Link: Tim Cook's Impact on Apple Detailed in New Profile Along With Plans for New Board Members
Click to expand...

As a long time Apple user, I'm feeling the same unease as those employees. They are spread too thin (software etc. being released before it's ready for prime time...) I still hold out hope for the next wave of Macs providing they continue to be easy to use. I don't care about thin, I want quality not quantity.
 
Rogifan said:
Imagine what people would have said had Apple had released iPhone 3G/3GS and 1st gen iPad under Cook. Heck at Apple's shareholder meeting this year Tim Cook even joked that looking back on it he's a bit embarrassed about the 1st gen iPad.
Click to expand...

Silly hypothetical. Cook didn't so it's a moot point. Cook should try releasing some novel products of his own and then we can see how people react for real, not as a hypothetical. If it's a great product then people will line up and buy it and Cook will be man of the hour.

And the iPad 1 was a revolutionary product. It's funny today, but at release it was cool enough that people lined up for the 3G version a month after the WiFi version was released. Look at the Model T today and its funny too.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Silly hypothetical. Cook didn't so it's a moot point. Cook should try releasing some novel products of his own and then we can see how people react for real, not as a hypothetical. If it's a great product then people will line up and buy it and Cook will be man of the hour.

And the iPad 1 was a revolutionary product. It's funny today, but at release it was cool enough that people lined up for the 3G version a month after the WiFi version was released. Look at the Model T today and its funny too.
Click to expand...

And yet at the time iPad 1 was mocked as just a big iPod touch. Original iPhone was mocked for not having features that other smartphones had (like copy/paste) and for being too expensive. It wasn't until the App Store (which Jobs originally opposed) and carrier subsidies that iPhone really took off. We look back now and say those products were revolutionary but how many were saying it at the time they were released?
 
acslater017 said:
If Steve Job's greatest creation was Apple itself, then Tim Cook's greatest is the new Apple 2.0 that we're seeing emerging. I for one see it as a positive thing.

-the old Apple was divided into fiefdoms and so focused it couldn't do two things at once; it constantly ripped engineers off one team and onto another. There was an OS X team and an iOS team. Now there's a "software" team that was absolutely prolific this year- with Homekit, Healthkit, iOS 8 extensions, an OS X redesign, Metal, and Swift

-the old Apple insisted on siloing apps and processes; the new Apple gives us features we've been clamoring for for years - Extensions, custom keyboards, etc.

-the old Apple was a workplace dependent on Apple zealousness and fear of Steve Jobs, with frequent burnout. The new one is kinder to its own kin, in an industry where it traditionally ranks quite low on perks.

-the old iOS seemed under lock and key from Jobs' fave, Scott Forstall. iOS 7 and 8 are huge leaps over the old stuff, despite complaints over subjective aesthetic choices.

-the old Apple was so secretive that it was like talking to a brick wall. Now, a few execs chat it up on twitter, publicly release environmental/labor reports, etc.
Click to expand...


This is an excellent post. Thumbs up.
 
John Gruber spot on once again:

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/07/07/cook-damned

Tim Cook Damned if He Does, Damned if He Doesn’t

From a mostly-pointless Daisuke Wakabayashi piece on Tim Cook in today’s WSJ:

Mr. Cook has pledged that Apple will enter a new product category later this year. People familiar with the company’s plans say that Apple is working on a smartwatch with advanced sensors to track a user’s fitness and health. Apple is expected to introduce the new device, as well as a larger iPhone, in the fall, these people said.

One challenge facing Mr. Cook is what Wall Street calls the law of large numbers: even a successful new product may barely move the needle for Apple, which generated $171 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended last September. A flop could underscore that Apple’s product heydays are tied to the late Mr. Jobs. […]

Mr. Jobs’s repudiations bruised feelings while making sure the company stayed focused on a few projects. Under Mr. Cook, current and former employees say Apple may be spreading itself too thin, pursuing too many ideas and compromising the “laser focus” that Mr. Jobs used to create the iMac, iPhone and iPad.
Click to expand...

Last year Apple desperately needed new products and Tim Cook was failing as CEO because Apple wasn’t delivering them. Now that they seem poised to deliver new products, Cook is “spreading the company too thin” and even a successful product won’t affect the bottom line so why even bother, right?

Look for that refrain to be repeated; it seems to be the new Apple narrative.
 
Rogifan said:
And yet at the time iPad 1 was mocked as just a big iPod touch. Original iPhone was mocked for not having features that other smartphones had (like copy/paste) and for being too expensive. It wasn't until the App Store (which Jobs originally opposed) and carrier subsidies that iPhone really took off. We look back now and say those products were revolutionary but how many were saying it at the time they were released?
Click to expand...

You are joking right? The people mocking the iPhone 1.0 thought the Blackberry was superior. The people mocking the iPad at release thought it had no chance because Netbooks were the future.

The truth away from MR forums, both the iPhone and iPad 1.0 were hugely anticipated products and caused lines unlike seen before for a phone or totally new product category that the iPad represented. The iPhone 1.0 hit a wall after the intial launch period because it was unsubsidized but also required a contract and also was only EDGE wireless. The iPhone 3G fixed all that.

But all of this is really taking the thread off course. The question should be where are Tim Cook's new products... all new not "this years version" of Steve Jobs past inspirations. Honest question. You seem to defend Tim Cook to the hilt. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt until the fall, but what great thing, unrelated to Steve Jobs products, has he done that you get so defensive when people doubt his ability to take Apple to the next phase?
 
i am calling him tim took and here's why

well... hmmm... the poster who commented about tim took representing apple 2.0 is historically/chronologically wrong. if i am correct, steve jobs left apple in the mid 80's and then returned to apple in the mid-90's. if there is an apple 2.0, it is when steve jobs returned. tim took taking over apple is not an apple 3.0 or anything like that. i mean, they can arbitrarily call it a new apple. apple 4.0. apple yoshittymitty. who cares. tim took took steve jobs job. but, tim took cannot take the spirit, vision, will, determination, passion, charisma and aura of steve jobs. the only thing tim took will be good for is taking or what i call "tooking" people's money. and this money is not because of him. it is the money that steve jobs has built prior to his departure. it is the money i gave apple when i bought macs, iphone or whatnot. and if i am going to give money to apple again in the future, it will be because of steve jobs and not because of tim took. he can take my money and he has took my money. but, he will not take the reason of why people buy apple products now or in the future b/c the foundation/trust/loyalty/vision/design and products that apple is selling now was built and spearheaded by steve jobs. tim took right now is just tooking or taking our money. and he will continue to take money from me and you for as long as steve jobs still represents apple. tim took doesn't represent apple. steve jobs does even though he is not running it anymore. i don't know when this will last but tim took will be there for as long as it last to be taking all your money. our money!!!

your name is not tim cook. it's tim took!!! you tooker!!!
 
I just read an article showing that the best selling phone in the world is the iPhone 5s. As a matter of fact the 5the best selling is the iPhone 4s. IN THE WORLD. Seriously, I have no issue with the hardware that apple has released, and I am truly excited about the OS and other software announced at WWDC.

Apple continues to innovate in many ways. The way the have been able to go zero footprint at all their data centers. The total integration of all their devices in the next gen operating system and even in their hardware that keeps them as number 1 in units sold, in almost every category - phone, tablet, music, etc.

Really, I have little to complain about. Except that I would like it to come faster while still keeping the quality at the highest levels. At this point I am ambivalent about the watch or TV - as in i don't care for apple to do anything in this realm.

If the mass wants apple to innovate by doing something new, I think the car may surprise a lot of folks and what I hope will be a new Apple TV that finally breaks through and delivers apps and content without cable subscriptions.

Otherwise keep doing what you're doing Tim, I approve (I know that means squat, but it doesn't change the fact).
 
Yes, but

whooleytoo said:
Wasn't there an article on Macrumors some time ago about Cook's style - how he often used to repeatedly ask the same question until he got the answer he wanted (or until everyone went silent and was staring at the table).

That doesn't seem to tally with this particular story.
Click to expand...

Yes, But it was Steve Jobs-not Tim Cook !- I think
 
Last edited:
namethisfile said:
well... hmmm... the poster who commented about tim took representing apple 2.0 is historically/chronologically wrong. if i am correct, steve jobs left apple in the mid 80's and then returned to apple in the mid-90's. if there is an apple 2.0, it is when steve jobs returned. tim took taking over apple is not an apple 3.0 or anything like that. i mean, they can arbitrarily call it a new apple. apple 4.0. apple yoshittymitty. who cares. tim took took steve jobs job. but, tim took cannot take the spirit, vision, will, determination, passion, charisma and aura of steve jobs. the only thing tim took will be good for is taking or what i call "tooking" people's money. and this money is not because of him. it is the money that steve jobs has built prior to his departure. it is the money i gave apple when i bought macs, iphone or whatnot. and if i am going to give money to apple again in the future, it will be because of steve jobs and not because of tim took. he can take my money and he has took my money. but, he will not take the reason of why people buy apple products now or in the future b/c the foundation/trust/loyalty/vision/design and products that apple is selling now was built and spearheaded by steve jobs. tim took right now is just tooking or taking our money. and he will continue to take money from me and you for as long as steve jobs still represents apple. tim took doesn't represent apple. steve jobs does even though he is not running it anymore. i don't know when this will last but tim took will be there for as long as it last to be taking all your money. our money!!!

your name is not tim cook. it's tim took!!! you tooker!!!
Click to expand...

This reminds me of the speech Clint Eastwood gave at the RNC by talking to a chair. Not good.
 
Name someone

Rogifan said:
Like who? Name someone.
Click to expand...

-Elan Musk of Tesla for one

-Larry Ellison of Oracle for two

-Sir Richard Bronson of Virgin Atlantic for three

Three best candidates for the Apple Board of Directors- May be all three should be added
 
Former Intuit Corp. Chief Executive Bill Campbell is an embarrassment sitting on Apple's board, FoS or not. Quicken for Mac has been a hoax on Mac users for years, and shows no sign of changing.
 
I think highly of Tim Cook so far. Comparing him to Steve is like comparing Robin with Batman or saying Darth Maul isn't as cool as Darth Vader. Yes, without Steve there'd be no Apple or if it somehow was still around today it would be unrecognizable. His legacy is that he laid the foundation for what we can really accomplish with technology. Real innovative and revolutionary advances only come from evolving what's available currently and applying it in a way that has not been done before. That is what Apple has excelled at. Instead of creating a brick wall around a prison, Tim has built a more welcoming home that still draws everyone's interest in what's behind the curtains. Over time he has become more personable and his changes so far like charity matching and having Apple make an appearance in the SF parade have been for the better. We're at the point now around 2006 right before the iPhone came out. Maybe the iWatch or iPed? or whatever it'll be called won't be as game changing as the iPhone, but there is no doubting that Apple has the capability to make great things in the future. Best of luck to Tim and the employees at :apple:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back