Apple CEO Tim Cooks knocks Windows 8 ‘baggage’
Apple CEO Tim Cook this week again slammed rival Microsoft's Windows 8 and its promise to be an operating system for all devices, whether tablets, desktops, laptops or hybrids that combine elements of all.
"In my view, the tablet and the PC are different," said Cook during an on-stage interview at the All Things D conference on Tuesday. "Products are about trade-offs. And you have to make tough decisions, you have to choose. The fact is, the more you look at a tablet as a PC, the more the baggage from the past affects the product."
Cook, who took the CEO reins last August after Steve Jobs stepped down just weeks before his death, was asked his take on Windows 8 by Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. Mossberg characterized Microsoft's philosophy with Windows 8 as viewing "a tablet and a PC as a kind of continuum that can run on one operating system."
That has been Microsoft's incessant pitch for Windows 8, which it has called a "no-compromise" operating system suitable for a slew of hardware, including iPad competitors, traditional PCs and everything in between.
Cook did not agree.
"In my view, the tablet and the PC are different. You can do things with the tablet if you are not encumbered by the legacy of the PC," Cook said. "I just think you wind up not building the best product when you try to converge those."
Microsoft's OEM (original equipment manufacturers) partners are working on just such devices, amalgams that can be used as a touch-based tablet but also sport a keyboard for PC-style chores.
Apple has taken a different path, Cook said both this week and previously, such as in April during an earnings call with Wall Street analysts, when he mockingly said companies could blend anything, even a toaster and a refrigerator, but in the end please no one.
The Cupertino, Calif. company will not blend its iPad and Mac hardware platforms, or apparently, its iOS and OS X operating systems, at least any time soon. Read more...
Apple confirms WWDC keynote for June 11
Apple today laid out the schedule for its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and confirmed that it will, as usual, kick off the annual meeting with a keynote address, likely hosted by CEO Tim Cook.
The company also released a free iOS app that lets attendees track the conference events and plan their schedule.
Although Apple did not divulge who would lead the keynote, the company typically relies on its CEO for the duty. Last year, former CEO Steve Jobs, at the time on indefinite medical leave, made his second-to-last public appearance at the WWDC keynote.
This year's annual developers conference will be the first since Jobs died last October. Read more...
Apple’s digital divide in China: 21 million iPhones and iPads, but urban areas dominate
Lots has been written and said about the growth of Apple and its products in China. While Apple CEO Tim Cook is focusing on China, which he recently visited and has continually heralded as a key market for the company, it is notable that a number of reports have shown Android devices considerably more prevalent in the country.
Recent data from Statcounter, among others, shows that Android is set to become the country’s single largest mobile operating system (accounting for all device types), with more than double the devices of iOS. Read more...
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s compensation jumped 6-fold in 2011
Apple CEO Tim Cook's total compensation package jumped six-fold last year after he took the reins of the Cupertino, Calif. company, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.
For 2011, Cook's compensation totaled nearly $378 million, or more than six times the $59 million awarded the year before, Apple's proxy statement noted (download PDF).
The bulk of Cook's package -- $376.2 million -- consisted of stock grants given by the board of directors last August, when they promoted Cook to the CEO spot on the same day former CEO Steve Jobs stepped down.
Half of the 1 million "restricted stock units," or RSUs, will be awarded to Cook in August 2016 if he is still with Apple, while the second half will be given to him in August 2021, again only if he is still employed by the company. Read more...
After iPhone’s debut, Cook must reposition Apple brand
Apple Inc debuts its fifth generation iPhone this week minus its visionary leader for the first time. But CEO Tim Cook may already be thinking ahead to his greatest challenge: repositioning the company's fabled marketing apparatus to safeguard the brand.
With Google Inc Android phones gaining momentum, Cook is likely sticking to established battle plans at this critical juncture. But longer term, he may be better off moving the company out from under Jobs' gargantuan shadow. The Apple co-founder bequeathed a mystique and cachet to the brand that will be near-impossible to replace, cultivating a community of fans hooked on ease of use and rich content.
It's those perceptions Cook -- who in two months on the job has already shown Wall Street and Silicon Valley glimpses of what an Apple without Steve Jobs might look like --- must focus on preserving rather than the inimitable aura of the co-founder who died last week at the age of 56. Read more...
‘Operations guy’ Tim Cook gets chance to shine at Apple
With the resignation of Steve Jobs as Apple's CEO on Wednesday, Tim Cook, long seen as "the operations guy" at Apple, must prove he is capable of taking full charge of the company.
Cook was viewed by some as a natural successor to Jobs. In his role as chief operating officer, he managed Apple's worldwide sales and operations, including management of its supply chain, services and support.
Perhaps more important, Cook has already had experience running Apple's day-to-day operations during Jobs' leaves of absence since January. But there are questions about his ability to continue the spirit of innovation embodied by Jobs, whose headstrong management style inspired workers, and whose vision kept the company ahead of market trends. Read more...