“Let’s state the obvious; it’s clear that Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs. But maybe that’s okay; maybe Tim Cook being Tim Cook is good enough,” Michael Yoshikami, CEO, Founder & Chairman, Destination Wealth Management, writes for CNBC.
“Cook took over at Apple with a very big set of shoes to fill. Steve Jobs was a formidable presence not only as a business leader, but as a presenter. Many questioned if Tim Cook was up to the job. ‘Would he be flashy enough? Would he capture the imagination of the Apple loyalists?’ the critics asked,” Yoshikami writes. “Perhaps these were the wrong questions to be asking. Perhaps Tim Cook had his own unique value proposition he was ready to bring Apple.”
Yoshikami writes, “In our view, the Cook era of Apple is here. As evidence of the so far successful transition, there have been 2 major issues he has handled effectively and with transparency.”
Win #1: Adequate iPad supply azt launch
Win #2: Apple annpunced a dividend plan
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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Apple sells over 3 million new iPads in three days – March 19, 2012
Apple announces plans to initiate dividend and share repurchase program; expects to spend $45 billion over three years – March 19, 2012
Sorry to disagree, I would use it for technological gain- better uses for it. That is my viewpoint on the subject.
There’s still plenty left for that too.
Win #1: Adequate iPad supply azt launch
Win #2: Apple annpunced a dividend plan
I would use it to make a better spelling checker!
Jobs was not flashy. That was his secret. He was confident and alluring. The spotlight was on the product. Tim Cook has acquitted himself just fine. I don’t miss Steve Jobs’ presentations anymore.
Phil Schiller needs to drop a few pounds. Otherwise, all systems go.
True, but I’ll always miss Steve. There’s still music, but I’ll always miss John Lennon.
i miss Elvis
I miss Mozart.
I miss Michael.
How about Millie Vanilli?
Lip-synchers can be found in abundance at Google and Samsung
10
Just a thought. Steve Jobs said many times that it is all the people at Apple that deserve the credit, not just him.
G. Washington did not win the Revolutionary war all by himself. He was a figure head and functional leader. it took the work and sacrifice of many to do that job and the job at Apple. Tim Cook understands this along with his team and the workers at Apple.
Just a thought.
I wish everyone and his dog would stop underestimating Cook, I mean he was the one behind crappy Compaq boxes standing at each and every office all around the damn world, way before his time at Apple. I think it was the world’s largest hardware company, correct me if I’m wrong.
People may not remember this, but then google or bing or look it up otherwise and stop embarrassingly questioning Cook’s abilities for good -and Job’s sake.
Steve Jobs will have had many good reasons to appoint exactly Tim Cook, and just for THAT people ought to pay respect where really it’s due.
Tim Cook also displays a great amount of modesty and jovial superiority swallowing and not commenting all lame comments doubting his person and abilities, all of which he has proven to be outbof question more than suffiient, already,many times.
thanks for reading.
+1
Whole-heartedly agree.
I quit underestimating Cook a long time ago, but I’ve not yet been able to convince my dog. I promise to keep trying.
🙂
I always discuss aapl with my dog
she always misunderstands and thinks I’m talking about ALPO stock and starts to wag her tail…
she’s sitting right next to me as I type this.
My mouth watered a little too when I read ALPO. Mmmmm.
Tim Cook was Stev Job’s personal pick and protege that Steve groomed and trusted his company to.
Some things can and should be accepted for what they are.
Anyone that knows Apple knows Tim is a top shelf CEO and leader and will keep Apple’s principles and shine intact ( of not especially for Steve). He’ll do it by remaining himself.
I became a Cook fan a while back when SJ was still around. Cook was running a quarterly report conference when he bristled at someone and, in no uncertain terms, told him that Apple would vigorously defend its patents. There was not a hair of wimpiness in how Tim Cook said it and he didn’t hesitate one iota. He may appear to be a mild mannered CEO, but he’s got guts inside.
The only real issue most of us are waiting to see if whether Apple still has enough people with real VISION. I am doubtful that Tim Cook is a visionary. Apple will need that.
As for Phil Schiller, he may have a few extra pounds, Tbone, but his presentation style and confidence has improved a LOT over the past years. I increasingly like to listen to him and am glad he is still at Apple.
Apple has had this amazing run; introducing product after product – the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad… inventive and different… so, this has come to be apart how people see Apple. Typically, the credit seems towards Jobs , though it takes an amazing team.
My guess is most folks are hoping to see more of that.
So, what’s next… just revised and improved devices under Cooks command or will we see an iTube, a iPen or a iBoard?
From the article;
“Was this new iPad somehow a flop?
How could there be a ready supply of product?
In my view, the answer is simple; Tim Cook and Apple made sure product was available. No longer would scalpers take advantage of the huge demand for Apple product. Instead, Apple would capture that profit by having enough inventory available to satisfy demand. And when the sales numbers are released from the 1st weekend of iPad sales, I expect shocking sales numbers greater than most analysts imagine.”
THIS is the real reason for the adequate stock of new iPads. My guess is sales are going to be absolutely off the charts. Remember a few weeks ago, when DHL prices went up 20% because Apple had bought up all the space on flights from China? They must’ve been making millions and millions of new iPads (since it’s an almost identical physical design, reduced retool costs and problems associated), stockpiling them and then shipping them out in one huge export for simultaneous release.
Tim is absolutely the right man for the job. No mistake.
Steve Jobs has passed. Back in the day, he sensed an opportunity and built an innovative technology company. That company booted him out because sometimes that’s just the way things go. Jobs came back and proceeded to build a truly great company, stocked with smart people committed to providing customers with a great experience.
There are no big shoes to fill, Steve Jobs took them with him when he resigned. Cook is a worthy successor and will steer the ship as he sees fit. Jobs had faith in him so I guess so do I.
A question for those people who question Cook, who better could Steve have recommended?
Personally, I can’t think of anyone.
Case closed.
You speak as if you know Cook personally. Do you?
Jobs surrounded himself with great people to be at Apple. Period.
They all drank the Kool-aid so lets hope some of that magic has transcended to the team. It’s not about copying or filling Jobs shoe’s. It’s more to do with products and software. Innovations on all fronts. Lets see the crazy excitement rather then all this legal fighting and the damn stocks rising. The rumour years was fun and wild.
Apple is about making insanely great products. Think different. The new iPad is wonderful- a great technical feat and a super winning product – but it was all that when it was introduced. Now 3x better yeah.
Lets hope, there is something still to come. Radical and amazing, like the iPhone soon during Cook reigns. It is not Cook who needs to be innovative but Apple. Team Apple is doing amazing business.
Siri was said to have 1 or 2 years ahead of the competition. Now the competition is hanging tight to Apples skirt. Processors and screens and apps are gaining on Apple. While OSX borrows more of what Windows 7 has – everything – Apple has in the product line – is upgrades.
I want my.. I want my MTV… a iMAC hybrid TV. Ultra sexy slim and radical. Mind Blowing okay Tim… and he will present with enthusiasm no doubt.
Tim Cook was Steve Job’s personal pick and protege that Steve groomed and trusted his company to.
Some things can and should be accepted for what they are.
Anyone that knows Apple knows Tim is a top shelf CEO and leader and will keep Apple’s principles and shine intact ( if not especially for Steve).
He’ll do it by remaining himself.
Tim Cook is the perfect CEO for Apple’s post-Jobs era. No one will ever be like Jobs but his DNA is ingrained in Cook and all of Apple. Apple is much, much bigger than what it was during the 90’s and it takes a different kind of discipline to keep this huge ship moving like a speed boat. Cook is the perfect man to keep it running and on the course.
Cook isn’t the charismatic presenter and salesman or product visionary that Jobs was but then who was/is? Still, Apple’s core top management team of Cook, Ives, Forstall, Schiller, and Oppenheimer has been with Jobs and Apple for well over a decade. There’s great continuity here and I’m sure Jobs had laid out product plans for at least the next 4 years and probably beyond – at least in concepts.
As TC said, Apple’s best days are still well ahead of it. In 2020, TC could very well be on the cover of Fortune as the best CEO of the decade.
Just curious how Steve went about putting his DNA in Tim Cook? Was it orally or a suppository?
> Would he be flashy enough?… Perhaps these were the wrong questions to be asking. Perhaps Tim Cook had his own unique value proposition he was ready to bring Apple.
I made this point many times, back when there was ongoing discussion about who would take over as CEO after Steve Jobs. The “experts” were looking for someone “like Steve” to take his place, even suggesting Eric Schmidt had a better shot than Tim Cook. I said that was utter nonsense. It would be impossible to find another Steve Jobs, so looking for one was stupid.
Steve Jobs filled Apple with talented designers and engineers, including his key apprentice and “approver of elegance” Jonathan Ive. What Apple needed after Steve Jobs was a leader who can keep all of that creative energy highly focused, like a laser. That leader is, and has been for some time even when Steve Jobs was still CEO, Tim Cook. Tim Cook is also the operations guru who made Apple into the world’s most efficient tech company. He is a perfectionist too, but in a different way from Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs took Apple from the brink of failure to the most valuable company in the world. Going forward, Apple’s CEO needs to be a calm and confident operational genius, not a “flashy” creative genius. Apple is very fortunate to have Tim Cook (and his loyalty).
(In 2004) “My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order..”
I’d say he did alright.
Well said ken1w… agreed.
“Apple’s CEO needs to be a calm and confident operational genius, not a “flashy” creative genius.”
and, “Apple is very fortunate to have Tim Cook (and his loyalty).”
Steve chose Tim, and he chose well. That makes him 1 for 2.
-jcr
Incidentally, the way Sculley fucked up was by trying to be a celeb like Steve.
-jcr
I trust Tim Cook, I think he’s going to do interesting things at Apple and…. he will bringt “the missing things” to the profucts:
Non glossy version of iMacs and MacBook pros
eSATA card slot to Macbook pro 15″
USB 3.0 for everybody!
buy a dell
Some thought that it was foolish to replace Joe Montana with Steve Young, while some of us figured out how to appreciate both.
Dealing successfully with the challenges of tomorrow will require an understanding of the past, an appreciation of the present and the unshakable conviction that the best way to insure a more attractive and productive future is to create it yourself.
How is giving away billions of dollars a win?