“UBS hardware analyst Steve Milunovich today reiterates a Buy rating on Apple (AAPL) and a $500 price target, observing that even thought the shares have lately become a ‘trading stock,’ and even though Apple’s challenges of late ‘are summarized by the view that most of Apple’s success can be attributed to the unique capabilities of Steve Jobs,’ nevertheless he is ‘more optimistic’ that CEO Tim Cook ‘is the right guy,'” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
“Milunovich cites the negative view of Apple, and Cook, in the form of commentary from ‘industry observer’ Mark Anderson, offered via a recent UBS conference call for investors,” Ray reports.
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Ray reports, “Anderson’s contention is Cook is ‘a nice guy,’ but things such as making the largest bond offering in history suggest he is merely “an operations guy” like other leaders in time at great companies, such as former Intel CEO Craig Barrett.”
Read more in the full article here.
No. He. Is. Not.
Well don’t stop there. Please tell us who you think could do better.
And that is the appropriate response. It took a lot of balls to fire Forstall and hand over the keys to the iOS7 kingdom to Jony Ive. I for one love the makeover. It’s not perfect, but it’s beta. Tim Cook understands his limitations but he’s also coming to grips with his strengths. One of his strengths is a fearless ability to change course (i.e., firing Browett and Forstall). As much credit should be given to Tim Cook as is given to Jony Ive for iOS7. Firing Forstall was a move I’m not sure even Sj would have pulled the trigger on.
He has the balls to change things and correct mistakes. I wouldn’t underestimate him at all.
And he has the best software/hardware team on the planet working for him. Keep your eyes on the horizon and get us there!
Just phucking analyst bullshit.
iOS was not given to Jony Ive, it was given to Craig Federighi.
I suddenly realized how great it was not to see Scott Forstall at the WWDC and see Craig Federighi instead. Scott was always one of those upstart guys that you didn’t much like but couldn’t quite put your finger on it. Be interesting to see where he lands once his contract with Apple expires.
Just phucking analyst bullshit.
R2’s response is _not_ the appropriate one. It is the cynical FUD response.
Cook is not a god, and can easily be replaced by others. It is not up to us to name his successor, it is for the board to do so. But don’t think for a second that there aren’t several talented, intelligent, visionary, superior communicators who can lead just as well.
With the resources Cook has at his fingertips and the inertia of a large company, everything will look fine for at least a few more years. Then the cracks will show: the holes in the cash flow where the stupid Aerobie office and the Wall Street fellation occurred; the continued stagnation of Mac market share as Cook does little to nothing to push into enterprise markets; the loss of iPhone market share leadership (and hence stagnation of profit leadership) as the copycats flood growing markets with diverse sizes & prices of phones and tablets; the increased pressure from online services companies and ISPs that will forever relegate AppleTV to a hobby. The consumer tide turning when it realizes that it can’t trust data to Apple’s walled garden/cloud/server farms any more than the people can trust Google, MS, FB, or the NSA.
Apple may very well be the world’s best tech company today, but Cook doesn’t seem to be taking adequate actions to definitively prevent the worst-case scenarios i just listed. Sorry for all you folks who worship the water Cook walks on, but Apple isn’t the consumer-focused, product-focused company that it used to be. It’s now being run by a guy who bends over to Wall Street’s wishes.
Amazing what one kick-ass keynote can do.
Yeah he is also the right man for the NSA, to turn over my private data, fully knowing that it is illegal and unconstitutional.
Thanks Timmy… You spineless Asshole!
You are off and confused, McDonald.
Yeah, it’s not like he can’t just break federal law and NOT comply with court orders. Mcman, you are a dumbass sir.
As I think I told you on another thread, Apple does a better job than most of keeping users things private. Hope you don’t use anything Google!
For ALL of the nay-sayers, Not a single, SINGLE one has answered (from my reading of this forum) what has been asked by R2:
WHO would replace him?
Anyone who would risk leaving their current company to come and replace TC would not be a worthy candidate to begin with. Meaning – if their company is improving enough to show that they ARE a good leader, it is very doubtful that they would leave their company at this point in time!
Maybe Oprah?
Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice, but to carry on.
Nice CSN ref
Stock analcyst views of Apple.
Gave up caring months ago.
Read the blog by Ben Thompson (link in the article). It has some interesting points about why Cook may be the right guy, even though Forstall is smarter and more like Jobs.
Of course an analyst from UBS would give a thumbs up to TC – they wanted Apple’s hard earned cash & TC gave it to them. Hell, he was willing to take out a loan to pay the gamblers in 3-piece suits off! He’s definitely the leader they always wanted to see at Apple.
And McMan is correct about TC’s caving to the Surveillance State as well – not just the US, but the PRC has found a friend in Timmy too.
A nice keynote is not a leader make. As Jobs always said, probably the most important part of being a leader is you have to know when to say “no”.