Based on your research and personal opinion, what would you say is Tim's vision for Apple, both short- and long-term?
Cook's vision is "enriching lives," a phrase he uses constantly, and for "leaving the world a better place than we found it."
Plus the six "core values" that Eric mentioned in his writeup of the book here on MacRumors: accessibility, education, environment, inclusion and diversity, privacy and security, and supplier responsibility.
So internally at Apple, he's pushing for things like education and privacy, while judging whether various initiatives improve lives or leave the world a better place.
I know this sounds like wishy washy ********, but look at his last keynote, where he rolled out News+ and the TV subscription service.
He made a big deal about how none of these services would track you or spy on you -- his commitment to privacy -- and I think it's actually a valuable and differentiating proposition. Everyone's sick of being tracked. Apple doesn't do this.
Apple used to be about simplicity -- it just works. These days Cook has added trust to the mix. I think that's an important addition.
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What do you as Tim's responsibility, if any, for the problems with the post-2015 butterfly keyboards, and the long lag time on the Mac Pro? While Steve may have been sui generis, who is there in Apple who can provide any of the inspiration that Steve did? Does it seem to you that Tim is leaning too heavily on Jony, who in turn is optimizing superficial appeal over true usability--for instance, the increasing elimination of affordances, unrepairability, etc.?
I don't mean to sound harsh, but these seem like real issues to me.
There's always been problems, and there always will be. There were tons of problems and screwups under Steve Jobs. The PowerMac Cube, for example, which nearly sunk the company, or the iPhone 4 'Antennaegate, 'which was far more serious and widespread than the MacBook keyboard issue. (Granted: Jobs did a masterful job of dealing with that, and made it a nonissue overnight, which Cook hasn't been able to do with the MBP).
Still, I see a lot of people citing current problems as reasons for Cook's abject failure, but there would still be problems, even if Jobs were still in charge.
The problems are a result of Apple trying to do new things. If Apple isn't experimenting and pushing the envelope, it wouldn't be the Apple we love.
Which other companies in the tech industry take such risks? Like removing the headphone jack. Remember when Jobs eliminated the floppy drive from the first iMac? people LOST THEIR MINDS!!! Everyone though the iMac was doomed.
Likewise, the lack of a headphone jack in a few years will be viewed the same way: no big deal. AirPods and wireless headphones are WAY BETTER than their wired predecessors, and Apple is right too much technology forward like this.
As for leaning too heavily on Jony, I think Jobs relied heavily on him too. Look at the successes -- AirPods are among the best thing Apple has ever done, and the Apple Watch is a massive sleeper hit that will only get better and more important with time. In fact, I think the Watch has the potential to be a really massive hit product, especially if they keep adding life-saving health features.
Sorry, got a bit off track here... that answer your question?
