Apple prior to iPhone was very indeed very different. To demonstrate value in their hardware they kept cobbling together the OS, bought/integrated professional

Apple prior to iPhone was very indeed very different. To demonstrate value in their hardware they kept cobbling together the OS, bought/integrated professional software, and offered a small halo of hardware like printers and monitors to extend utility. Then Steve came back and readjusted the playbook. They settled on the OS, created consumer software, bought iTunes, polished up the pro software, then played with the iPod to double down on the halo, then a push into retail. The headcount was around 15k FTE/5k contractors, I believe that's about how much Steve was capable of managing at the time without tilting. Steve was Castro of his little island. Ask him to manage an empire would be different, he's not IBM. The pre-iPhone strategies and mentalities worked until it didn't. Post-iPhone headcount doubled or tripled all across the board. With pipelines ranging from partners in China and Indonesia to remotes in Sacramento to Texas to Ireland and mini outposts all around the world. This is the type of game that Tim Cook setup and likes to play in. A complicated contracted-out, partnered-up Rudeberg machine that makes it so Apple is forever an ephemeral freshness deliverer. In that sense, it does deserve the question. In a world where the largest cab companies doesn't own any cars, the largest hospitality company doesn't own any hotels, the largest seller doesn't own any inventory... And the largest company doesn't own any factories, instead relying on the tens of thousands of engineers and designers hogging up Cupertino to come up with the specs, designs, and followthrough, why can't they deliver? The culture has changed. The employees priority have changed. From being focused overworked underpaid underdogs trying to resist the dominators, they are now overworked overvalued underpaid distracted dominators. Worried about how better to upgrade their luxury sport cars for racing instead of fixing bugs. The management is also top heavy and aging. The first and second gen approaching my grandma's age that are gonna be lifers, only looking to retire when they get their 30 year letter. They leave little room for the subsequent generations to climb up the ladder. This lock up is gonna play out interestingly in the next five years. Apple is changing.