After iPhone 5, can Tim Cook make Apple his own?

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LA Times:

With Apple poised to announce the long-awaited iPhone 5 on Wednesday and reap heavy sales from it, analysts and software developers are looking beyond the product launch to whether Cook can set his own course at the company after the death of its co-founder. “I think we are definitely still riding Steve Jobs’ stewardship,” said Matt Brezina, chief executive of mobile start-up Sincerely Inc. “Tim needs to define what kind of leader he is externally. As a developer on their platform, I’m not quite sure what kind of leader he is yet.”

I can guarantee you that Tim Cook doesn’t give a rat’s ass if people can’t figure out what kind of leader he is.



  • impaler

    Agreed. Tim just needs to do his thing, and not worry about his “legacy”. He knows he has big shoes to fill.

  • http://www.thegraphicmac.com/ JimD

    He should care.

    IF the iPhone 5 actually ends up looking like all the leaked photos we’ve seen over the last month or so, and the features match up with the leaked specs from sites like DigiTimes, etc… then Tim Cook is going to look like a complete ass-hat, given his “double-down on secrecy” speech.

    There’ll be a whole new crop of “this would have never happened on Steve’s watch” comments – only this time it’ll be coming from Apple employees, rather than the geekazoid tech press.

    • kibbles

      er, but it did happen under Steve’s watch, too… don’t you remember all the phone geek saying how ugly the leaked iPhone pictures was were? saying that Steve would never allow visible seams, etc.…

    • lucascott

      You’re right. Those leaks never happened under Steve. He had worse ones, including a whole prototype.

      As for all the Tim as a developer talk. Nope. He wasn’t before, he’s not now. That’s why Ive is there. Tech can take as much as ten years to go from idea to product. They will be working on Steve stuff for a while longer. Tim’s job before was to make those ideas logistically happen. That’s still his job.

      And they are better off with the focus on the products and not he people. Remember that $72 a share because folks thought Apple was Steve and only Steve

  • pawhite524

    I’m with impaler and Shawn King on this one.

  • http://twitter.com/kgbraund Kyle Braund

    “I can guarantee you that Tim Cook doesn’t give a rat’s ass if people can’t figure out what kind of leader he is.”

    Exactly!

  • Chris

    He should, Steve Jobs’ personality was a big part of the Apple brand. If Tim Cook can’t replace that then the human aspect that made Apple so likeable is lost.

  • Mrkwst22

    If Mr. Cook was really responsible for the retail staffing fiasco, and given the limited product scope of the 9/12 presentation, and if I had bought some of that $5 Apple stock when I had the chance, I might consider selling it today.

    But then if a frog had wings, he wouldn’t bump his ass when he jumped.

    I wouldn’t want his job…..if not Tim Cook then who?