Fifteen years after Steve Jobs, Tim Cook leaves a dramatically different Apple
After 15 years, Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple’s top executive,At age 65, he leaves behind a hardware juggernaut that, under his leadership, brought about a global smartphone revolution and transformed Apple into one of the most profitable publicly traded companies in history,With a reputation for logistical management, Cook first joined Apple in 1998, overseeing its worldwide sales and operations,In 2009, he temporarily began running day-to-day operations when the company’s legendary co-founder, Steve Jobs, took medical leave due to complications from pancreatic cancer,In 2011, just a few months before Jobs’ death, Cook took over as CEO.
Filling Jobs’ shoes was seen as a tremendous task, but company observers say that despite a more subdued demeanor, especially on stage, Cook met the challenge.“Steve Jobs was never going to be an easy act to follow,” said Dipanjan Chatterjee, a principal analyst for market research firm Forrester.“Yet Tim Cook took Jobs’ legacy and transformed Apple into a durable, resilient financial powerhouse with explosive market-cap growth.”In Apple’s announcement on Monday, Cook said he loves the company “with all of my being” and that leading it was the “greatest privilege of my life”.In a goodbye note specifically to Apple fans, Cook thanked them, saying he feels “a gratitude that I cannot put into words”.
He will stay on as the executive chair of Apple’s board of directors, and John Ternus, 50, the company’s senior-vice president of hardware engineering, will replace Cook as CEO,During his tenure, Cook made the already-successful tech hardware giant nearly untouchable by its competitors,He carried Jobs’ enthusiasm for well-designed, high-end consumer tech products and oversaw the explosive growth of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computer lines, as well as the introduction of the Apple Watch and AirPods headphones,The company also waded into services while he was in charge, including Apple Pay, Apple TV and Apple Music, weaving together a network of devices with its proprietary operating system software, including macOS and iOS,Under Cook’s leadership, Apple became the first publicly traded company to reach a valuation of $1tn – ballooning from $350bn in 2011 to $4tn today.
“After a lot of initial questions about an operations guy becoming CEO, Tim Cook unquestionably brought Apple into a new era that was driven by his vision to build a connected ecosystem of billions of devices,” said Bob O’Donnell, the president and chief analyst of Technalysis Research,“He didn’t need to know exactly what products were required, but he did understand the interconnectedness of it all and that, ultimately, is what brought Apple to where it is today,”The Apple that Cook took over in 2011 was a different company from the behemoth the world is familiar with today,In the years before Jobs’ death, the two men and other executives worked together to put a financially struggling company back on its feet after Apple nearly faced bankruptcy in the late 1990s,Jobs was the face of the reinvention, which brought flashy live product announcements where hordes of Apple enthusiasts would jam into convention centers to see the unveiling of the company’s new electronics.
Jobs would pace back-and-forth on the stage, in his signature black turtleneck tucked into blue jeans, while suspensefully extolling the wonders of Apple’s products.The hype hit a frenzy in 2007, when Jobs introduced the first iPhone saying: “Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” calling it a “breakthrough internet communications device”.The crowd whooped and hollered.By the time Cook took the helm, the iPhone had taken off in popularity along with many other devices.Jobs had introduced the iPad the year before.
While Cook became the host of the live product announcements, which have continued to be a mainstay for Apple’s branding and showcasing, he didn’t exude the same visionary charisma as Jobs,Cook would have to contend with comparisons to the late co-founder and his glamorous keynotes for his entire term as CEO,Throughout Cook’s tenure, he also oversaw some missteps,Apple has been slow to invest in generative artificial intelligence and integrate the technology into its products, something shareholders have been clamoring for,And there have been hardware misses, including the lackluster $3,500 Vision Pro mixed reality headset, a possibly delayed folding smartphone that could have a “crease” problem, and a scuttled self-driving car project that cost the company some $10bn.
For the most part, however, Cook has continued to do what he started under Jobs – methodically building up the company’s market share and profitability and working to safeguard it from volatility.In that sense, he’s overseen Apple go from a disruptive and innovative Silicon Valley startup to a financially secure heavyweight that habitually delivers what an ever-growing number of consumers worldwide expect.“While Cook has kept Apple’s growth trajectory moving at a steady clip, he has not overseen a step-change innovation that would reset Apple’s competitive position for the next two decades, as Jobs did with the iPhone,” Chatterjee said.“Cook’s legacy will be defined by steady, disciplined operational stewardship–proof that a company can be more than just exciting and visionary; it can also be immensely valuable to all its stakeholders.”
UK jobs market was in a fragile state – even before Iran war threatened recovery
Despite a surprise fall in the unemployment rate, the latest jobs data show the labour market in a fragile state, even before the Iran war threatened to derail the UK’s nascent economic recovery.At 4.9% in the three months to February, the unemployment rate was down from 5.2% in the previous three months, according to the Office for National Statistics.That may suggest the labour market has improved, alongside the uptick in economic growth in February
UK unemployment shows surprise fall to 4.9% as pay growth drops to lowest in five years
Unemployment in the UK unexpectedly fell in the three months to February, according to official figures – but the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East is expected to cause a rise in job cuts.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the rate of unemployment was 4.9% in the three months to February, the lowest level since last summer. This compares with 5.2% in the three months to January, a rate that economists had expected to also see in February
Tequila overtakes gin as the UK’s favourite warm-weather spirit
A crisp gin and tonic has for many British people been just the ticket as the weather gets warmer, but new consumer data shows tequila is overtaking gin for the first time as a summer tipple of choice.Spicy margaritas, which are a piquant twist on the classic tequila, lime and triple sec cocktail, have taken the UK by a storm in recent years and now the country is firmly hooked on tequila, with many ordering a tequila and tonic instead of a G&T.The Marks & Spencer summer trends report found that tequila is the retailer’s hottest spirit. It reads: “Tequila is having a major glow-up, with sales soaring 50% year on year and margarita sales jumping a huge 75%, making it one of the hottest spirits of the summer.”It is the 40th anniversary of the high street canned cocktail; M&S launched its “gin in a tin” in 1986
Electricity generators threatened with higher windfall taxes in bid to ensure stable prices
Electricity generators will face higher windfall taxes unless they sign up to long-term fixed-price contracts under government plans to protect bill payers from future gas market price shocks, as the Iran war pushes up energy prices.The Treasury will increase a windfall tax on excess profits made by electricity generators in Great Britain from 45% to 55% when gas prices spike. The funds raised will help the government to support households during an energy crisis.The owners of “legacy” renewable energy projects, such as older wind and solar farms, that earn subsidies on top of the market price will face the higher tax rate until they sign up to contracts that pay a set price for electricity as part of the government’s plan to “delink the price of electricity from the price of gas”.The plans, first revealed by the Guardian, mark the government’s most radical attempt to weaken the impact of soaring wholesale gas prices on the UK’s electricity costs, which are some of the highest in any developed economy
Oil prices rise and markets fall after US seizure of ship hits Iran peace deal hopes
Oil prices rose sharply and European stock markets fell on Monday after the US seizure of an Iranian vessel dented hopes for a peace deal.Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose by 5% to about $95 a barrel.European stock markets dropped, with the UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index down 0.6%. The French Cac 40 and the German Dax fell by about 1%
Polymarket in fundraising talks that could value the prediction platform at $15bn
Polymarket, the online prediction platform that hosts bets on events such as the Iran war, is in talks to raise $400m (£296m) at a valuation of up to $15bn.The company has gained notoriety in recent months over wagers placed on the Middle East conflict, including on the timing of US-Israel strikes against Iran, and on a US-Iran ceasefire, some of which appeared to bear signs of insider trading.During this time the US company has experienced a massive increase in volume, with more than $1bn a week now traded on its platform. Polymarket takes a commission on some of these trades, with a varying fee structure depending on the kind of bet. It states that geopolitical and world events markets are “fee-free”
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