How has Apple done under Tim Cook?
How has Apple done under Tim Cook?
You’ve heard the charges and they all go something like this: Apple can’t innovate under Tim Cook. So, how has Apple really fared, five years after the soft-spoken man with an Alabama drawl took over?
It’s been five years since CEO Tim Cook took over from Steve Jobs. So how has Apple fared? The most obvious difference is that Apple is insanely more profitable under Cook. From 2011 to 2016, Apple increased its stock price from US$56 to US$117.55, and its annual profits from US$25.9 billion to US$45.7 billion. Even though revenue and profit dropped in FY2016, Apple remains the world’s most valuable company, a distinction it has consistently held since 2011. But the biggest charge leveled against Cook’s Apple is that Apple has lost its creative genius. Apple’s recent products, like the Watch, 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the iPhone 7 have certainly had their share of detractors. However, nothing has rivaled the negative backlash against the October announcement of the 2016 MacBook Pros (MBP).
The first major MBP redesign in four years received significant pushback from Apple’s devoted audience of developers and creatives, who lambasted the new laptops for being underpowered, lacking in essential ports, and overpriced, but most of all, for not understanding the needs of its professional users.
When it comes to the bottom line, there’s no doubt that Cook’s Apple has been a tremendous success. But a technology company’s job isn’t just to make profits, it’s also to invent the future, or to risk becoming a footnote.
Steve Jobs’ Apple could boast the creation of the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, all inventions which changed the world. For Apple to continue making “a dent in the universe,” Tim Cook has to be able to point to at least one groundbreaking product in his portfolio.
Five years on, we’re still waiting.
“Among his last advice he had for me, and for all of you, was to never ask what he would do. ‘Just do what’s right,’” — Tim Cook
2011 – 2016
Apple’s new products and biggest milestones under Tim Cook.
2011 August
Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple, and becomes Apple’s chairman.
Tim Cook steps up from the role of COO to CEO.
October 2011
Apple introduces Siri, together with the iPhone 4s.
Steve Jobs passes away.
Annual revenues: US$108.2 billion
Annual profits: US$25.9 billion
2012 May
Apple announces that its worldwide data centers will be powered by renewable energy come early 2013.
September 2012
Apple introduces the iPhone 5, the first iPhone with a bigger, 4-inch display and Lightning connector.
Apple introduces Apple Maps, together with iOS 6.
11 days after Apple Maps’ release, Tim Cook publicly apologizes for the app’s poor performance.
October 2012
Apple announces that Scott Forstall, SVP of iOS software, will be leaving the company. It’s rumoured that Forstall refused to sign the public apology for Apple Maps.
Annual revenues: US$156.5 billion Annual profits: US$41.7billion
November 2012
Apple introduces the first iPad mini.
2013 July
September 2013
Apple introduces Touch ID, together with the iPhone 5s.
Apple introduces the iPhone 5c, the first low-cost iPhone.
Apple releases iOS 7, with a completely redesigned user interface.
Apple introduces iTunes Radio.
October 2013
Annual revenues: US$170.9 billion.
Annual profits: US$37.0 billion Apple announces that Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts will join as SVP in mid–2014.
2014 May
September 2014
Apple introduces the iPhone 6, the first with a 4.7-inch display.
Apple introduces the iPhone 6 Plus, the first with a large 5.5-inch display.
Apple introduces the Apple Watch.
Tim Cook’s Apple is kinder, greener, and still insanely profitable.
October 2014
Cook reveals that he is gay, in an op-ed that advocates for equality regardless of sexual orientation.
Annual revenues: US$182.8 billion Annual profits: US$39.5 billion.
2015 February
Apple becomes the first US company to achieve a stock market valuation of more than US$700 billion.
March 2015
June 2015
September 2015
October 2015
2016 February
Tim Cook releases a public letter opposing a court order to create a backdoor for iOS, asserting that it would threaten the security of all Apple customers.
March 2016
Apple introduces the lower-cost iPhone SE with a 4-inch display.
Apple announces that 100% of its US operations and 100% of its data centers now run on renewable energy, and 93% of global operations run on renewable energy.
May 2016
Apple announces a US$1billion investment in Didi Chuxing, a Chinese competitor to Uber.
September 2016
Apple introduces the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, the first waterresistant iPhones.
October 2016
Apple introduces the Touch Bar in its new MacBook Pros.
Annual revenues: US$215.6 billion Annual profits: US$45.7 billion.
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