Steve Jobs really gave the throne to the guy he hated

With 3 iPhone 11 series and 3-year iPhone upgrade cycle, Tim Cook has once again shown the mischief in business strategy. But it was this mischief that made Tim Cook belong to the group Steve Jobs hated the most: those who led the company without knowing “making products.”

In 1995, 10 years after being forced to leave Apple, Steve Jobs made a life sentence about the sad situation of the once-technology giants like IBM and Xerox:

“ If you are a product maker at IBM or Xerox, if you create a better computer or a copy machine… What will happen? Your company already has a monopoly market share, [better products] cannot help it succeed any more.

At this point, the only people who can help the company succeed rather than the sales and marketing guys, and eventually they will lead the company. The people who make the product will be removed from the decision-making stage, and eventually the company will forget what it is to create great products. Product acumen, the product genius that has helped the company rise to monopoly position will be gradually eliminated by its executives who cannot distinguish a product. good with a bad product . ”

Only two years later, he was brought in to run Apple. For the first time in more than a decade, Apple was led by a “product maker” – Steve Jobs. And with iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad, Apple gradually rose to the top of the world of technology.

Steve Jobs only lived for one more year after the unveiling of the iPhone 4. In the last years of his life, he spent a lot of time on a biography written by the writer Walter Isaacson, a brilliant writer.

Recently, Isaacson, who is responsible for recording Jobs’ memories, has revealed a surprise about the relationship between the Apple founder and his successor Tim Cook:

“ Sometimes, when Steve is in pain, and when he’s angry, he will say that Cook is not a product maker. I thought that I only recorded things that were meaningful to the readers (of the memoirs), not those criticisms .

That means that Steve Jobs did not consider his successor to belong to the group of people who should own the company. And that’s not exactly a surprise for those who have read Tim Cook’s past: not exactly specializing in sale / marketing, but Cook clearly has a tendency to manage business rather than product or technical design. . Despite having an industrial engineering degree, Cook also holds an MBA degree and is first known from IBM, as the order fulfillment director. Prior to returning to Apple, Cook was vice president at Compaq, the enterprise equipment business.

About Apple, Cook was assigned by Jobs to manage global business operations. The first thing Cook did to score in the eyes of Steve Jobs was to close the factory, rebuild the supply chain, dedicate to sourcing for “top” products … And those are things that few people think about. When referring to Steve Jobs: Jobs often focused on the product, but “mischievous” is for subordinates like Cook.

Yet, in the end, Jobs still put Cook above all the “disciples” as his product. In his letter of retirement from the company’s leadership, he said: “ Regarding the successor issue, I strongly suggest that we implement the continuity plan, and put Tim Cook as Apple’s CEO. I believe Apple’s brightest, most creative days are still ahead . ”

3 months later, Jobs died. Anti-fans are still waiting for a similar scenario to 1985 to repeat. At that time, Jobs’ heir – who also kicked the Apple founder out of his own company – was a “sales and marketing” as Jobs criticized. Unable to create compelling products like the Macintosh, Apple gradually lost out to Microsoft and then came to the brink of bankruptcy.

To date, Apple has spent 10 years without the hands of Jobs (Tim Cook has been in direct control since 2009). But Apple’s 2019 is different from Apple’s 1995: Apple failed in 1995, Apple’s 2019 is still very close to trillions. Apple in 1995 saw its biggest rival, Microsoft dominate in all aspects, Apple in 2019 still owns the high-end smartphone market, tablet market, smartwatch and wearable market. Apple in 1995 suffered heavy losses, while 2019 Apple was profitable with Samsung and Google combined (CounterPoint data).

Why did Jobs give the throne to the people he still hated, the followers that led to the tech giants collapsing? The answer is really simple: Cook is not a product guy, but Cook is a leader who always respects and appreciates those who make Jobs’ successor products.

Look at today’s Apple and you will see that. If Steve Jobs had always been an almost unique performer at previous Apple events, Cook would not spend all his time today: the responsibility of launching products is always reserved for the “guys who do it.” products “like Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi, Jeff Williams … It is these people who are the true successors of Jobs, Cook is just” the maid “only.

The press has always praised the ability to build a leadership team that is both harmonious and responsible from Jobs. For example, right after the salient launch of Apple Maps, Cook “killed immediately” Scott Forstall, who likes to fight and does not like to take responsibility for himself. The Apple apparatus, built by Tim Cook, has created an unprecedented coherent product ecosystem. The growth of the service segment in 2018 and 2019 to help compensate for saturated smartphones is the clearest evidence. Although it cannot create revolutions like the old iPhone or iPod, Apple Watch or AirPods still dominate their own field, showing the absolute belief of users in the experience of Apple.

Of course, there will still be people who complain that Apple is no longer capable of implementing the technological revolution. But what not everyone realizes, is that Steve Jobs most likely created the last technological revolution – the modern smartphone. In that technological revolution, Tim Cook is still keeping Apple advantages. Apple has its own ecosystem, has its own software, has an outstanding speed, has features that rivals can not keep up (Face ID, studio simulation photography …). The position of the iPhone remains as strong as the day Steve Jobs died: according to Counterpoint data, Apple accounts for 80% of high-end segment sales.

In an interview in 2015, Tim Cook recounted Steve Jobs’s belief: “Good products, good tools for people … are Jobs’ legacy for the world.” Not the one who really understands the product, Cook still knows what he needs to do: keep Apple always a product-oriented team. And Jobs saw it at Cook.

Source : Cafef.vn