Tim Cook - Yay or nay ?

thedoc46 · 25 Apr 2013 at 10:53

Do you think Apple should fire Tim Cook ?

On one hand, since the passing of Jobs, Apple's profits had a brief spike, before going on a steady decline. It's almost as if the innovation has gone, and Apple seem to be happy to be releasing rehashed versions of what they already have.

On the other hand, Apple continue to refine their existing innovative base of products that they changed the market with. iPhone and iPad continue to outsell sell all the competition (don't hold me to that BTW) Apple laid the ground, and are now continuing to refine.

My penny's worth. Apple lost their inspiration leader, when Jobs passed. That being said, Tim Cook has always had an uphill battle given the role he was put in. I don't think anyone will ever fill Job's role. They don't seem to be coming out with anything new. But is there anything new that Jobs could have released himself? He seemed to pull off the iPad, which everyone thought, hmmm do we really need this, at the time. They still have the brand, that attracts the cloves of followers. Do they need to do anything else? Should Apple keep Tim Cook or look for someone else?

uniQ · 25 Apr 2013 at 11:26

No. Apple are dong just fine with Cook at the helm.

Antowns · 25 Apr 2013 at 11:35

I've actually changed away from Macs and iPhone's now. At one point I had two 17 inch Macbook Pros, a 24 inch iMac and several iPhones. Tried the iPhone 5 out to realise it's just the same as the previous one, no additional neat features which I've always enjoyed.

Ended up selling my iPhone 5 and getting the new Xperia Z. Also build a PC and sold the Macs I had. My girlfriend still has a Macbook Air and I occasionally use it.

I was under the impression that Apple had so many years of products in the pipeline from Steve Jobs before he passed away. I can't imagine the iPhone 5 was one of them, I do recall reading he said he would never alter the display proportions as it segments the product range.

Morfik · 25 Apr 2013 at 12:45

Nay.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that every time he opens his mouth at an Apple event or conference call the stock price has fallen.

He's the type of leader who will eek efficiencies out of a mature market, but not the charismatic inventor type Jobs was. I think Jonny Ive would have made a better choice but I don't get the impression he's quite the manager type.

englishpremier · 25 Apr 2013 at 13:00

Did Jobs actually come up with anything or did the R&D department come up with the ideas?

FreeStream · 25 Apr 2013 at 13:10

I think he needs more time.

Majority of my friends and work colleagues have iPhones and my Mac Pro + MacBook Pro x2 + Airport Express setup is almost flawless, so they are doing something right.

thedoc46 · 25 Apr 2013 at 16:00

englishpremier said:
Did Jobs actually come up with anything or did the R&D department come up with the ideas?

I'm sure his R&D department came up with the goods, but it was Jobs that certainly inspired them to come up with these idea's. He was a genuine true leader, in that respect.

philip2009 · 25 Apr 2013 at 16:28

I don't think Apple should fire Cook, since I don't believe Apple is a company that is exceptional. How on earth they managed to become the most valuable company in the world, for a while, just shows the power of the Jobs' reality distortion field. From my perspective we're living through an Apple bubble and eventually all bubbles pop.

theheyes · 25 Apr 2013 at 18:13

I feel Steve Jobs is being caricatured a little as somewhat of Willy Wonka character. While his impact can't be understated, the idea that all innovation at Apple has died with him is a bit of a stretch.

For every great product Jobs delivered he had his fair share of failures too. This will continue although receive a different kind of scrutiny now there is somebody else at the helm.

I would argue that since Apple transformed themselves from a computer company into a consumer electronics giant, Tim Cook is actually more suited to the role.

He should stay.

FishFluff · 25 Apr 2013 at 21:16

No, they shouldn't fire Tim Cook ffs.

It's been what, 3 years since Apple popularised a new product category and already you're calling for the bosses head. Apple have always refined their existing products. Despite all their trumpeting about being revolutionary they're the most iterative company in existence and always have been. It was the same under Jobs and it would be the same under anyone else who would take over (probably Sir Ive).

Cook is incredibly smart and is arguably as much the reason for Apples success under Jobs as Ive is with the leaps forward he made with their supply chain. He knows what he's doing and in the Q2 earnings call last week he hinted at a new product category early next year. No doubt when that happens we'll get press stories of "Latest iThing designed while Jobs was alive, fire Tim Cook!". In my opinion he's doing most things right. Releasing solid products, not doing knee-jerk reactions to competitors and, if rumours are correct, making moves towards taking the company private again so that ill-informed know nothing "analysts" can stop writing nonsense stories about the company which everyone will be thankful for.

Phew. Rant over.

FishFluff · 25 Apr 2013 at 21:19

philip2009 said:
I don't think Apple should fire Cook, since I don't believe Apple is a company that is exceptional. How on earth they managed to become the most valuable company in the world, for a while, just shows the power of the Jobs' reality distortion field. From my perspective we're living through an Apple bubble and eventually all bubbles pop.

No, it's a result of financial analysts speculating wildly on what Apple would do, getting it completely wrong and then realising that they don't want to invest in tech companies that grow at a steady rate year on year and rather invest in Amazon who haven't turned a profit in yonks.

sbi5ar · 25 Apr 2013 at 21:42

thedoc46 said:
Do you think Apple should fire Tim Cook ?

On one hand, since the passing of Jobs, Apple's profits had a brief spike, before going on a steady decline. It's almost as if the innovation has gone, and Apple seem to be happy to be releasing rehashed versions of what they already have.

On the other hand, Apple continue to refine their existing innovative base of products that they changed the market with. iPhone and iPad continue to outsell sell all the competition (don't hold me to that BTW) Apple laid the ground, and are now continuing to refine.

My penny's worth. Apple lost their inspiration leader, when Jobs passed. That being said, Tim Cook has always had an uphill battle given the role he was put in. I don't think anyone will ever fill Job's role. They don't seem to be coming out with anything new. But is there anything new that Jobs could have released himself? He seemed to pull off the iPad, which everyone thought, hmmm do we really need this, at the time. They still have the brand, that attracts the cloves of followers. Do they need to do anything else? Should Apple keep Tim Cook or look for someone else?

Don't be so naive to think that as soon as jobs passed away all of his influence went with him... I wouldn't be surprised if some of his 'visions/thoughts' are still coming to fruition...

And no... He should not be fired!