Apple's dilemma: who will be the next Cook| Overseas weekly election

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play Take a look at One More Thing in the Cook era on the 10th anniversary of becoming Apple CEO

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In August 2011, Steve Jobs stepped down Apple CEO。 Many people can't help wondering whether the Apple innovation era he created will also end. However, few people were surprised by Tim Cook's succession.

Before taking over, Cook was Apple's highly qualified chief operating officer, managing its global supply chain, and had prepared for several years to take over Jobs' thorny position. Eight years ago, Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and asked for leave several times with Cook's assistance.

Mike Slade, a former strategic consultant of Steve Jobs, said, "Steve told me that he absolutely trusted Tim. I thought, 'If I were you, I would never be satisfied'. This is probably the highest praise Steve Jobs can give."

A few weeks before Jobs died, Cook officially took over as CEO of Apple. August 25, Beijing time, is the tenth anniversary of Cook's inauguration. In the past decade, the voice of doubt about whether Apple could create the next popular product in the "Cook era" has never disappeared, but few people can deny Cook's success.

　　 Leading Apple to become the world's most valuable technology company

Ten years ago, Apple's annual sales were $108 billion. This year, Apple's annual sales are expected to reach about 370 billion dollars. A few days before Jobs left office, Apple briefly surpassed ExxonMobil , became the world's largest company by market value, when Apple's market value just reached $343 billion. This week, Apple's share price hit a new high, with the company's market value exceeding $2.4 trillion - the average annual return of shareholders was 22%.

According to statistics, one month after Cook took office, Apple has 60400 full-time employees. According to a document last fall, Apple currently has 147000 full-time employees around the world.

Ben Wood, an analyst with CCS Insight, said: "When Cook took over, everyone said he was no good without the charm of Jobs. Cook's style is' safe but conservative '. In fact, if we dig deep, Cook's achievements during his tenure are amazing."

Wood said that from the perspective of investors, Cook "turned the iPhone series into the most profitable consumer electronics product in history". Cook transformed iPhone users into monthly consumers in the form of Apple's App Store, Apple Music, iCloud and other digital services.

The two most fruitful products in the Cook era are Apple Watch and AirPods, which means "more than almost all electronic products on the market".

Cook has worked at Apple for 23 years and is now one of the highest paid CEOs in the United States. He has long been among the billionaires. Yesterday, the 61 year old Cook received the last award in the 10-year share installment plan: 5 million Apple shares worth more than 750 million dollars.

　　 Apple faces many challenges, but Cook is still the "nail to calm the sea"

Cook not only keeps Apple financially successful, but also acts as Apple's "diplomat" and "activist". Many people who have dealt with Cook pointed out that Cook attaches great importance to privacy. They felt that Cook's public debut in 2014 was a critical moment, and he became the first Fortune 500 CEO to come out publicly. Unlike many big bosses, Cook openly contacted Trump to try to ease the trade war or fight for exemption of certain tariffs for Apple.

Cook also positioned Apple as a defender of freedom and privacy, calling for strengthened supervision, and attacking some friends whose businesses rely on data collection and privacy information. Some privacy advocates believe that Apple is one of the few technology giants that does not use user data as a source of income.

Today, Apple's business spreads all over the world, but it also brings new challenges to the company. For example, the United States imposes tariffs on Apple's imported parts and products, and various countries supervise how Apple Store operates.

In recent years, Apple App Store has encountered a large number of antitrust complaints. On April 30 this year, the European Commission formally accused Apple of setting restrictive rules for its App Store, forcing developers to use Apple's own in app payment system, and preventing developers from informing users of other purchase options. In this regard, Apple also made a major concession on the App Store policy yesterday, announcing that it would allow developers to provide users with purchase options other than the app through email and other means, while increasing the optional range of developer fees.

However, the trouble will not end. In the United States, Apple is facing a lawsuit filed by Epic Games, the developer of Fortress Night. Later this year, a judge in California will decide whether Apple violated the antitrust law.

Regulators and competitors are eyeing Apple's App Store, one of Apple's digital services "money spinners", and accusing Apple of extracting fees from application developers' income in the App Store.

However, in the view of some people, with years of trust building, Cook is likely to enable Apple to survive the current regulatory storm safely.

　　 Can the next "iPhone" be born?

In addition, over the past 10 years, Apple has been facing the question of what the "next major product" might be. A Silicon Valley executive said that Cook had faced many criticisms in the past decade. Among them, what he may want to break is also the most bitter criticism, that is, he did not launch any products comparable to the iPhone.

Although the company has been investing heavily in the research of autonomous electric vehicles, the release date may take several years, and the development direction of this project is still changing.

Apple has also made some moves in the health field, such as allowing users to store medical records and communicate with doctors. But except for Apple Watch, Apple has not released any health hardware.

In addition, Apple is also developing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (VR) headworn products, which are expected to launch early versions as early as next year, but these are still a new category "not yet popular with consumers".

It is reported that Apple has been communicating with manufacturing partners recently to discuss whether it is possible to launch hot products in the next five years.

　　 Who can take over Cook?

With Apple's status and achievements today, it may be more difficult to take over Cook than it was when Cook took over Jobs, which also confirms Cook's success.

Now, as the Cook era enters its second decade, there are more and more rumors about his resignation.

When asked whether he would lead Apple to the end of the next decade, Cook replied: "Everything is very good now, leaving is far away. But ten years is too long, maybe there will not be another ten years."

If Cook is considering leaving his post, he may not be the only one considering leaving Apple.

The company's internal senior executives are all the old faces of Apple in important activities, and they are also the senior executives in the era of Jobs. They have worked at Apple for decades. Eddie Kuey, the director of service, and Greg Josviak, the director of marketing, both 56 years old, joined Apple in 1989 and 1986 respectively. Jeff, Chief Operating Officer· Williams At the age of 58, he joined Apple in 1998; Dildre O'Brien, retail director, has worked at Apple for 30 years. Craig Federigi, the software director, first joined Apple in 1997, when Apple hired Jobs back after acquiring his computer company NeXT.

But in recent years, the core team of the Jobs era has begun to collapse. In 2019, Sir Johnny Ivey, a long-term design director, resigned after 27 years at Apple. Last year, Phil Schiller, a close friend of Jobs and responsible for App Store and Apple marketing, also resigned from his full-time job.

Now, Apple may realize that it is not only Cook who needs to take over, so it has started to make a new generation of executives brush their faces frequently in the recent online product launch.

In addition, Apple also said that employees who work for an indefinite period (more than ten years) will be rewarded by the company, partly because it is often difficult for outsiders to adapt to the company's corporate culture.

John Browett, the former CEO of retailer Dixon, joined Apple in April 2012 to take charge of retail operations, but was fired by Cook only six months later. Angela Arentz, the former CEO of Burberry, was invited to replace Browett. Arenz stayed at Apple for five years and spent a lot of money to renovate Apple's retail stores, but with little success, so he chose to leave. Arentz's departure was surprising because she was widely believed to have the opportunity to succeed Cook.

Cook led Apple for ten years with meticulous management style. Although he is not leaving his post immediately, Apple certainly has solutions to ensure the continuity of management.

A business person familiar with Apple said that the next CEO might be a product magnate rather than an operation magnate like Cook. He said, "Apple is right. They didn't deliberately replace Jobs. Maybe Apple needs another visionary leader."

Over the years, Jeff Williams, the current chief operating officer of Apple, has been the most popular successor of Cook. Cook was also COO before taking over Jobs, and Williams was appointed COO in 2014.

At Apple's keynote speech activities, Williams also made frequent appearances, met millions of audiences around the world in online activities, released the new Apple Watch and introduced Apple's health programs. These health programs have gradually become an important part of Apple's future.

But this is just outside speculation. Apple is very secretive about the product plan, let alone the successor. However, Apple's corporate governance guidelines stipulate that the company's board of directors must "conduct an annual review of the management development and succession plans of senior managers, including the CEO".

However, Apple granted Cook a new stock option last September, aiming to keep Cook at the helm until 2025. Of course, no matter what Apple's next move is, Cook is still a stable pilot.

Whether to leave or when to leave depends on Cook himself. He should also feel that there is still something unfinished. An Apple investor said that the landmark acquisition might be a reasonable end. A landmark acquisition may be the perfect curtain call for Cook, just as Disney $71 billion acquisition completed 21st Century Fox After the company, then CEO Robert Eger also officially stepped down.