Tim Cook Needs to Go

[The_Interloper]

I would argue you are completely wrong. The value of Apple at Steve Jobs' death was $350m, so you are far our.

Tim Cook made it the two-trillion-dollar company you know today. Not Jobs.

True, Cook has turned into a multi-trillion dollar behemoth. But let's be absolutely honest, here - he inherited a company on a massive upward trajectory caused by Jobs' "Greatest Hits" of product releases - the Mac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPad. By the time of his death, the latter two were becoming near-unstoppable in their growth. Apple coasted for years on those products - some would argue they still are.

The iPhone is the cash cow that keeps on giving - it generates sales of Apple Watch, AirPods and services. These are Cook-era products, all of which are utterly dependant on the creations of his predecessor.

With all this said, and all my other criticisms, I still believe Cook is a phenomenal CEO. Apple has been in safe hands and more profitable than ever, laying a safe foundation for whoever succeeds him. Do I wish he was more of a visionary? Yes. But his tenure can only be seen as a success for Apple, if not always for consumers.

 

[Kung gu]

I use my M1 devices in the exact same way I use my Intel Macs.

I think for a lot of Mac users M1 changed laptop computing. I know I would never go back to Intel mac if I used a M1 Mac. The fanless/quiet fan, long lasting battery and the snappiness of M1 is what people wanted from laptops.

Like an Intel MBA could never edit 4k video so easily like M1 can. Not just creative stuff but also coding like xCode and android studio previously needed a high-end MBP but now that's possible on a MBA.

If the Mac Mini has always had Bluetooth issues, why is that design still being used? What about the HDMI problem? That’s soldered to a new SOC, right? The one with an M1 chip…

The next mac mini is supposed to have a redesign with glass on top for better bluetooth.
As for HDMI its always been bad on mac mini. The HDMI on macbooks and apple tv is always been way better than mac mini.

Thats why some prefer iMacs and macbooks those macs don't have as much problems with monitors like mac mini has.

 

[Alpha God Vonn]

Tell that to the people folding and flipping their Samsung phones (as well as writing notes with a digital pen).

The issue isn't the slowing of innovation, it's the stagnation of Apple's products. The new iPhones aren't discernably different from the model before it. More importantly, they fail to even integrate innovations that have been around for years now: under-display (or even power button) fingerprint sensors, always-on displays (a software feature!), lack of a huge notch etc.

And while we're talking about the notch...that symbolises Apple's stagnation more than anything. That abomination has now been there for 4 years and 6 iPhone iterations (X, XS, XR, 11, 12, 13). This year, they've slightly shortened the width while making it taller - and adding nothing to the notification area. Jobs must be spinning.

Exactly

 

[Bug-Creator]

Steve Jobs in my opinion would of never released the current iPhone 13 Pro.

a) Apple under Jobs released plenty worse lemon products

b) what would have been the alternative? Skip a full year till the 14 is ready? Add halfbaked features just to make it look better?

 

[UBS28]

I’m not going for that. Samsung keeps on innovating. With its foldables alone. Including it’s under display cameras etc. Think Big. Think outside the box & never limit yourself.

He is right. Apple under Steve Jobs were the innovators and Samsung (and others) were copying Apple.

Now Samsung is the one that is innovating and Apple copying.

 

[JMacHack]

He is right. Apple under Steve Jobs were the innovators and Samsung (and others) were copying Apple.

Now Samsung is the one that is innovating and Apple copying.

C4 phones and cracking screens are innovative.

 

[hrMACnstuff]

So its been reported that Apple is going to have to pass on higher costs to customers due to component shortages and other costs due to Covid. Yet Cook just received his 10th year stock options worth, take a look at this now, $750,000,000. Tim's a billionaire and a club member. He isn't going anywhere.

 

[hrMACnstuff]

He is right. Apple under Steve Jobs were the innovators and Samsung (and others) were copying Apple.

Now Samsung is the one that is innovating and Apple copying.

What's the latest on Samsung car?

 

[TrapDoorSpider]

Tell that to the people folding and flipping their Samsung phones (as well as writing notes with a digital pen).

The issue isn't the slowing of innovation, it's the stagnation of Apple's products. The new iPhones aren't discernably different from the model before it. More importantly, they fail to even integrate innovations that have been around for years now: under-display (or even power button) fingerprint sensors, always-on displays (a software feature!), lack of a huge notch etc.

And while we're talking about the notch...that symbolises Apple's stagnation more than anything. That abomination has now been there for 4 years and 6 iPhone iterations (X, XS, XR, 11, 12, 13). This year, they've slightly shortened the width while making it taller - and adding nothing to the notification area. Jobs must be spinning.

X, XS, XR were all effectively the same phone.
11, 12, and 13 were iterative changes.

Let's talk about the M1 and M1X/M2 which are bringing grown men to tears in terms of speed and performance. Intel's dagger has run so deep at this point that underperformance is expected.

Frankly, your everyday people on MacRumors haven't got the slightest clue about what it takes to engineer any single component involved within the iPhone, and many unappreciative brats in developed countries feel they have the liberty to wave wands around because of a perceived speed to market that Apple must achieve. The slow growth myth is a huge lie propagated by impatient consumers. Smartphone hardware at large has moved at warp speed, and Apple cannot just simply rush something to market that it isn't taking billions of dollars of risk to stand behind.

I wish people would wake up and smell the "I don't know what I'm talking about" sometimes instead of pressing on with this unfortunate definition of what innovation ought to look like at every interval.

Why don't you go out and create us a wafer thin phone if that's what you insist upon? Can you even Calculus, bro?

 

[The_Interloper]

unappreciative brats in developed countries
-
I wish people would wake up and smell the "I don't know what I'm talking about" sometimes
-
Why don't you go out and create us a wafer thin phone if that's what you insist upon? Can you even Calculus, bro?

Can you even have a debate without descending into bad manners, bro?

And with that, I'm out.

 

[ggibson913]

His track record is pretty spotty then.

Apple Watch - success, but useless without an iPhone
HomePod - failure, already discontinued
Apple TV Plus - failure? Possibly. Who’s watching it? More importantly, who’s paying for it?
Current Mac Monitor - just the one, then, and outside the realm of most mortal budgets
Apple Fitness Plus - failure? Difficult to tell, but who is talking about it?
CarPlay - success I guess, but it‘s a necessary feature. Where’s the revenue stream?
Air Tags - too early to call
AirPods - success, no doubt
Full screen iPhone with Face ID - it’s not full screen at all, there’s a huge notch with a compromised notification area. Face ID is problematic as the only biometric authentication in the COVID mask-wearing era
M1 Processor - success, off to a great start. Not without problems though - app compatibility still iffy and dreadful glitches on some hardware (e.g. Mac Mini Bluetooth issues, monitors won’t wake etc)

Don’t forget he also presided over 3 years of Mac laptops (the biggest part of the Mac market) with known keyboard failures; even releasing new models under a repair programme!

As for the S-Pen - it’s way more than a PDA stylus. It’s a Wacom pen, with precise functionality. It’s not needed for UI navigation. To criticise it means applying the same criticism to the Apple Pencil, especially when paired with a device like the iPad Mini. Both have their place.

The original thread said he isn’t innovative enough I just pointed out things that happened under his watch. Not going to go point by point just a couple:

Apple TV Plus: Up until Ted Lasso I would agree with you but to early to tell. With mainstream streaming services getting more and more expensive $4.99 may not be a bad option.

HomePod: The mini is still in production and honestly even Steve Jobs couldn’t produce an Apple Speaker people would buy. I will also wager that I could likely retire on the profits made on HomePod.

As far as S-Pen, I will agree with SJ on that one and say I think the finger is the best stylus out there.

 

[Anuba]

More importantly, they fail to even integrate innovations that have been around for years now: under-display (or even power button) fingerprint sensors, always-on displays (a software feature!), lack of a huge notch etc.

That's nothing to do with stagnation (or Tim Cook), it's the old foolish Apple pride that's been a factor since Jobs' days (in fact it was worse back then) – they think it's extremely humiliating to copy stuff from the likes of Microsoft or Samsung to the point where they'll turn their nose up at a good idea for DECADES.

Remember how they were too aloof to introduce a secondary mouse button even though nobody could deny the obvious advantage? It wasn't until tech evolution allowed them to design a mouse that has two buttons under the hood but still LOOKS like a big single click area that they finally caved in. Why, because it superficially masked the fact that they had succumbed to the two-button paradigm. And how many years did we have to wait for windows that could be resized by grabbing any window edge or corner? For aeons, OS X only allowed you to use the bottom right corner for that. Because icky yucky Windows allowed more freedom so Apple must soldier on with the lesser concept.

The split second someone else beat them in the under-display sensor race, it became an instant ewwwwwww over at One Apple Park Way. The mere sight of a competitor phone with that type sensor made everyone projectile vomit uncontrollably until every sheet of glass was covered in puke. Then they all agreed to make it their life's mission to violently triple-down on FaceID forever.

 

[ocyrus]

His track record is pretty spotty then.

Apple Watch - success, but useless without an iPhone
HomePod - failure, already discontinued
Apple TV Plus - failure? Possibly. Who’s watching it? More importantly, who’s paying for it?
Current Mac Monitor - just the one, then, and outside the realm of most mortal budgets
Apple Fitness Plus - failure? Difficult to tell, but who is talking about it?
CarPlay - success I guess, but it‘s a necessary feature. Where’s the revenue stream?
Air Tags - too early to call
AirPods - success, no doubt
Full screen iPhone with Face ID - it’s not full screen at all, there’s a huge notch with a compromised notification area. Face ID is problematic as the only biometric authentication in the COVID mask-wearing era
M1 Processor - success, off to a great start. Not without problems though - app compatibility still iffy and dreadful glitches on some hardware (e.g. Mac Mini Bluetooth issues, monitors won’t wake etc)

Don’t forget he also presided over 3 years of Mac laptops (the biggest part of the Mac market) with known keyboard failures; even releasing new models under a repair programme!

As for the S-Pen - it’s way more than a PDA stylus. It’s a Wacom pen, with precise functionality. It’s not needed for UI navigation. To criticise it means applying the same criticism to the Apple Pencil, especially when paired with a device like the iPad Mini. Both have their place.

Wait so Air Tags is too early to call, but Apple Fitness isn't?

Y'all stretch so hard to just make points that are hypocritical

 

[blkjedi954]

Tell that to the people folding and flipping their Samsung phones (as well as writing notes with a digital pen).

The issue isn't the slowing of innovation, it's the stagnation of Apple's products. The new iPhones aren't discernably different from the model before it. More importantly, they fail to even integrate innovations that have been around for years now: under-display (or even power button) fingerprint sensors, always-on displays (a software feature!), lack of a huge notch etc.

And while we're talking about the notch...that symbolises Apple's stagnation more than anything. That abomination has now been there for 4 years and 6 iPhone iterations (X, XS, XR, 11, 12, 13). This year, they've slightly shortened the width while making it taller - and adding nothing to the notification area. Jobs must be spinning.

Your assessment is certainly short-sighted and reveals a lack of understanding of the standards Apple attempts to implement when launching a new device. And btw the XS and XR are of the same generation, so yeah. Folding and flipping smartphones have suffered severe quality issues and you want Apple to hop on board for what again? Apple's customer base are some of the most entitled and will "class action sue" Apple for anything. Apple doesn't just bring these technologies to the market without substantial testing. Under-display fingerprint sensors have been defeated with nominal efforts by many hackers and as for the notch, NO other smartphone has been able to duplicate the security and efficacy of Apple's face ID. So it is with a heavy heart and a heavy handed push-back that I will strongly disagree with this myopic misrepresentation of Apple's lack of innovation.

 

[reyesmac]

Cook is doing great for Apples shareholders. But he is doing things his way and not Steves way. Apple is not capable of having an R&D full of pirates who will burn down the current status quo to create a new world through creative thinking. In order to go back to that they would have to create products that use the best features of every Apple product. But Apple is stuck wanting everyone to own a phone, tablet, laptop, and computer when every Apple device will eventually be capable of having an m1 style chip in it capable of running Mac OS as good as any computer out there. But this Apple will still hobble their products to keep them from cannibalizing the price structure they make the most money with. Even if their fastest chips will outclass any Powermac they will just use it to introduce us to an even more expensive tier that starts at $6,000. I think the old Apple would have put that in their top model and kept the price the same or even lowered it to get the rest of the industry to catch up so they can have better choices for components. Being a few steps ahead is still what Apple is good at but now its on the back end production side and not the innovations in tech in the front end. So because Cook makes money, he won't go anywhere. And neither will Apple till someone shakes things up again.

 

[Sphincty]

Apple needs a “Visionary” person in its leadership position one who has a passion for technology & also has a backbone like Steve Jobs and is not afraid of saying No and calling people out. Steve Jobs in my opinion would of never released the current iPhone 13 Pro. It would of been much much better. Tim Cook is a logistic & a numbers guy. Not a leader that should be charged and not one that others inspire to be & look up to.

You mean the 'vision' Steve dispensed while he drove along the 280 in his unplated Benz during his calls to the press providing instructions to everyone on the proper way to hold the iPhone 4? Remember the discovered crib notes for Steve's stand up routine? https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2010/07/02Letter-from-Apple-Regarding-iPhone-4/ . Paragraph four (coincidence!) brought the house down. Oh! Well then, you're probably referring to the MobileMe rollout. No? Well you're probably referring to the G4 Cube...the Twentieth Anniversary Mac...the Lisa...

 

[ian87w]

Apple is a publicly traded company. The CEO work for the shareholders, not you. So far, Tim Cook has been delivering record breaking revenues quarter after quarter, even during the pandemic.

I may like/not like Tim Cook, but objectively speaking, he's making Apple and its shareholders a ton of money, which is what a CEO should be doing. Tim Cook should go once he's no longer delivering value for the shareholders.

 

[ian87w]

My IPad Air (cellular) brand new for my kids out of the boxes had issues. The product was bent from the plastic antenna line.

If it was band new, then you can exchange/return it.

I do have a feeling that the repair/support department is now required to be "profitable." As such, there are questionable choices Apple made lately, including obvious design flaws that prompt users to have expensive repairs later in the product's life. I cannot disagree if you have that notion. It's worse in my country since Apple products are highly marked up, and we don't even have proper Apple stores/support.

 

[Abazigal]

Apple needs a “Visionary” person in its leadership position one who has a passion for technology & also has a backbone like Steve Jobs and is not afraid of saying No and calling people out. Steve Jobs in my opinion would of never released the current iPhone 13 Pro. It would of been much much better. Tim Cook is a logistic & a numbers guy. Not a leader that should be charged and not one that others inspire to be & look up to.

And to add on, given the scale at which Apple operates at today, any would-be successor should ideally have a background in operations and supply chain as well. At the end of the day, the best designed product is useless if you can’t make enough of it to ship!

 

[TrapDoorSpider]

Can you even have a debate without descending into bad manners, bro?

And with that, I'm out.

I just think people complaining about the most monumental innovation of our century are implicitly asking to be put in their places. You can think I’m a prick and blame me, or you can take a dose of perspective on just how utterly complex the many intersecting fields of engineering are and *appreciate* the miracle it is to have a frickin’ notch be your biggest complaint in the wonder that is the iPhone. A common theme on this forum are people who take Apple’s incredible work for granted. Things just aren’t as simple as “just make it smaller; someone else did.” Totally different sensor hardware; many nonlinear decisions, none of which you seem to have considered, especially security and the distinctions between Face ID and typical facial biometric authentication mechanisms which are a joke comparatively.

 

[TrapDoorSpider]

Your assessment is certainly short-sighted and reveals a lack of understanding of the standards Apple attempts to implement when launching a new device. And btw the XS and XR are of the same generation, so yeah. Folding and flipping smartphones have suffered severe quality issues and you want Apple to hop on board for what again? Apple's customer base are some of the most entitled and will "class action sue" Apple for anything. Apple doesn't just bring these technologies to the market without substantial testing. Under-display fingerprint sensors have been defeated with nominal efforts by many hackers and as for the notch, NO other smartphone has been able to duplicate the security and efficacy of Apple's face ID. So it is with a heavy heart and a heavy handed push-back that I will strongly disagree with this myopic misrepresentation of Apple's lack of innovation.

Amen. And this isn’t about Apple loyalty to me in the least. However, they do provide a phenomenally superior product in so many ways, especially as it applies to biometric authentication. I’m a software developer (and concurrently a computer science major, returned to finish my degree). I can only ever wish that people had any CLUE as to the degree of complexity in every layer of this field and how incredibly precise every last element must function; they’d never think to complain or get obnoxious about notches again. I just thank God there are people who dedicate their lives each day, virtually thanklessly, to make a better product. The engineers I have met at Apple are some of the most astounding and passionate people I have ever spoken with.

I realize I run the risk of coming off as snide or elitist in this, but I’d rather have someone misinterpret me as that than to continue to excuse “brat fascism”. It’s such a problem of today. Who are tomorrow’s creators going to be with this type of attitude spreading? There is such a disconnect between reality of the knows and know-nots, and the power user so frequently confuses himself with a quasi-creator pretending to know how any layer actually functions in practicality. Even the simplest seeming components are monumentally complex.

This is why it is a slap in the face to me (and humanity at large) when people so deeply and fundamentally trivialize the immense innovation and intelligence that goes into products like these by fixating on where something in technology should be versus where it’s at.

And your point about class actions is spot on. Vultures await Apple’s every minor decision just for a shot to skim off the top. Apple is continuing to change the world for the better every day (they’re doers), and the products they put out, even iterative ones, are both progressive and meaningful. I couldn’t create what they do, so the last thing I will do is apply my own timeline onto their products. It’s a privilege to own any of them, most especially the latest.

 

[laptech]

And to add on, given the scale at which Apple operates at today, any would-be successor should ideally have a background in operations and supply chain as well. At the end of the day, the best designed product is useless if you can’t make enough of it to ship!

Tim Cooks experience of operations and supply chain management has certainly helped the company BUT only to the point where he is able to rubber stamp those decisions himself rather than having to put forward a persuasive argument, which would normally be the case with a supply chain executive and a CEO.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Tim Cook is fine for Apple. What he needs is to do is showcase some of their more experimental projects. Maybe make an Apple "Labs" where they can "cook" up some new technology to showcase, like Detroit does with Auto Shows.

 

[ian87w]

Tim Cook is fine for Apple. What he needs is to do is showcase some of their more experimental projects. Maybe make an Apple "Labs" where they can "cook" up some new technology to showcase, like Detroit does with Auto Shows.

Considering how secretive Apple is, it's unlikely for Apple to do that.

 

[tothedogsforme]

I want a VISIONARY device that'll teleport me to the office, do my work for me, raise my children, and keep my Wife from leaving me. Extra points if it also makes phone calls.