San Francisco (United States) (AFP) – An Alabama-born engineer seen as a supply-chain savant, Tim Cook took on the daunting challenge of succeeding Apple’s iconic boss Steve Jobs 15 years ago. While Cook is not known for the culture-changing “one more thing” gadget reveals that Jobs fans came to expect, he guided the company to a stunning valuation of some $4 trillion based on its share price. Cook built up Apple’s lucrative business selling digital content and services to lovers of its devices, and his legacy is marked by the success of Apple Watch and AirPods, as well as strong ties with China as a manufacturing hub and a major market.
Apple had a market valuation of $350 billion when Cook succeeded Jobs, who died in October 2011. While Jobs launched the iPhone in 2007, it was then chief operating officer Cook who oversaw the supply chain that met demand while minimizing costs. Most of the money Apple makes comes from iPhone sales.
Since taking over for Jobs, Cook has faced pressure to show Apple could come up with “the next big thing” without its legendary co-founder. The Apple Watch launched by Cook in 2015 became the top-selling smartwatch in the world, and he introduced the world to AirPods, wireless earbuds which went on to become sophisticated fashion statements in a sea of competition. Cook also led a shift to Apple making custom chips, ending 20 years of dependence on outside suppliers and gaining more control of its hardware.
One of Cook’s profitable pivots at Apple was to sell digital content and services, from streaming music and television to cloud data storage and apps for iPhones. By 2024, Apple’s services segment accounted for nearly a quarter of its revenue. Central to that strategy is the App Store, which Apple made the sole gateway to software on its devices, taking a cut of transactions — and thereby drawing accusations of monopoly abuse, regulatory scrutiny in Europe, and court orders in the United States to open up its platform.
Cook’s reliance on China in the Apple supply chain served the company well until US President Donald Trump targeted the country for tariffs as part of a trade war. Apple has since worked to diversify production to India, Vietnam, and even the United States. Meanwhile, smartphone competitors in China are seen as gaining an edge as shoppers there are encouraged to buy local brands.
Cook’s run at the helm of Apple was far from perfect, however. Under Cook, Apple spent billions of dollars on a self-driving electric vehicle project called “Titan” that it wound up scrapping in 2024. An Apple Maps service launched in 2012 was so rife with errors that Cook published a letter of apology. And, while a technical marvel, the Apple Vision Pro “spatial computing” headgear launched in 2024 with a price tag of $3,500 and has made little traction in the market. A promised upgrade to Apple’s digital assistant Siri was delayed, in what analysts called a rare stumble for the company. And rather than relying on its own engineers to overhaul Siri, Apple has turned to Google for its AI capability.
© 2024 AFP
