“ Jeff Williams, who came from IBM to Apple more than a decade ago, was promoted this month to join Apple’s executive team as chief operation officer Tim Cook’s right hand man,” Jade and Dilger report.
“ It’s believed Apple is grooming Williams to take on Cook’s role as chief operation officer in the event that Cook takes over Steve Jobs’ role as the company’s chief executive,” Jade and Dilger report. “Cook has been profiled as the most likely successor to Jobs when Apple’s iconic chief chooses to step down. ”
Full article here.
Gotta have a clear, solid line of succession. The analists should like this move.
Que the Jobs is dying chorus in 5..4..3..
Long live Steve, the greatest leader there will ever be!
So after all the new taxes coming and living in beautiful but costly California, comes out making 50k a year. Pretty good. Hahaha!!
I moved my business from Cali back to Florida. No state income tax is wonderful. And now they giving oil away free too.
Jeff Williams? He’s snappy!
I have yet to see analysts who have nailed Apple inc. correctly, I guess what I am saying is that if you rely on analysts to tell you how a company is doing in this day and age then you must be the sort of person investing heavily on Google, M$, Dell, Coca cola etc. I wonder if “get a life” is an appropriate message for such people?
Cook has shown himself more than capable of running the operations side of Apple, but nothing is known of his ‘gut’ for product- the area Jobs excels in.
Screw the analysts, I personally will be very upset and worried the day Jobs steps down. Long may he serve. There are very capable people in all walks of life, and always new blood- but Steve Jobs is no ordinary visionary. He’s a once in a lifetime game-changer. There’ll never be another Beatles, Van Goght, or Einstein either.
When Steve retires in the future this is the way it will play out.
Tim Cook will replace Steve as President of the Apple Board
Scott Forstall will be promoted to CEO of Apple
Why because Tim Cook is a get r’ done guy.
While Scott Forstall details do it right user in front engineer and he’s not bad at large public keynote’s and product.
God help us all when Jobs passes on the crown and sceptre… sure hope he’s been planning ahead to keep Apple in the game when he leaves (through illness or otherwise).
Just like anything else involving the potential for Jobs not to be at Apple, the stock will have an allergic reaction to the news.
“It is believed – Cook Successor” – BS –
Could it possibly be that they are just growing like crazy and they need additional help?
Of course, every company needs a plan of succession to handle eventualities don’t read too much into this.
Can Cook “Think Different” and/or “Think Better”?
It may not matter if Cook can do all things “Jobs” as long as he surrounds himself with people smarter than he (something the current leader of the free world can’t do) and delegates.
A great leader picks the right people, delegates, and makes good solid decisions. I got my fingers crossed that all works out well when Steve decides to move out.
After the iP4 fiasco, the world has finally come to grip with the reality that Steve Jobs’ charisma is really a poor substitute for actual quality in products, service and customer care.
MDN and its loyal followers will howl in protest, but the fact is that for about the last two years, Apple’s software and hardware releases have developed a record of being ‘not ready’ for public consumption.
This entire team of Apple moguls have had to swallow their arrogance and now face a critical test coming somewhere around the first of October – that’s when they will announce (or not, we’ll know anyway) that the antenna problem has been fixed with a hardware design modification and now, because they love their customers so much, an exchange for the crippled phones purchased by stupid early adopters such as me, is now available.
Or, will they? That’s the test.
Is the headline missing punctuation?
I’ve been following this company long enough to predict that their product timeline is planned many, many years out. If Jobs walked away tomorrow, his vision would live on for a five to ten years. And maybe Steve would relax, eat, and stop reminding me of Christian Bale in The Machinist.
@ Good news
The only fix for the antenna is to put it back inside or put a bumper on it or find a way around the laws of physics. An external antenna will always have the issue of the body blocking the radio signal. As a matter of fact, internal antennas have the same problem. So what is the problem?
O yea, it’s the bars. Well, that’s been fixed, too.
According to Verizon, they have two antennas in their design (as if they did not know about the laws of physics) and I would have to admit that Verizon’s design is a great idea but a tradeoff of antenna space for battery life, etc).
Besides, did Apple or Jobs ever say the iPhone was the best phone? I dont think so. So, no matter how you look at it the timing and the press was the perfect storm for the hedge funds and shorters.
Oh yea, one more thing…
In this age of tech we are all beta testers from all tech manufacturers.
This really sucks. I would have preferred Apple contacted me directly about not getting the Sr. VP of Ops job.
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@good news
Fiasco?
The rest of the field would love to have the problem Apple just had.
Oh cursed iP4!
Damn you for selling over three million units even though just about every media outlet on the planet was buying a load of shit coming from a few sources with less-than-best intentions for Apple. No mob movie ever had the number of hit jobs iP4 had.
The antenna “issue” was a gift to Apple. The free press they got off the lead-up and their response will move numerous units. The layperson will visit Apple’s site and see the antenna technology page and comparisons, or they’ll be in an Apple Store being assisted by an individual who can allay their concerns.
Apple won Antennagate. Plain and simple.
@Good news
Your first statement doesn’t mash up with reality. In spite of your myopic perception, iP4 sales have not faltered.
Apple has been pushing the envelop for the last thirty years. Their products aren’t perfect, but their concepts are. Only the naive would buy a 1.0 product and expect it to be flawless.
“Stupid” early adopters, as you’ve labelled them, live on the bleeding edge and know it. They accept the fact that these products are not quite baked, and are content just to be a part of the march.
Early adopters are tinkers, who’s lives are not defined by superficial cosmetics, or status symbols. They aren’t likely to wilt under scrutiny, if their product shames them in public. That’s the price of admission to the space age theme park.
If perfection is your barometer for success, then you live in a bland, vanilla world, where there is no room whatsoever for your personal imprint. Perhaps you should have played it safe, buying a 3GS instead.
While other companies are playing it safe, Apple’s moving into uncharted territory, taking all the risks and reaping the rewards. In their wake, Apple’s products serve as some kind of outposts, giving respite to those who haven’t got the nerve to lead, or venture into the dark of night.
It’s one thing to act different, but quite another to be different. Being different brings consequences, and our reactions to them is what defines us, and not how we accessorize.
Apple’s executive bench is deep and wide. Good for Apple, good for stockholders, good for customers.
@ AKA
If Jobs walked away tomorrow, his vision would live on for a five to ten years.
That’s right. If one of Apple’s strategic properties hits a snag because some component is not yet in place, or even available, they don’t scrap the plan, they iCal-it.
They’re so far ahead of their competition, they have time to invent stuff that can’t be brought to market. Their concepts are pure science fiction.
In some respects, their forward-looking concepts are like the upper branches of the Apple tree, whose root system was the Apple I and VisiCalc, the Macintosh and MacPaint.
You can imagine the long succession of hits and misses that are the branches of Apple’s tree of life. Much of the low-hanging fruit was plucked by its competitors, many of whom never survived the storm, or chose another fruit, like citrus. Some lemons, others oranges.
The view from the Apple tree-tops, and the ladder that is the context on which we stand, lies an orchard that is the Apple of my eye and not a lemon is sight.
I think Steve Jobs will be Apple CEO for a long time. But Tim Cook is already acting as a co-CEO in many ways. When Steve Jobs was on medical leave for six months, Apple kept on functioning perfectly. That was Tim Cook continuing to perform the same role he was already in before Steve Jobs took the medical leave.
Obviously, Steve Jobs is crucially important to Apple because he provides the “vision” and long-term decisions. Without it, Apple slowly becomes a “me too” company like they were in the early and mid 1990’s. But Apple also needs to execute that vision, and that’s Tim Cook’s crucial role at Apple. He provides the operational efficiency to get the work done and make a profit. I think he also provides focus; compared to Microsoft, Apple’s executives always seem to be on the same sheet of music. There may be differing opinions within Apple, but externally, you never hear about internal politics and conflicts at Apple; everyone seems to be highly focused on a singular well-defined corporate goal.
When Steve Jobs eventually steps down from being CEO, the best case scenario, in my opinion, is that he remains on Apple’s Board. Tim Cook is promoted to CEO, and Steve Jobs can continue to provide guidance. He can even remain the “voice of Apple.” They can then think about who to groom to be the next Apple CEO after Tim Cook.