“Apple CEO Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs in terms of innovation, but he’s managed to build shareholder loyalty as fierce as that of the company’s devoted user base, former Apple CEO John Sculley told CNBC on Friday,” Chloe Aiello reports for CNBC. “Apple likely wouldn’t be what it is today without Cook, Sculley added. ‘Steve Jobs created a loyalty with users that is unparalleled in the consumer technology world. What Tim Cook has done, he’s built a loyalty with shareholders,’ Sculley said on Squawk on the Street.”
“‘Tim’s not a product person, per se,’ the Apple co-founder Jobs once said about his eventual CEO successor,” Aiello reports. “Sculley said that may very well be, but Cook excelled in business, carrying the tech giant through the death of its charismatic leader to the historic $1 trillion valuation that Apple hit on Thursday.”
“Whereas Jobs cultivated customer loyalty, based on incredible products, Cook used the Apple reputation to build a ‘brilliant business model,’ Sculley said, adding that instead of inventing the best, new technology, Cook buys back stocks, hordes cash, and gives out dividends,” Aiello reports. “Sculley also praised Cook for really monetizing the services end of the business, which analysts expect to be a bigger and bigger revenue driver in the coming quarters and years.”
“Amazon is ‘valued as a growth stock, not a value stock the way Apple is, so you’re betting on Jeff’s brilliance to continue to open up new lines of business,’ Sculley said,” Aiello reports. “‘Bezos is the “best CEO in the world right now,’ Sculley said. ‘My bet would be the next one going over a $1 trillion is Amazon.'”
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MacDailyNews Take: Crap, we hate agreeing with that unprepared sugared water sales bozo.
“Oh, but Tim Cook has made Apple the world’s richest company! The stock price is near record highs!” some might say. And that’s true enough.
Others might say, “Let’s be honest, Steve Ballmer could’ve generated the same kind of money running Apple Inc. given the massive momentum Steve Jobs handed over at his death. Sometimes, in fact, it looks like Steve Ballmer is running Apple. Although, no, it doesn’t really, because even Ballmer would have updated the Mac Pro by now, made sure he had enough Apple Watches ready so as not to pretty much totally kill launch momentum, had enough Apple Pencils and Smart Keyboards on hand for the iPad Pro launch, enough AirPods at launch, etc. Even Monkey Boy would have had an Amazon Echo knockoff on the market for Christmas 2016, at the latest, too. Not missing Christmas 2017. Deny it if you must, but you know it’s true.”
Listen, Tim Cook has some very admirable qualities. For just one example, his stance on privacy is important and unparalleled. We’re not sure we’d have such privacy with any other CEO this side of Edward Snowden. (Of course, Cook’s ability to make that a selling point is in question as the near total lack of privacy doesn’t seem to dissuade literally billions of people from surrendering it daily to FaceBook and Google.) His commitment to clean, renewable energy is another.
Still, after this latest delay, missing Christmas with HomePod, thereby ensuring millions more Amazon Echo and Google Home units find their way under Christmas trees this year and all of the ancillary negative offshoots of that (Spotify rather than Apple Music subscriptions, for example), we’re left wondering:
How much would Apple Inc. be worth today had a Jeff Bezos-type CEO taken over the reins instead? – MacDailyNews, November 21, 2017
SEE ALSO:
Former Apple CEO John Sculley: What I learned from Steve Jobs – May 29, 2018
John Sculley: Apple TV will be the company’s most revolutionary product (as if he knows anything) – September 1, 2015
John Sculley: Forcing Steve Jobs out of Apple was a mistake – April 18, 2014
Failed Apple CEO John Sculley: If I were Samsung, I would tap Ron Johnson – April 10, 2013
If John Sculley says Apple must do this then Apple probably shouldn’t – January 17, 2013
Former Apple CEO Sculley gives his take on Steve Jobs – January 13, 2012
John Sculley: I wish I told Steve Jobs ‘This is your company, let’s figure out how you can come back and be CEO’ – Septemeber 13, 2011
Steve Jobs steps down the first time: The 1985 press coverage – August 26, 2011
John Sculley: Apple’s big mistake was hiring me as CEO – October 14, 2010
Sculley: Uh, maybe I shouldn’t have fired Steve Jobs – June 7, 2010