Tim Cook has been running Apple for ten years, with tremendous success. Now the top manager is slowly preparing to leave, a report wants to know. But he still wants to get one big thing off the ground.
It was a shock to the Apple community. When the health of company founder Steve Jobs continued to deteriorate due to cancer and he finally passed away on October 5, 2011, many asked themselves: Can the company keep its shine under the new CEO Tim Cook? But Cook, who was always a little paler than Jobs, quickly taught all skeptics better. Now he should prepare his departure himself in a few years.
This is what the usually well-informed “Bloomberg” journalist Marc Gurman reports in his latest newsletter. Cook, as several employees are said to have told him, is slowly preparing to leave the group that he has formed into the most valuable company in the world. Context are speculations about Apple’s first own car. But according to Gurman’s information, Cook will probably no longer take to the streets as boss.
Still the glasses and that’s it
“Inside Apple, there is a belief that Cook wants to remain a larger new product category,” explains Gurman. And immediately reveals which one it will be about: “It will probably be augmented reality glasses and not a car. It will take a while.” Both products have haunted the rumor kitchen for a long time. But while the Apple car has been in development for a long time, according to Gurman’s information, it should be the glasses that should appear well in advance.
A first model could be presented as early as next year, he believes. However, these are not yet real AR glasses that are supposed to display additional information in a frame suitable for everyday use. Instead, it should be a so-called mixed reality glasses, which are a bit clunkier. One example is Microsoft’s HoloLens glasses. A real AR version, which some observers see as a possible successor to the smartphone, should follow in a few years. And could then also coincide with Cook’s resignation.
Succession in preparation
So the Apple boss will not give up the reins that quickly, Gurman expects a retreat between 2025 and 2028. This is not pure speculation with Apple’s employees either. In an interview in April, Cook emphasized for the first time that in ten years’ time he would “probably” no longer manage the company; In addition, Gurman believes that he sees the management of a Silicon Valley group more in the hands of a younger person. “It won’t stay long after it has passed its zenith,” he says with certainty.
The fact that Apple is slowly but surely preparing for a change in leadership can also be seen in the company’s behavior. While Cook, like his predecessor Jobs, was at the beginning the clear main character of the all-important product presentations, in recent years he has increasingly left the stage to other executives in the group and limited himself to introductions. Software boss Craig Federighi and service boss Eddy Cue appeared as important faces of the group. The Chief Operating Manager Jeff Williams is also traded as a possible successor. Cook also held this post before taking the helm for the first time during Jobs’ illness.
Straight up
Cook’s successor definitely has big footsteps to fill. When Cook took over the position of CEO, the company was on a high flight thanks to the iPhone and was worth an unimagined $ 350 million at the time. Under Cook’s leadership, the group reached one high after the next, rising to become the most valuable public company in the world. In 2018, it became the first publicly traded company to break the $ 1 trillion mark, followed by the second trillion last year. The market value is currently close to $ 2.5 trillion – seven times as high as when Cook took office.
It was probably helpful that Cook, unlike the visionary Jobs, is more of a cool pragmatist. With cautious innovations, Apple hit the mark again and again, setting trends. For example, under Cook, the group introduced the wearable division, which not only produced two of the group’s most successful products, Apple Watch and AirPods, but also shaped the public’s perception of the respective product categories. In addition, Cook succeeded in building up another pillar with a focus on the service area in order to absorb the slowly decaying smartphone hype. The fact that Apple still managed record sales with the latest iPhone generation should of course have pleased him. Just like the record bonus he received on the tenth anniversary a week ago: The five million shares that have been credited to his portfolio are currently worth $ 750 million.
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