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Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses what it was like to take over for Steve Jobs Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses what it was like to take over for Steve Jobs
(about 17 hours later)
Tim Cook, the Apple CEO who made headlines last week for opting out of a $75m dividend he was set to earn on 1m shares of company stock, sat down at a tech conference in Silicon Valley on Tuesday to answer questions about Apple's past and future.Tim Cook, the Apple CEO who made headlines last week for opting out of a $75m dividend he was set to earn on 1m shares of company stock, sat down at a tech conference in Silicon Valley on Tuesday to answer questions about Apple's past and future.
Cook was named CEO of the tech giant in August 2011, taking over the post's duties less than two months before Steve Jobs succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Cook gave a glimpse into a post-Jobs era at the D: All Things D conference, and revealed that the most shocking thing about taking over for Jobs was the daily deluge of e-mails he receives from customers.Cook was named CEO of the tech giant in August 2011, taking over the post's duties less than two months before Steve Jobs succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Cook gave a glimpse into a post-Jobs era at the D: All Things D conference, and revealed that the most shocking thing about taking over for Jobs was the daily deluge of e-mails he receives from customers.
"They talk to you as if you are sitting in their living room," Cook said."They talk to you as if you are sitting in their living room," Cook said.
Here are some other noteworthy hints Cook gave about the company:Here are some other noteworthy hints Cook gave about the company:
On Ping, Apple's social network for music: On Ping, Apple's social network for music:
I was carefully avoiding that. We tried Ping, and I think the customer voted and said, 'This isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into.'I was carefully avoiding that. We tried Ping, and I think the customer voted and said, 'This isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into.'
On making television a social product (Cook noted that 2.7m Apple TVs have sold in the early months of this year):On making television a social product (Cook noted that 2.7m Apple TVs have sold in the early months of this year):
This is an area of intense interest for us.This is an area of intense interest for us.
On monitoring overtime for the 700,000 factory workers the company tracks in China:On monitoring overtime for the 700,000 factory workers the company tracks in China:
Some people want to work a lot. They want to move and work for a year or two, and then move back to their village and bring back as much money as they can.Some people want to work a lot. They want to move and work for a year or two, and then move back to their village and bring back as much money as they can.
Mashable's Peter Pachal: Deeper Facebook connections on the horizon?Mashable's Peter Pachal: Deeper Facebook connections on the horizon?
If Apple does strengthen its relationship with Facebook, it would be further reason for the company to finally do away with Ping, Apple's ill-fated attempt at a social network. Cook said he had thought about killing Ping when a member of the audience asked him about it, but he also noted that some customers really love it.If Apple does strengthen its relationship with Facebook, it would be further reason for the company to finally do away with Ping, Apple's ill-fated attempt at a social network. Cook said he had thought about killing Ping when a member of the audience asked him about it, but he also noted that some customers really love it.
Mathew Ingram from GigaOm was not enlightened:Mathew Ingram from GigaOm was not enlightened:
I've read so many dozens of posts about Tim Cook from D10 and I have learned exactly nothing about either him or Apple.I've read so many dozens of posts about Tim Cook from D10 and I have learned exactly nothing about either him or Apple.
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Comments

29 comments, displaying first

30 May 2012 7:23PM
Does he know if the HTC One X is any good?
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30 May 2012 8:34PM
How about the Samsung Galaxy S3?
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30 May 2012 9:10PM
I think, in a way, it was almost as if Steve was speaking through him...
Steve is missed, but with such a wise representative on earth, I am sure his legacy will be safe, and his plans to help make a better life will continue to roll out.
How may other companies could say the same thing?
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30 May 2012 9:13PM
kingsize
I think, in a way, it was almost as if Steve was speaking through him...
You mean Jobs has returned from the dead and now uses Cook as his ventriloquist's dummy?
Creepy.
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30 May 2012 9:20PM
Hehe, even when I'm at my most sarcastic (and make no mistake, I am a right sarcy bastard!) I can't reach kingsize's level. I think you've gone too far and blown your cover with this post - even the diehards on macrumours don't go that far!
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30 May 2012 11:23PM
rofl, kingsize's post... Ole. xD
"They" also mentioned ;) consoles would not be an area of interest, should have a quote on that somewhere?
I wish they'd hurry with a tv design - Apple's quality is needed there.
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31 May 2012 12:59AM
Are you Avro in disguise?
Soppiest post ever.
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31 May 2012 1:08AM
Steve is missed, but with such a wise representative on earth, I am sure his legacy will be safe, and his plans to help make a better life will continue to roll out
I'll bet Liu Jingjing, from this evenings other (excellent) apple story on Guardian Tech (bizarrely relegated below this one even though there's some actual content in Juliette's report) sees Jobs and Cook as some kind of messiahs too:
A worker's tale
Liu Jingjing, 20, (not her real name) started at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory six months ago. The work on an iPhone production line is demanding: at first Liu found her fingers and forearms ached every day. After deductions for accommodation and food, she earns just £90 some months. Late last year, as Christmas sales of the latest Apple phone were booming, she says overtime rose, with employees asked to work up to 100 hours a month – despite Apple's 60-hour limit.She is one of those fortunate enough to be able to sit down on a shopfloor where staff usually stand. However, she says employees are only allowed to perch on a third of the seat – to keep them "nimble". Liu broke the rules. But because she did not sit in a standardised way she was punished by being asked to write a "confession letter". Recently, when she complained about a cut in overtime pay, her boss told her: "If you do not want to work here, you can get out."
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31 May 2012 6:28AM
You missed this bit:
The mistreatment is not confined to Apple workers, but affects those making products for other western companies including Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Nokia, according to Sacom.
Funny that......
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31 May 2012 7:18AM
Nope, didn't miss that. But the story was very much focused on apple and exposing the fact that their much praised and publicised efforts to tackle their specific problems in China appear to have been subject to a fair amount of spin and superficiality without actually changing very much for the affected workers.
And, more to the point of my comment, I've thankfully not seen people trying to deify the leaders of those other companies.
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31 May 2012 9:15AM
......have been subject to a fair amount of spin and superficiality without actually changing very much for the affected workers
You may or may not be right, but even if we assume Apple's intentions are good, nobody is going to turn round a company the size of Foxconn overnight, or even in 6 months. I can't imagine the people at the top of Apple don't realise they are giving a hostage to fortune in their efforts to improve things, since it is perfectly obvious that much of it is outside their direct control.
Unless of course you've accidentally swallowed some of this deification stuff and really do believe Cook has a magic wand.......
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31 May 2012 9:45AM
You may or may not be right, but even if we assume Apple's intentions are good, nobody is going to turn round a company the size of Foxconn overnight, or even in 6 months. I can't imagine the people at the top of Apple don't realise they are giving a hostage to fortune in their efforts to improve things, since it is perfectly obvious that much of it is outside their direct control.
Absolutely right. Completely agree. I would say that 6 years should be long enough though, wouldn't you?
From 2006:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/19/foxconn-denies-ipod-sweatshop-accusations/
From 2008 (and from a dedicated mac site at that!):
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/61454.html
The truth is that they've known about this for a very long time and have only very recently started to take any sort of serious action (and even that appears to be questionable looking at this latest article). The build up of negative publicity appears to be the only thing to have jolted them into doing anything, so it's not surprising that their actions might be focussed on appeasing the critics rather than an genuine concern for their (proxy) workforce.
Don't get me wrong, if the end result is that conditions get improved for the workers then that is a good thing. But we shouldn't be holding Apple up as idealised paragons of virtue when any thanks belongs the campaigners who have eventually managed to embarrass them into doing something.
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31 May 2012 11:09AM
And, more to the point of my comment, I've thankfully not seen people trying to deify the leaders of those other companies.
Nor have the other companies a stated mission to make technology greater and more accessible, lets all be honest here.
What did mass-market phones look like before the iPhone?
Name one popular tablet computer before the iPad.
Windows stole every advance in usability from OS X, discuss
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31 May 2012 11:24AM
Oh, I give up. Go on, carry on worshipping and idealising if you want to.
There really is a scary, religious-cult type of mantra that comes from the truly devout amongst you.
Yes Apple are wonderful. The world was grey and miserable place until they invented and bestowed brilliance upon us. The company are only concerned with making everybody's lives better and we should all give thanks to their benevolence. Happy now?
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31 May 2012 11:58AM
What did mass-market phones look like before the iPhone?
Like a PDA from 10 years beforehand? Grid of icons on a touchscreen?
Like an LG Prada?
Name one popular tablet computer before the iPad.
Why? Does selling tablets now demand beatification?
Windows stole every advance in usability from OS X, discuss
Don't have to. It was discussed in a US court who found the only thing MS ever copied off Apple was the recycle bin icon.
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31 May 2012 12:02PM
Oh, I give up. Go on, carry on worshipping and idealising if you want to.
There really is a scary, religious-cult type of mantra that comes from the truly devout amongst you.
Yes Apple are wonderful. The world was grey and miserable place until they invented and bestowed brilliance upon us. The company are only concerned with making everybody's lives better and we should all give thanks to their benevolence. Happy now?
Not happy, No. I'd say somewhere in the middle is more accurate, but to be honest i'm as fed up with the haters as you are with the fanbois. I stand by the iPhone iPad and OS X comments as I think that they are true.
Steve Jobs was a whiney fruitarian asshole with personality and hygiene issues but there can be no denying that he was passionate about providing ease-of-use in the notoriously closed garden of geek-dominated and tech-centered areas of personal computing, and it looks to me like Tim Cook is trying to keep the ease of use, non-tech ethos going.
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31 May 2012 12:13PM
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31 May 2012 12:50PM
These companies exist to make money. Period. Steve Jobs wasn't some messiah who wanted to make a better world, he was a business man out to make money. I'm fed up with listening or reading about how Jobs was the golden child. As for Apple products, my Macbook is great, I got rid of my iPhone though because as a phone, it sucks.
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31 May 2012 1:25PM
No, no, no. no, no.
Like all other companies, apple want to make money. Nothing wrong with that.
But through Steve, they also wanted to make a better world - unlike other companies.
Steve has gone, but his legacy lives. Not just lives - grows.
The lessons he left us will be learnt a long, long time.
How can anyone argue with that? The biggest and best tech company in the world, making the most beautiful 'life enhancers' - i'm afraid 'products' is too bland and generic a term for what Steve begat.
Many great men in history have been vilified, only for their legacy to be understood at a later date.
It is wonderful to live in the age of apple.
Thank you Steve, thank you....
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31 May 2012 1:49PM
Seeing how the discussion has descended into an ecclesiastical one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_prophet
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.
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31 May 2012 1:53PM
But through Steve, they also wanted to make a better world - unlike other companies.
And we all know the best way to do this is to ban your company's charitable activities.
Did you know the Microsoft founder has donated about $30 billion so far to charity?
Maybe "Pearly" would be a good nickname for Mr Gates seeing as he's doing so much good for the world?
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31 May 2012 2:00PM
Nonsense - what do you think makes the world a truly better place, the eradication of malaria saving thousands of lives or rebranding video calling as FaceTime? Get some sense of perspective you fool.
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31 May 2012 2:07PM
@beardyweirdy666
What's this "video calling" of which you speak?
My vote goes for inventing notifications over funding polio and rotavirus research every time.
Link to this comment:
31 May 2012 2:37PM
Please tell me Kingsize is being ironic otherwise I'm going to jump out of my office window. I'm not sure I can co-exist with someone ike that.
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31 May 2012 2:54PM
That's better, glad you've seen the light ;-)
Link to this comment:
1 June 2012 12:45AM
For the first quarter of 2012, Apple made US$11.6bn profit. By comparison the "blood sucking" oil giant BP made US$4.8bn and the "money grabbing" bank HSBC made US$4.8bn. Yet the iPhools still want to give Apple even more money.
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1 June 2012 10:02AM
Nurse!, the screens!!!
Company builds things people want to buy, shock horror
Link to this comment:
1 June 2012 7:21PM
Windows stole every advance in usability from OS X, discuss

OS/2 dear.
Link to this comment:
3 June 2012 5:59AM
I do hope this argument is finally resolved once and for all. All i care about in life is if some guys on the internet can agree on whether or not Steve Jobs was a God or something.
Link to this comment:
Comments on this page are now closed.
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Apple chief visited the D: All Things Digital conference to answer questions about his predecessor, Chinese factories and more
Tim Cook, the Apple CEO who made headlines last week for opting out of a $75m dividend he was set to earn on 1m shares of company stock, sat down at a tech conference in Silicon Valley on Tuesday to answer questions about Apple's past and future.
Cook was named CEO of the tech giant in August 2011, taking over the post's duties less than two months before Steve Jobs succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Cook gave a glimpse into a post-Jobs era at the D: All Things D conference, and revealed that the most shocking thing about taking over for Jobs was the daily deluge of e-mails he receives from customers.
"They talk to you as if you are sitting in their living room," Cook said.
Here are some other noteworthy hints Cook gave about the company:
On Ping, Apple's social network for music:
I was carefully avoiding that. We tried Ping, and I think the customer voted and said, 'This isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into.'
On making television a social product (Cook noted that 2.7m Apple TVs have sold in the early months of this year):
This is an area of intense interest for us.
On monitoring overtime for the 700,000 factory workers the company tracks in China:
Some people want to work a lot. They want to move and work for a year or two, and then move back to their village and bring back as much money as they can.
Mashable's Peter Pachal: Deeper Facebook connections on the horizon?
If Apple does strengthen its relationship with Facebook, it would be further reason for the company to finally do away with Ping, Apple's ill-fated attempt at a social network. Cook said he had thought about killing Ping when a member of the audience asked him about it, but he also noted that some customers really love it.
Mathew Ingram from GigaOm was not enlightened:
I've read so many dozens of posts about Tim Cook from D10 and I have learned exactly nothing about either him or Apple.