I don't know about you, but I can't wait for my iFork, iSpoon, iKnife, iPlate and iCup
On a more serious note, I agree.
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Tim Cook's Leadership Style Profiled After Two Years as Apple CEO
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I don't know about you, but I can't wait for my iFork, iSpoon, iKnife, iPlate and iCup
On a more serious note, I agree.
Hmm, I don't know. It's going to really depend on what developers do with it.
Personally, it would be the most kick ass GPS experience ever. No screwing around while driving.
The only thing Google Glass has going against it is that people look like cyborgs with them on. If the aesthetics of it were better, it would be an easier sell.
The first iPhone was cool, but it wasn't until 3rd party apps rolled out that the device really took off and showed what it could do. I think Google glass is much the same... the developer community will make or break it.
And this is something I think Apple could really do well with, but pride will keep them from copying google when they like to say google copied them. (Which, they did.)
So impressed at your apparently intimate knowledge of both of these guys. Looking forward to your book.
Google Glass is the new Segway.
Wearables will come, but not via the hideous joke that is Glass.
Apple has not announced anything to do with a watch, although Samsung has. So I assume your ridicule is aimed at Samsung.
Oh, it isn't? How come?
Not even Steve Jobs wanted him to be like him.
One thing I think I've noticed is that Tim Cook has a more "listening" side. This can be a strength and a weakness. Jobs was bold, he did things he thought was right (and he had a damn good sense of what was right), while Cook seems to be more inclined to try to offer what he thinks we think is right.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the much longed for easier access to various settings appears in iOS 7. I think that's a typical "Tim Cook thing". Yes, it makes the display busy, and maybe Jobs would have said "wtf are you doing - it's a mess now", but here it is, and many actually like it, while some others think it's kind of messy.
He also went great lengths to try "fix" the Apple Maps debacle and I think he actually takes these problems quite personally, perhaps more so than Jobs. You know -- "you're holding it wrong".
Good or bad? I don't really know to be honest. If you listen, you rarely get these sparks of genius in the products, but you DO get what many people want. Sometimes the needs of the many don't correspond to the best directions to go to, but other times they do. Combined with a good team of visionaries at Apple, maybe the path will still be a decent one, but not the same path.
One thing I think I've noticed is that Tim Cook has a more "listening" side. This can be a strength and a weakness. Jobs was bold, he did things he thought was right (and he had a damn good sense of what was right), while Cook seems to be more inclined to try to offer what he thinks we think is right.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the much longed for easier access to various settings appears in iOS 7. I think that's a typical "Tim Cook thing". Yes, it makes the display busy, and maybe Jobs would have said "wtf are you doing - it's a mess now", but here it is, and many actually like it, while some others think it's kind of messy.
He also went great lengths to try "fix" the Apple Maps debacle and I think he actually takes these problems quite personally, perhaps more so than Jobs. You know -- "you're holding it wrong".
Good or bad? I don't really know to be honest. If you listen, you rarely get these sparks of genius in the products, but you DO get what many people want. Sometimes the needs of the many don't correspond to the best directions to go to, but other times they do. Combined with a good team of visionaries at Apple, maybe the path will still be a decent one, but not the same path.
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Tim Cook
I agree that the fire has been doused at Apple. Employees feared and respected Jobs who kept kicking them to do better and be creative. Nice guys didn't make Apple. Steve Jobs made Apple what it is and people expect the same. I don't think it will ever be what it was or perceived as without a tough decision maker/motivator/tyrant.
I agree that the fire has been doused at Apple. Employees feared and respected Jobs who kept kicking them to do better and be creative. Nice guys didn't make Apple. Steve Jobs made Apple what it is and people expect the same. I don't think it will ever be what it was or perceived as without a tough decision maker/motivator/tyrant.
iPad isn't going to cut it Steve. That's a lame product idea.
Pretty much what cynics were saying in late 2009.
Jobs wasn't perfect. Jobs had faults. Change always means new strengths and new faults. Luckily Jobs took steps to see that some key strengths under him were preserved to be taught again to new Apple people. And Apple was never just the CEO. Does anyone think Ives' work will be lesser under Cook?
I have to side with Cook here: that's some bad coffee.
I have to side with Cook here: that's some bad coffee.
3rd party apps and iPhone
Your comment about 3rd party apps and the iPhone taking off is true but also the problem. The amazing apps for the iPhone indicate that a much larger screen is needed to truly utilize them. Apple, for whatever stubborn reason, refuses to correct this issue. If the iPhone was used as just a phone, then its current size is perfect. But its way more than a phone and marketed as such so why not increase the screen to Five inches?
Your comment about 3rd party apps and the iPhone taking off is true but also the problem. The amazing apps for the iPhone indicate that a much larger screen is needed to truly utilize them. Apple, for whatever stubborn reason, refuses to correct this issue. If the iPhone was used as just a phone, then its current size is perfect. But its way more than a phone and marketed as such so why not increase the screen to Five inches?
I think Tim Cook, as CEO, is in a pretty tough position. He inherited a corporation that was making incredible profits, and so there is a lot of pressure not to screw that up. But his problem is that those profits (aka iPhone margin) are the product of inventing a brand new wildly popular product - the smartphone - and they are unsustainable. History shows us that hardware margins always erode. Hardware becomes a commodity. The competition catches up. It appears that all of Tim Cook's decisions have been about maintaining margin. The tradeoff being that you can keep short term margins, but at the price of long term market share. And if your market share gets small enough you become irrelevant. The danger is your company goes the way of Blackberry.
From the Reuters article itself...
The question no one in the 'Steve was infallible' camp ever ask is would Steve's skills have translated into ones appropriate for leading that behemoth in the long term, or (as I believe) is Tim precisely the one that Apple needs at the helm for the future.
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Steve never did 'press conferences'.
The question no one in the 'Steve was infallible' camp ever ask is would Steve's skills have translated into ones appropriate for leading that behemoth in the long term, or (as I believe) is Tim precisely the one that Apple needs at the helm for the future.
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Steve never did 'press conferences'.
Havn't that thing already been launched? Been seing photos of it since like..... forever!! I like Google but I would definitely not buy such glasses. Not something I would wear out and about.
The fact that Apple lost it's main product shepherd (Jobs) is evident in their lack of product.
Jobs shepherded to us the iPod, the iMac, iLife, gorgeous macbook Pros, iPhone and iPad. Cook has brought stock share buy-backs, smaller iPads and gold iPhones. Yippee.
I'm waiting to see what Ive does with OSX and iOS this fall. I can deal with the same, stale hardware (just with newer specs), if the OSes get innovative (but please bring back "save as"). If it's just prettier icons, then I'd say Apple is out of ideas with it's current leadership. Lucky for them, there's no place else to go.
Jobs shepherded to us the iPod, the iMac, iLife, gorgeous macbook Pros, iPhone and iPad. Cook has brought stock share buy-backs, smaller iPads and gold iPhones. Yippee.
I'm waiting to see what Ive does with OSX and iOS this fall. I can deal with the same, stale hardware (just with newer specs), if the OSes get innovative (but please bring back "save as"). If it's just prettier icons, then I'd say Apple is out of ideas with it's current leadership. Lucky for them, there's no place else to go.
Nah, anyone who was working 100 hour weeks with a debilitating disease was not going to just walk way to start gardening.
My contention is that the company's trajectory has been set for some time, and would look just about the same with or without Steve.
The only difference would be that the trolls would instead just be saying 'Steve has lost it' instead of 'Apple has lost it'.
Steve's product wasn't any device, but Apple itself.
Anyone saying that Apple has lost it without Steve is essentially contradicting themselves. This WAS his intent.
What the hell was decisive about writing a mealy mouthed apology letter and letting the disaster stagnate with no significant improvement as a massive black eye on Apple's core revenue product for a year now?
Decisive would have been pulling Apple Maps and letting users set their own application as he knew Apple's wasn't good enough.
Instead Apple continues to abuse it's monopoly control over iOS software distribution to prop up it's own failed product at the expense of customer's user experience.
That's a gross oversimplification that does not get better with constant repetition. Read the entire article and not just the MR summary. You'll get the picture of someone who make decisions quickly, decisively, and instinctively.
Some us seem to forget conveniently that Apple is one of the largest companies in the world. It's a massive operation that can't be run as a cult of personality, if it ever was. The other thing to remember is that Tim Cook was running Apple de facto for at least a year before Steve died.
Firing iOS chief is not decisive enough?
BTW: In my location, Apple Maps are far superior in navigation than other alternatives (including paid ones like Navigon), the only thing missing is solid POI database.
Huh? I use Google maps on my iPhone all the time. Apple maps hasn't impacted my user experience at all.
Reminds me of Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada. Except instead of looking for pursed lips or a slight smile, all the underlings are listening for the pace of chair rocking.
The iMac was pretty revolutionary at the time. An easy to use 1 piece computer for 1k. Ditto with the iBook. Back when competing laptops were 2-3k. And then he actually turned Apple into a software company - iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes and of course FInal Cut Pro which did for $1000 the same thing a $50k edit system did. The software list alone was enormous- Keynote and Pages too. The great software gave you a reason to buy their hardware. Among all this the iPod, iPod nano, iPhone, iPod touch, AppleTV, iPad, Mac mini, Xserve, and many revolutionary refinements of the iMac. It may not have all been revolutionary, but there was a constant flow of new products, attempts, releases, and refinements. Even the CUBE was amazing, but overpriced. He righted the ship. Set a new course for hardware, new products, new operating system(s), and software. He was still taking risks right before he died with FCP X.
But he probably did leave Cook in a tough spot. I think he wasn't quite as on tip of things, understandably, in the end. Perhaps he was moving too fast trying to set Apple on the track be wanted before he left us. But things were being released so fast I think quality control was failing. FCP X, antenna gate, and Siri are good examples.
Tims in now and we've had extreme hardware delays with the iMac. (Isn't supply chain his specialty?) a major screwup with Maps, lengthy delays on the MacPro (jobs was probably killing it) and ios7 which to me is nothing special, just and ugly facelift and a few evolutionary features that other os's have had for 3 years (like fingerprint sensor).
So it's no surprise Tim is undergoing some scrutiny. Steve took a failing company he wasn't involved with and made it the most valuable company in the world. Tim took over a company he was immensely involved with that was also the most successful company in the world and has had nothing but controversy and hardware delays.