Apple CEO Tim Cook took the reins from Steve Jobs in 2011, since then the company has been scaling its operations and revenue at an unprecedented rate. Due credit to Steve Jobs for reviving the company from its almost death in the late 1990s. The early 2000s saw an entirely refreshed Mac line-up, the introduction of the iPod and iPhone which brought the company’s products to the youth and the masses.
Will Apple have scaled without Tim Cook or if someone who was product oriented like Steve Jobs? It is a difficult hypothetical question to answer. The second tenure of Steve Jobs at Apple was very different compared to his first tenure in terms of leading the company – more mature and more pragmatic while still retaining the obsession to create products that people love. The combination helped Apple bounce back in an almost unbelievable manner.
Tim Cook is known as the king of operations and supply chain, having immense expertise in handling complex supply chains. His tenure has focused on scaling operations at an unprecedented scale, building relationships across the globe to improve trade, profit margin, and streamline the operations. At the same time, the company has continued to maintain the same level of quality which people like and appreciate about Apple. However, some believe that in the process, the company has lost focus of its product-orientation which helps it bring innovation to the market.
Cook is being heavily discussed in the industry for main two reasons: his collaborations / workings with US President Donald Trump for smartly avoiding the tariffs and the second being succession planning for Apple. Many names have surfaced which include SVP Head of Engineering John Ternus and SVP Software Engineering Craig Federighi.
While the people of the internet do not decide who the next CEO of Apple will be, netizens have chimed in their support for John Ternus as the person who will bring back innovation to Apple. He could actually be good – in the past few years, Apple has improved miles in hardware but the software has lagged with the annual lacklustre updates.
