Looks like the reign of Tim Cook is at an end. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.
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What would Steve Jobs do?
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This really isn’t a surprise. He’s been floating the idea of retiring for 2 years. It will be interesting though. It will give the 11,399 Tech Podcasters something to talk about.
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As the World Ternus
Hoping for good things. I’m not mad at Cook he’s kept the cash cow going. We’ll see what kind of energy Ternus brings at the top.
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The fact that Cook is staying until after WWDC is a good sign. That he expects to deliver a version of Siri that doesn’t suck. 
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This is the best response I have seen anywhere.
I sincerely hope Cook says to Ternus “Don’t do what I would do."
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Steve Jobs is “history”. It does not matter what he would have done.
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Unfortunately, Cook is not “out”:
As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.
(Source: Apple)
I don’t understand what you have against Cook? We have the best portable computers ever, stock is sky high and everything looks very promising! 
Ok, he isn’t the most charming guy, and Siri is quite a failure, but I’m not sure that anyone else would have done a better job…? 
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No one in his spot would be perfect given size of apple, but I really think some long time Apple users who yearn for the Jobs days really yearn for the early days when they were the cool ones as the apple users were the minority and the “smart ones”.
Tim Cook staying on to handle all the ongoing issues with world governments is interesting and probably pretty smart given the state of apple and global politics. From Trump to EU (very different issues) and of course China. Let Termus be CEO of day to day etc.
I have nothing against Cook. I think he led Apple to unprecedented heights and has had to deal with some uncomfortable Geopolitics. It’s smart to let him keep dealing with that.
Only Cook could have dealt with Trump as well as he has.
My only real criticism of the Cook era is that once it became clear that kind of negative impact the smartphones have had in our lives. He didn’t do enough to allow users to mitigate them.
For a long time I thought Cook was a great CEO, until the US got a new president and … (politics)
Now his actions makes me feel bad about spending money on Apple products/services.
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… which is one of the things he will keep doing for Apple: dealing with “policymakers” (nice word by Apple for those guys). To be honest: if there is one thing I have absolutely no issues with, it is his dance with “policymakers” all over the world so that Apple is able to do its business. It has cost Cook dearly. I am not so sure that he likes this part of his job. And it is good for Ternus not to be the one dealing with this … during the coming 2 years. “Tim Apple” (https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/tim-apple) will do his job. And Ternus can concentrate on being the CEO. And yes, politics, I will refrain myself from going on because of … politics.
Jason Snell has put it nicely without too much “politics”:
Cook is keeping one of the stickiest jobs he’s had to do the last decade for himself, for now: connecting with the representatives of various governments in ways that advantage Apple, whether that’s easing China’s worries about Apple’s focus on diversifying its supply chain, or convincing the Trump administration that Apple is investing in the U.S. while also needing tariff relief. Not only does Cook have the personal connections there, but it’s a messy business that perhaps Ternus is best insulated from—for now.
Yes, but he’s not Steve Jobs who, as any fule kno (English in-joke, sorry) never got anything wrong 
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Personally launch a profanity laced tirade against the President of the United States.
Apple needs to get back to being a premium product and quite honestly the pushing ads into their products is antithetical to their core branding (The Intersection of Art and Technology). Cook waxed on about how design was part of Apple’s DNA but Apple software has been in a slow decline over his tenure. I agree with @rob in that I should not have to feel any regrets about buying Apple products or services. Cook’s Apple had begun to have mixed messages. Apple publicly spoke about the importance of privacy while entertaining the idea of CSAM. Promulgated the idea of App Store fairness while subverting it with preferential placement for those that paid to “jump the line”.
Ternus has his work cut out for him. Supply issues because of data center buildout aren’t going away anytime soon and there are undoubtedly culture changes that need to happen. One plus though that Apple doesn’t market enough is that fact that they haven’t needed to do mass layoffs.
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He’s led Apple through a fantastic growth journey and made it one of the most valuable companies in the world. His values have been imprinted on Apple for the better, and he’s done things personally (Coming out publicly) which have showed he’s a true leader.
Unfortunately, he also personally donated £1m to Trump’s inauguration fund, presented (bribed) Trump with a Corning Glass Trophy including 24 carat gold, attended the Melania film screening on the same day that ICE agents murdered someone, and Apple removed the ICE locator (I forget the name) app from the App Store despite there being under no legal requirement for Apple to do so. People can classify this as placating the Government and protecting the company, but especially on the last point, he should have told them where to go and dared them to make Apple remove it. The last 15 months have tarnished his reputation somewhat.
In 10 years though I think he’ll weather this and come out of it well.
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The good ol’ days when only the design geeks had Apple stickers.
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To be honest - Cook is very good at this.
Let us not forget that above all Tim Cook is an employee (yes CEO but still an employee) of Apple. So his first loyalty is to protect Apple’s interest, which he has done successfully during the very wild geopolitical times.
Good for business? Yes. Good for Apple Die-hard fans? Maybe not.
But let’s also not forget that today’s Apple is very different company than Apple of 2011.
Business wise the stakes are also much higher.
Personally, I’m more curious about Ternus being CEO as he appears to be much more technology guy than business guy which Cook was.
Also interesting thing I found was elevation of Johny Srouji to Chief Hardware Officer.
Given his extraordinary work with A-chips and M-chips, it is surely exciting times ahead for Apple Hardware.
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I give him credit for most of these: other CEOs had their company donate to the inauguration, APPLE did not, the guy in charge took it on himself. Other big companies bent over backwards to change policies to accommodate Trump (how many companies and universities abandoned DEI without a fight?, while Cook gave him a meaningless trophy and went to a movie screening. Yes, he could have tried to keep the ICE locator in the App Store, but our current Court system is full of judges who were put in place for their allegiance to the Federalist Society, and they would have almost certainly ruled against Apple. The end result wouldn’t have improved the world at all, whereas what he did do minimized the actual compromises he had to make to keep Apple’s users getting privacy-focused products. It’s not like any other company did anywhere close to as much as Apple did to ignore the political pressure while it mattered, and just pay lip service as necessary to Trump’s vanity.
I think that Cook did a great job of dealing with the hand he was dealt, instead of wishing for a different set of cards.
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