Tim Cook - Forever in Jobs' Shadow?

[cosmichobo]

G'day,

I was just looking at this site's news feed today, and saw the story about Tim Cook giving some speech somewhere, including talking about Steve Jobs.

What would it take for Steve to be left behind!? Is this man destined to always be known as the man that Steve trained to succeed him... rather than of being simply - Apple CEO?

I know that before/soon after Jobs' death, there was talk that right up to the end he was working on future devices... That certainly couldn't help Tim Cook's reputation, and I personally am left wondering - was this a Steve idea, or something Tim actually has been involved with...

Anyways, just rambling...


cheers

cosmic

 

[iamasmith]

Steve will probably be iconic for a long time in Apple's incarnation. People felt a connection with his values and the scale to which Jobs brought the company really doesn't bear comparisons with things like Steve Wozniak's departure.

Tim was somebody I knew little about and thought this was going to be an uphill struggle for anybody to take on.

It turned out that he's carried on in the direction and embraced the values. I can't imagine anybody in Apple rising to that position over such a long period of time and not having Apple written across them if you cut them in half but he's really got it and I'm so happy he was picked as the successor.

It's Tim's lead and vision now and he's doing the right thing by Apple and it should be recognise that although Steve led the way Tim is leading the company in many innovative and great efforts that in themselves are ground breaking.

If Tim were to move on then I think a whole legion of folks that appreciate Apple products would be greatly concerned as he now has built a lot of confidence in his customers.

 

[cosmichobo]

Well said, iamasmith.

Since his death, Apple's stock price has not dropped - but continued to climb. Even on the announcement of his death it did little - which frankly I would have expected given how integral Jobs was at Apple.

Certainly you would have to say Cook is doing an admirable job... I guess I still just wonder how much of Apple's output since Jobs' death can be attributed wholly to Cook, because once we reach that point, then we'll have a better indication of the future...

 

[maflynn]

To a point anyone replacing a legend has this problem, but I think Cook has done a good job at stepping out of the shadow and crafting apple in image of what he sees is the future. Some may not like it, others do, but he's been doing a good job of extending apple's product line and profitability.

 

[rdowns]

This is clearly Tim Cook's Apple. Jobs legacy will be there for a long time (especially because of their internal university) but Cook has put his fingerprints all over Apple in other areas like charitable giving, being more political and more open with the press to name a few.