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> ...he's nothing like Steve Ballmer... Your response was also short on details with regards to your major point, quoted above. Meanwhile, here are the points

> ...he's nothing like Steve Ballmer... Your response was also short on details with regards to your major point, quoted above. Meanwhile, here are the points from the article. Like Ballmer, Tim Cook: - is an executor, not a visionary. - doubled revenue while also doubling profit for his company. - announced very few new products. - has the same kinds of challenges (facing disruption). - lacks passion for the product. - takes things personally.

intoverflow2 10y ago
> announced very few new products. Look it up, he's actually announced plenty. Just they're kinda underwhelming. Off the top of my head: MacBook, Mac Pro, iPad Pro, iPhone+,MacBook HDMI Dongle, iPhone Headphone Dongle, Apple Pay, Apple Music, Apple Pencil.
- mikeryan 10y ago
  MacBook, Mac Pro, iPad Pro, iPhone+,MacBook HDMI Dongle, iPhone Headphone Dongle, Apple Pay, Apple Music, Apple Pencil. These are primarily iterations or extensions of existing products, not new products (in the blue ocean sense) as seem to be defined in the article. This is the complaint the article makes with "execution" executives. As products they're all mechanisms for increasing revenues on existing (re: stagnant) products instead of creating completely new product lines that reflect the changes in the market.
  - eyelidlessness 10y ago
    > These are primarily iterations or extensions of existing products, not new products Some much more than others. If you apply this logic consistently, the only new products Steve Jobs introduced were the original Apple (II), the Mac operating systems, the iPod and iOS. Everything else was an iteration, right?
    - iakh 10y ago
      These were not just product transitions, but radical business model transitions – new channels, new customers and new markets–and new emphasis on different parts of the organization
      - TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
        Alexa is the perfect example of a product that could have been made by Apple but wasn't, and which ticks all those boxes. And not just those. Apple's big strength isn't hardware, it's ecosystems. The hardware was always just a front end to a network of unique systems, markets, and services. The latest Apple offerings seem to have forgotten that. Watch is primarily a shiny widget, not the thin client the iPod and iPad were. The latest Macs are heading in a similar direction. There are more services, but they're less appealing to users because the UI designs have become clunky, and there's no sense of forward momentum among many user groups. With Alexa, Amazon has proved that it can play the consumer game too. Alexa includes links to content providers, links to hardware manufacturers, and links to other software services. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a crash R&D program to create Apple's own version of Alexa. (I would be surprised, but maybe not completely, if Siri Home appears on the 27th. I'm guessing next year is more likely and 2018 isn't impossible.) But it may be too late. Amazon has a first mover advantage, and it can only drop the lead by allowing the platform to stagnate. Amazon may well do that. Bezos seems to suffer from occasional new product ADHD, so he may not follow through. But there's certainly huge potential to take Alexa much further, and if Apple is going to compete any R&D project has to aim for where Alexa could be three to five years from now, not where Alexa is today. Which doesn't change the fact that Apple could have made Siri Home first. The hardware was always available. The only thing missing was Cook's lack of vision and drive.
        glhaynes 10y ago
        It could also be that Apple doesn't see Alexa as something they need to compete with — that Siri on existing devices (and especially "Hey, Siri") addresses that niche for them.
  - vaishaksuresh 10y ago
    Mac Pro, Apple Watch, Pencil, Apple Music were not iterations. There was nothing similar before them from Apple.
    - Mathnerd314 10y ago
      Pencil and Watch were projects in the pipeline around the time Steve Jobs died, e.g. https://web.archive.org/web/20150907064440/http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-stylus-ipad-2015-8 https://web.archive.org/web/20150907064440/http://www.busine... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/watch/11452455/History-of-the-Apple-Watch.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/watch/11452455/H... Apple Music is a logical continuation of the Beats Music store: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beats_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beats_Music. Mac Pro was released in 2006: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro It's not clear if there's anything new in development at Apple.
      - vaishaksuresh 10y ago
        I am not sure you understand what I'm saying. I did not say Tim Cook thought of them, I said they were not iterations.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - strictnein 10y ago
      The Mac Pro is an overpriced fancy computer case, nothing more.
      - vaishaksuresh 10y ago
        That is like saying iPhone is a fancy version of old Nokia phones and nothing more.
        strictnein 10y ago
        Not in the slightest. The iPhone's UI was far superior, as was its hardware. What's special about the Mac Pro other than its case design? And what would change in how the Mac Pro functions if its guts were instead in the old Mac Pro case? All of the guts are just an Intel processor, AMD video cards, etc. There isn't some custom magical chip in there.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- snowwrestler 10y ago
  How does this list not include the Apple Watch, which Cook also announced? Speaking of which, how does this not include Swift, which also debuted under Tim Cook? And Metal?
  - glhaynes 10y ago
    And iCloud Photo Library. And HomeKit. And …
  - methou 10y ago
    Speaking of Metal, understanding the rationale behind keeping a non-interoperable API with other ecosystems couldn't help me from expecting a revolutionary universal low-level graphics API. I've suffered long enough in the GL madness to lose my sanity.
  - intoverflow2 10y ago
    Hahaha because I had actually forgotten it even exists. Honestly I'm shocked I missed it too.

intoverflow2 10y ago

> announced very few new products. Look it up, he's actually announced plenty. Just they're kinda underwhelming. Off the top of my head: MacBook, Mac Pro, iPad Pro, iPhone+,MacBook HDMI Dongle, iPhone Headphone Dongle, Apple Pay, Apple Music, Apple Pencil.

mikeryan 10y ago
MacBook, Mac Pro, iPad Pro, iPhone+,MacBook HDMI Dongle, iPhone Headphone Dongle, Apple Pay, Apple Music, Apple Pencil. These are primarily iterations or extensions of existing products, not new products (in the blue ocean sense) as seem to be defined in the article. This is the complaint the article makes with "execution" executives. As products they're all mechanisms for increasing revenues on existing (re: stagnant) products instead of creating completely new product lines that reflect the changes in the market.
- eyelidlessness 10y ago
  > These are primarily iterations or extensions of existing products, not new products Some much more than others. If you apply this logic consistently, the only new products Steve Jobs introduced were the original Apple (II), the Mac operating systems, the iPod and iOS. Everything else was an iteration, right?
  - iakh 10y ago
    These were not just product transitions, but radical business model transitions – new channels, new customers and new markets–and new emphasis on different parts of the organization
    - TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
      Alexa is the perfect example of a product that could have been made by Apple but wasn't, and which ticks all those boxes. And not just those. Apple's big strength isn't hardware, it's ecosystems. The hardware was always just a front end to a network of unique systems, markets, and services. The latest Apple offerings seem to have forgotten that. Watch is primarily a shiny widget, not the thin client the iPod and iPad were. The latest Macs are heading in a similar direction. There are more services, but they're less appealing to users because the UI designs have become clunky, and there's no sense of forward momentum among many user groups. With Alexa, Amazon has proved that it can play the consumer game too. Alexa includes links to content providers, links to hardware manufacturers, and links to other software services. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a crash R&D program to create Apple's own version of Alexa. (I would be surprised, but maybe not completely, if Siri Home appears on the 27th. I'm guessing next year is more likely and 2018 isn't impossible.) But it may be too late. Amazon has a first mover advantage, and it can only drop the lead by allowing the platform to stagnate. Amazon may well do that. Bezos seems to suffer from occasional new product ADHD, so he may not follow through. But there's certainly huge potential to take Alexa much further, and if Apple is going to compete any R&D project has to aim for where Alexa could be three to five years from now, not where Alexa is today. Which doesn't change the fact that Apple could have made Siri Home first. The hardware was always available. The only thing missing was Cook's lack of vision and drive.
      - glhaynes 10y ago
        It could also be that Apple doesn't see Alexa as something they need to compete with — that Siri on existing devices (and especially "Hey, Siri") addresses that niche for them.
- vaishaksuresh 10y ago
  Mac Pro, Apple Watch, Pencil, Apple Music were not iterations. There was nothing similar before them from Apple.
  - Mathnerd314 10y ago
    Pencil and Watch were projects in the pipeline around the time Steve Jobs died, e.g. https://web.archive.org/web/20150907064440/http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-stylus-ipad-2015-8 https://web.archive.org/web/20150907064440/http://www.busine... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/watch/11452455/History-of-the-Apple-Watch.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/watch/11452455/H... Apple Music is a logical continuation of the Beats Music store: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beats_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beats_Music. Mac Pro was released in 2006: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro It's not clear if there's anything new in development at Apple.
    - vaishaksuresh 10y ago
      I am not sure you understand what I'm saying. I did not say Tim Cook thought of them, I said they were not iterations.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - strictnein 10y ago
    The Mac Pro is an overpriced fancy computer case, nothing more.
    - vaishaksuresh 10y ago
      That is like saying iPhone is a fancy version of old Nokia phones and nothing more.
      - strictnein 10y ago
        Not in the slightest. The iPhone's UI was far superior, as was its hardware. What's special about the Mac Pro other than its case design? And what would change in how the Mac Pro functions if its guts were instead in the old Mac Pro case? All of the guts are just an Intel processor, AMD video cards, etc. There isn't some custom magical chip in there.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
snowwrestler 10y ago
How does this list not include the Apple Watch, which Cook also announced? Speaking of which, how does this not include Swift, which also debuted under Tim Cook? And Metal?
- glhaynes 10y ago
  And iCloud Photo Library. And HomeKit. And …
- methou 10y ago
  Speaking of Metal, understanding the rationale behind keeping a non-interoperable API with other ecosystems couldn't help me from expecting a revolutionary universal low-level graphics API. I've suffered long enough in the GL madness to lose my sanity.
- intoverflow2 10y ago
  Hahaha because I had actually forgotten it even exists. Honestly I'm shocked I missed it too.