Should Tim Cook be Apple’s new board member?

With the departure of Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Apple has an open spot that it must fill. The question everyone is asking is who will Apple choose for the job.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple’s Board of Directors will meet on Tuesday to discuss Schmidt’s replacement. I’m sure the board has a handful of people they would like to see take the spot

I read an interesting piece on ZDNet yesterday that said naming Tim Cook to Apple’s board is a no-brainer. I have to agree. Especially with everything else that’s going on right now.

Let’s face it — there isn’t a person out there that wouldn’t want to be on Apple’s board. It’s a prestigious position and one of great influence. Who wouldn’t want that.

However, Apple has to be very careful. Schmidt left just days after the FCC announced it was investigating Apple’s refusal of the Google Voice app for the iPhone. With the FCC in the preliminary stages of an investigation and Apple feeling the heat over its App Store, Apple needs someone it can count on and someone that won’t raise any more red flags.

I’m not suggesting Cook be appointed to the board because he’s a friend of Apple. I think he deserves the position and would serve Apple and the shareholders well.

Cook is currently Apple’s chief operating officer, responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries.

Perhaps one of the most important factors is that Steve Jobs trusts Cook. It’s Cook that Jobs turned to take over the day-to-day operations of the company when he took a medical leave of absence earlier this year.

There is no doubt that Tim Cook should not only be considered for the vacant board seat, he should be on top of the list.

iMatt

I think the world of Cook and think he would serve Apple well as a Board member, but I’m not sure he is what they need at the Board level. Cook is the ultimate Apple insider and steeped in Apple’s insular culture. Perhaps Apple would be served better by a skilled, experienced outsider who could provide a different perspective. Apple’s strong culture is a great advantage, but it could prevent it from seeing things from another perspective. An outside board member could meet this need.
http://www.marketingtactics.com Dave Barnes

I agree 100% with iMatt.
Jim Dalrymple

Definitely a good point!
http://www.macupdate.com/ Joel Mueller

I agree with iMatt. Cook is an operations man. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have vision, etc.. but he’s already huge in the details of the company. In that position, he’s going to have natural influence in implementation of vision. Apple is better off going with someone that is an outside leader, with vision in technology.
Torstein A.

I’d go with giving Cook the seat on the board, but only because I feel that doing so would cement Cook’s “LOYALTY” (to Apple) for years to come. Anyone with half a brain already knows that many many many many many Apple executives have abandoned ship, or have turned traitor and defected to an Apple rival in recent years. Those execs leaving Apple (e.g the iPod guy, and the exec who was responsible for creating the Apple Retail Stores) their defection will hurt Apple by giving away company secrets and strategies. Just imagine if someone like Jonathan Ives (one of Apple’s lead designers) were to defect to an Apple rival such as Google or Microsoft? That would be devastating. It would be a kick in the groin for Apple. By giving a brilliant and hard-working exec like Cook a board position, you are likely to strengthen his ties and loyalty to the company. Even if one day Cook were to leave his post as COO, he would at the very least still continue to have a vested interest and loyalty to AAPL…. by serving on the Board.