Tim Cook's greatest strength is his realization of, and comfort with, the fact that he is not Steve Jobs. Why doesn't he have bi-monthly feature reviews? Because he wouldn't have as much to contribute as Jobs. He doesn't have the product intuition and he knows it.
What was unique about Steve Jobs was that he could perform so many different roles within the company. He could convince anyone he needed to join the company, he could ascertain just what kinds of products were likely to be successful, and he could get on stage and sell the living daylights out of the products his company had built. These roles are necessarily going to be performed worse when separated into different executives, just like a basketball player who can play great offense and defense is worth a lot more to a team than ten great offensive players and ten great defensive players.
As Bill Gates said, the (old) Apple model only works if you have a Steve Jobs. The new Apple can't function like the old Apple any more than a car can function without a steering wheel. The best thing Cook can do is transition the company to a more traditional management structure. Will the company be worse off than before? Of course, but it's the best they can do under the circumstances.
Bill Gates's comment makes sense to me. Apple already achieved the improbable. It seems like a natural time to refocus. They could take steps to make the mobile platforms easier to develop for. They've built an empire, and holding it for the long term requires building relationships and long-term thinking.
The rapid rise of Android strikes me as a significant long-term threat. Apple created a new product category and then allowed a competitor to sweep up the majority of the market, at least in terms of volume. Android is still probably an inferior product, but there are a lot of companies behind it. Android also makes life somewhat easier for developers. I think Apple ought to take this very seriously.
The threat from Android to iPhone probably looks bigger than it actually is. Per study that just came out [1], iPhone users are much more loyal than Android users: 24% of Android users plan to switch vs. 9% of iPhone users. If this persists, Android users will over time "leak over" to iPhone.
I, personally, am not that pleased with my Android phone. The present trend might be in Apple's favor, but, presumably, Apple will have to keep executing well to maintain that momentum.
> Will the company be worse off than before? Of course, but it's the best they can do under the circumstances.
Exactly--but that doesn't mean "Apple is doomed" either, which is the angle a lot of people seem to take.
Apple with Steve Jobs (2nd time around) was the most innovative, profitable, and successful company in the entire world. Apple without Steve Jobs is likely to be one of the most innovative, profitable, and successful companies. (Still pretty darn good.)
What was unique about Steve Jobs was that he could perform so many different roles within the company. He could convince anyone he needed to join the company, he could ascertain just what kinds of products were likely to be successful, and he could get on stage and sell the living daylights out of the products his company had built. These roles are necessarily going to be performed worse when separated into different executives, just like a basketball player who can play great offense and defense is worth a lot more to a team than ten great offensive players and ten great defensive players.
As Bill Gates said, the (old) Apple model only works if you have a Steve Jobs. The new Apple can't function like the old Apple any more than a car can function without a steering wheel. The best thing Cook can do is transition the company to a more traditional management structure. Will the company be worse off than before? Of course, but it's the best they can do under the circumstances.