Six things I’ll remember when I think about Tim Cook’s version of Apple
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It's sort of funny because if you look at like, the actual financials Cook's Apple has been wildly, phenomenally successful.
But I still see sort of a perception of the idea of Apple taking a step back over the last decade between the normalization of the iphone, Cook's management style, and the lack of any like, singular 'it' product (like the imac/ipod/iphone kind of were).
The dichotomy is interesting.
But I still see sort of a perception of the idea of Apple taking a step back over the last decade between the normalization of the iphone, Cook's management style, and the lack of any like, singular 'it' product (like the imac/ipod/iphone kind of were).
The dichotomy is interesting.
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When I think of Tim Cook, it's pretty hard for me to think of anything other than his responding to rising authoritarianism with aggressive, humiliating ass-kissing. Yeah, the cash bribes to Trump probably did more substantive damage — but for me, that fake design award was the low point in the entire history of Apple.
This drowns out everything else in Cook's tenure in my mind. The profitability? The Liquid Glass fiasco? Pales in comparison. He could have pushed back. He could have done nothing. But no. He embraced the monster fully, wholeheartedly, publicly, extravagantly.
We can't let him live it down — not if we care about the future of the world. Futures CEOs need to believe they'll pay a price for embracing fascism.
This drowns out everything else in Cook's tenure in my mind. The profitability? The Liquid Glass fiasco? Pales in comparison. He could have pushed back. He could have done nothing. But no. He embraced the monster fully, wholeheartedly, publicly, extravagantly.
We can't let him live it down — not if we care about the future of the world. Futures CEOs need to believe they'll pay a price for embracing fascism.
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The “could have done nothing” observation is often overlooked. It’s like he didn’t bother to game it out: “what if I came down with a bout of food poisoning and couldn’t make it to the private White House screening of Melania?”
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There are hundreds of very talented people working at apple but this article reads more like a story of a captain braving the seas as if the crew would be just passengers.
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I couldn’t disagree with you more. Tim Cook placated a raging narcissist and secured Apple’s business interests by tossing Trump a meaningless, shiny bauble. It was exactly the right way to deal with Trump.
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To me he comes across in official communications as a bit insincere but I actually reckon that he is a deep thinker and is being sincere pretty much all of the time, he just has a little bit of awkwardness that throws it into uncanny valley. He’s obviously had a lot of training in public speaking and body language control but when talking off-the-cuff about something he’s close to his manner is much more relaxed. The mask came off when some think tank started having a go at him about investor returns from environmental initiatives so I think he truly does care about them.
As far as stewardship of the company, he’s leaving it in exceptional shape and has obviously made a lot of effort over a considerable period to plan a succession. Like any excellent manager, he knows what he's good at and, more importantly, what he isn’t so has made sure he is surrounded by talent. Yes, there have been some less-than-good products during his tenure but the ratio of hits to misses is still exceptionally good, especially at the scale Apple operates at. Apple Silicon, Services, Mac, headphones and Watch to name but a few have been on a sustained roll and just one of those would be praiseworthy in terms of CEOs in general.
As far as stewardship of the company, he’s leaving it in exceptional shape and has obviously made a lot of effort over a considerable period to plan a succession. Like any excellent manager, he knows what he's good at and, more importantly, what he isn’t so has made sure he is surrounded by talent. Yes, there have been some less-than-good products during his tenure but the ratio of hits to misses is still exceptionally good, especially at the scale Apple operates at. Apple Silicon, Services, Mac, headphones and Watch to name but a few have been on a sustained roll and just one of those would be praiseworthy in terms of CEOs in general.
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I, too, enjoy reminiscing over CEOs of multi-trillion dollar companies.
Edit: ok that's a bit unfair, but I do tire of CEOs
Edit: ok that's a bit unfair, but I do tire of CEOs
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Jobs picked his steward for Apple with unerring accuracy. Tim’s great hardware wins are AirPods and Apple Watch. iPhone, iPad and Mac saw steady improvements and then a quantum leap with the M series. His greatest contribution maybe being prescient as COO and seeing that China was going to become the world’s manufacturer. Another good thing he did was show restraint in hiring as practically every other tech company went on an over hiring spree and is now firing huge chunks of their staff.
That said Tim has had some failures as well. AirPower vapourware, decline in software quality, pushing too hard on services revenue, worsening developer relations.
Apple car was a fumble but at least it was never released. Vision Pro was released too early, needs to become significantly better and cheaper to be a mass market product. AI might be a fumble but given the bubble economics and no clear path to profitability, it may turn out to be the most fiscal disciple shown by Apple. Let the others crash and burn and then swoop in to pick up the pieces that matter.
I would say Siri remains the biggest failure of Tim’s era. Virtually no development in more than a decade.
Coming to political stuff, Trump’s tariffs have nothing to do with economics. He just likes making other powerful people squirm.
It’s interesting to think what Steve would have done if faced with Trump. Given his personality, he would not be able to make himself squirm for Trump. What he would probably do is outsource this to Tim.
So in some sense, Cook is doing what Steve would have wanted him to do. That makes me feel a bit better about Tim selling a bit of his soul to protect Apple, Steve’s greatest creation, from the whims of a mad king.
That said Tim has had some failures as well. AirPower vapourware, decline in software quality, pushing too hard on services revenue, worsening developer relations.
Apple car was a fumble but at least it was never released. Vision Pro was released too early, needs to become significantly better and cheaper to be a mass market product. AI might be a fumble but given the bubble economics and no clear path to profitability, it may turn out to be the most fiscal disciple shown by Apple. Let the others crash and burn and then swoop in to pick up the pieces that matter.
I would say Siri remains the biggest failure of Tim’s era. Virtually no development in more than a decade.
Coming to political stuff, Trump’s tariffs have nothing to do with economics. He just likes making other powerful people squirm.
It’s interesting to think what Steve would have done if faced with Trump. Given his personality, he would not be able to make himself squirm for Trump. What he would probably do is outsource this to Tim.
So in some sense, Cook is doing what Steve would have wanted him to do. That makes me feel a bit better about Tim selling a bit of his soul to protect Apple, Steve’s greatest creation, from the whims of a mad king.
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That was my feeling about it. Apple is operating in a country run by a dictator and doesn’t have an army to defend Apple Park. Their business could have been seriously harmed by changes in legislation and I’m sure ICE would have a field day in their offices. Yes, none of that would be legal but that doesn’t seem to count for much at the moment.
If you think what it cost to make the gesture as opposed to what it might have cost should the worst have happened, it looks like a IQ 1000 genius move. I’m sure Tim Cook knew quite well how this would be viewed by some (who are quick to call others into action but are mysteriously absent themselves) but was prepared to sacrifice some of his public image, knowing that he was doing it for the right reasons which were to protect his employees and investors, with customers close behind.
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No.
First, it's bad strategy: appeasing bullies brings them back for more. It certainly didn't seem to work for Apple; the appeasements did little to stem the tariffs. (Yes, there was a sort of temporary reprieve…ish. No, it did not last.)
Even if it did work, however, this is an extremely dangerous argument. You seem to be saying that what Cook did was essentially harmless. I'm sure Cook justified it to himself that way: sacrificing his own dignity for the greater good of the company.
It was not harmless. Trump was at the time in the stage of authoritarianism called “alignment,” consolidation of power. Absent a military coup or similar, alignment relies on the voluntary participating of people in positions of power: “complying in advance.” People figure they just need to keep their head down, go along to get along — and seeing that nobody is standing up to the authoritarian, others figure the same. It is a social virus.
I live in Minneapolis. What was most striking about behavior of the ICE agents when they invaded our city was the sense of total and complete impunity: they clearly did not believe that anyone could stop them, or that they would face consequences for anything they did. This behavior was rooted in their seeing little or no visible opposition to Trump from the powerful, including the likes of Cook. I had to put my own safety at risk day after day to try to help protect my neighbors because none of the far more powerful people had stood up in opposition. Alex Pretti was personally known to my family — I will not elaborate — and we had to see him gunned down in the street by a bunch of brownshirts because they believed that the powerful would protect them. Perception matters. Cook directly and actively helped to create that perception.
Would Tim Cook opting not to lick the boot have prevented all this? Singlehandedly, no, certainly not. But if everyone like him in a position of power had stood up when it was their moment? I think Alex would still be alive. I think my neighbors who were kidnapped might still be here. Cook's symbolic act had real power — symbolism has real power, that's why fascists pursue it so aggressively — and no, I am not going to let him off the hook. We shouldn't have had to sacrifice what we did. And you're going to have a hell of a time convincing me that Tim Cook, in his position of power, couldn't stand up when we could.
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I think the keynotes were worse than presented here. Most exceptionally, the self-congratulatory green boasts videos they ran on consecutive years, as an 'unskippable' pre-recorded ad before the actual reveals were just so awful. Exactly like ads in the operating system, if you ask me. Tim knows why people tune in, and it's not for a CEO victory lap.
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This is what so many people get wrong about Trump. This is not how you deal with him. This is how you become his supplicant that he has 0 respect for and will treat you like garbage. You need to come in with strength and charisma. Watch the videos with him meeting with Mamdani. Trump was looking up at him like a lovesick schoolgirl. Trump gives him everything he asks for because he is smitten. Like a typical bully he cowers when people stand up to him.
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Article typo: AFAIK Cook was never CFO (Chief Financial Officer) under Jobs. He was the COO (Chief Operating Officer). In most companies those are quite different roles.
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He's also a member of the LGBTQ community, which makes his throwing in with a group that despises him and people like him all the more shocking to me.
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I'm not sure that "tech-savvy" and "compulsive upgrader" are synonyms. I have a long history of just buying a new MacBook Pro when my old one breaks, although somehow this last one has lasted five years which is twice as long as either of the last two that I gave up after the second replacement keyboards started to fail.
I tend to think of my penchant for driving laptops until the wheels fall off as being tech-savvy in the sense that it's the opposite of trend-chasing. YMMV.
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The big thing missing from, and often overlooked, by analyses of Apple is the complete lack of detail.
While great, the lack of physical port differentiation(USB C vs USB 2.0) on the MacBook Neo would not fly under Steve.
Same with the Liquid Glass skin-job on macOS. Liquid Glass and the macOS UI is too important to just copy paste a theme from iOS.
...how do I know it's a copy paste job:
Why do I get a toolbars on toolbars when using Xcode's native multi-platform document based app template?
Why does my app have a butt crack? Talk about Liquid Ass.
It feels like If Steve spend hours in his office alone trying to break pre-launch products, then Tim hung out in the dev lab for a few minutes after the preso, then pressed "Launch".
You cannot convince me that Steve would have approved Liquid Glass's launch in its 26.0(or even26.4) state.
Edit: Gammar is hard
While great, the lack of physical port differentiation(USB C vs USB 2.0) on the MacBook Neo would not fly under Steve.
Same with the Liquid Glass skin-job on macOS. Liquid Glass and the macOS UI is too important to just copy paste a theme from iOS.
...how do I know it's a copy paste job:
Why do I get a toolbars on toolbars when using Xcode's native multi-platform document based app template?
Why does my app have a butt crack? Talk about Liquid Ass.
It feels like If Steve spend hours in his office alone trying to break pre-launch products, then Tim hung out in the dev lab for a few minutes after the preso, then pressed "Launch".
You cannot convince me that Steve would have approved Liquid Glass's launch in its 26.0(or even26.4) state.
Edit: Gammar is hard
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That was a turn off, but even worse was Apple deleting the ICE tracking app at Trump's request. Compliance in advance.
... And that is why I haven't replaced my old iPhone yet. I really need to, but might head over to the local uBreakIfix and see if I can get a new battery for it. Keep it going a few more years. This is part of my "General Boycott". It is impossible to completely avoid Trump suckups like Apple, Amazon, Target, etc. But it is pretty easy to give them less of your money. Amazon is out thousands now from me and growing. There is a nice M3 Macbook that I didn't buy. And so on.
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Exactly this. While Cook has significant influence in tech space and US politics, that influence has limitations and he is best positioned to understand what they are and which battles to pick and which to avoid. He gave short shift to a financial analyst who asked a question about why Apple invests so much in sustainability and accessibility. Sadly, he can’t deal with Trump in the same way.
I think we expect too much on the sociopolitical side from tech companies. Which is by and large their fault as they were the ones who started the engagement and are now finding out that it has a price when things go south politically.
I think the takeaway from this is that companies should be politically neutral as much as possible. Difficult to do in the US with its two party system, especially now that one party has abdicated all responsibility for governing and has not tried to rein in Trump in any way.
Putting the onus on Tim to single handedly do what the ENTIRE Republican Party refuses to do is quite unfair.
And frankly, as a non-American, it gets pretty tiring when every topic in America eventually boils down to a discussion of its politics. I get that things are in a really bad shape but we don’t have to talk about it always.
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No kidding. Looking to corporations to match your 'values' is so 2020.
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He could have set an example for others in business leadership roles to follow.
I'm curious if you'd make the same argument about business leaders in 1930s Germany.
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Regarding Keynotes and lines at Apple stores:
I'm a macOS user first. Been here since System Software 6. I like sleeper OS's like I like sleeper cars(shoutout to Taurus Sho and Cutlass Supreme Quad 4).
For all the talk of "magic" Tim's Apple has not really encouraged the macOS community to tune in. The pre-recorded keynotes are honestly weird. Everyone is wearing new clothes (sometimes it makes them look awkward, cause you know that is not their natural style.). The books in the backgrounds HAVE NO TEXT. That's creepy. I get it, be neutral, but either have books or don't. Is Huck Finn too controversial to have in the background? Dr Suess? The art of the reveal and the energy from the crowd should be something that is part of Apple, not just Steve Jobs' legacy. You don't beat "Mac OS X has been living a secret life", but not doing any more live keynotes.
They discourage lines at the Apple Store. I get that, scalpers, people sending stuff to China, but as a former Apple retail employee there was a lot of magic and goodwill in that line. Lots of people evangelizing Apple and community building.
If I sound salty, it's because I am. I was here for the PowerBook 5300, for iBooks with bad GPU, but it was Apple's magic that kept me going. Now I feel trapped because macOS is still superior(hardware is ultimate), imho, but it's not the 5 years-ahead-of-everyone-else-OS that it once was.
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
I'm a macOS user first. Been here since System Software 6. I like sleeper OS's like I like sleeper cars(shoutout to Taurus Sho and Cutlass Supreme Quad 4).
For all the talk of "magic" Tim's Apple has not really encouraged the macOS community to tune in. The pre-recorded keynotes are honestly weird. Everyone is wearing new clothes (sometimes it makes them look awkward, cause you know that is not their natural style.). The books in the backgrounds HAVE NO TEXT. That's creepy. I get it, be neutral, but either have books or don't. Is Huck Finn too controversial to have in the background? Dr Suess? The art of the reveal and the energy from the crowd should be something that is part of Apple, not just Steve Jobs' legacy. You don't beat "Mac OS X has been living a secret life", but not doing any more live keynotes.
They discourage lines at the Apple Store. I get that, scalpers, people sending stuff to China, but as a former Apple retail employee there was a lot of magic and goodwill in that line. Lots of people evangelizing Apple and community building.
If I sound salty, it's because I am. I was here for the PowerBook 5300, for iBooks with bad GPU, but it was Apple's magic that kept me going. Now I feel trapped because macOS is still superior(hardware is ultimate), imho, but it's not the 5 years-ahead-of-everyone-else-OS that it once was.
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
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not joining all the other asshole tech bros at every dinner that Trump gave so people could kneel down to his ego?
Not sitting down to party with fascists actually goes a long way to having an effect. Especially one that is eroding the rights of the very demographic you are part of. But I guess as long as you are rich enough to have those things not affect you then everything else is fine.
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internet2000
Ars Centurion
Having Apple Silicon under the "iteration" subheader is laughable. It's only the development that made them independent for the single most important hardware part, simultaneously getting them miles ahead of their competitors and unlocking enough margin to make actually cheap macs.
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But that's exactly what I'm asking. What could he have done to "set an example"?
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Showing that he and Apple actually stands with the community he is part of for one and doesn't throw away values just to ingratiate himself with someone destroying that community.
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Yup. People are angry at Trump and just want someone they know and respect somewhat and who has access, to walk up to Trump and tell him what a waste of space he is.
Would it feel fucking fantastic? Undeniably.
And it would accomplish nothing real except for putting an even bigger target on Apple’s back.
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