Since Tim Cook took the reins in Cupertino , almost four years ago , a gradual but inexorable alteration has taken place . And , speaking as a longtime follower of the company , there was to me no greater denotation of that thanthis past week ’s kerfuffle over artist royalty payments , and the eventual insurance policy reversal from the company . Let us bet the mode in which this whole to - do reflects the changing face of the company .
First of all : insurance policy transposition are nothing young to Apple , even under Jobs . The company dropped the Leontyne Price of the original iPhone , for example , and launch a video iPod after Jobs derided the idea of catch picture on one . But in so many of those scenarios , those moves were conveyed less as about-face and more as “ we stand for to do this all along ” or “ I only order nobody would do that because nobody has done itright . ” In this display case , it was border as a direct reaction to a complaint — Taylor Swift ’s clear letter — and carried at least a opinion of the mea culpa , if not an out - and - out apologia .
Apple ’s insurance change regarding Apple Music seemed to be a lineal response to Taylor Swift ’s heart-to-heart letter .
second , this policy variety was announced via Twitter . Apple ’s been deadening to embrace societal networking . Though many of the society ’s individual arms have a mien on the net — iTunes , the App Store , even the nascentApple Music — there ’s still no official Apple account . ( Both@appleand@appleincexist , but are fundamentally empty . ) The same seems to go for Facebook , where there ’s only anunofficial Apple page .
Traditionally , a move like this would have been herald via a comment from a praseodymium repp to a news issue — or perhaps , if it were truly a major incident , via a press waiver onApple ’s Porto Rico page . ( Or , in the occasional really bizarre incident , take hold a press conference and inviting a smattering of printing press to tour the company ’s transmitting aerial testing facility . )
Thirdly , that it came instantly from senior vice president of Internet and Software Services Eddy Cue himself is significant . During Steve Jobs ’s incumbency , the vast bulk of communicating from Apple number either from the mouth of the CEO himself , or from Apple ’s public relations squad . Cook ’s Apple , on the other manus , has put the repose of the executive squad into far more visible positions , whether it be principal design police officer Jony I ve ’s regular profusion of insistency profiles , senior vice chairman of Software Engineering Craig Federighi ’s marathon presentation appearance , or senior vice President of the United States of world-wide marketingPhil Schiller ’s recent appearance on Daring Fireball proprietor John Gruber ’s podcast .
Cook ’s specialty is the track of the business , and at that he surpass . But he also know when to allow his squad do its chore , and does n’t sample to copy the way Jobs ran the company . As I wrotefour age ago upon his ascension to the top position :
Tim Cook may not be the next Steve Jobs , but his caper is n’t “ New Steve Jobs , ” it ’s “ chief executive policeman ” : He ’s there to keep the society running swimmingly , so that the thousands of Apple employees can concentrate on making great production . He ’s there to do what he ’s good at and guide the business concern , just like Jonathan I ve is there to do what he ’s honorable at and design peachy hardware .
That does n’t mean that Cook does n’t command aid himself , just that he live when to step back from the public eye . rather , he ’s taken a page from Jobs ’s playbook and spoke up about the matters that are authoritative to himpersonally : things like equality , multifariousness , and wellness .
The more I view it , the more I ’ve begun to think that evenwereJobs still around , Cook might still be the better choice for chief operating officer in this day and old age . Can you imagine Jobs being as open as Cook was to calls for improved diversity at Apple ? Or sweep up societal sensitive ? Or posing for selfies ? Yeah , me neither . That Jobs was a genius at what he did is difficult to deny , and there ’s no dubiety that he could be magnetic when he palpate like it , but in a fourth dimension when concern often revolve around issues like transparency and responsiveness , it ’s hard not to think that his close and often waspish shtick might start out to wear thin . Meanwhile , Cook ’s more relaxed clasp and good - natured appeal go a prospicient way towards cushion the company ’s double — even as it keep to do business with unpitying efficiency .
In that same piece of four age ago , I was bullish about the future tense of an Apple under Cook :
What I ’m energise about is what come next . Apple under Tim Cook will undeniably appear a luck like Apple under Steve Jobs , at least for the foreseeable future . But at some point , it will convert .
Make no misunderstanding : That process of change is far from over . The Apple of today is still clearly recognisable as the house that Jobs build , but it ’s now become just as obvious that it ’s a house that Cook has put a lot of vigor into renovating .
