Tim Cook kept Steve Jobs’ contact number in his iPhone long after he passed away

It’s over three and a half years since Apple’s cofounder and CEO Steve Jobs succumbed to pancreatic cancer and left this world but you may be surprised to know that Tim Cook, who succeeded Jobs as the next Apple CEO kept his contact number long after he passed away in October 2011.

The above information has been revealed in the book “Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader” that has been released recently across digital as well as brick and mortar stores. The book also reveals many other interesting tidbits and anecdotes about Jobs. Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, joint authors of the said book interviewed his wife Laurene Powell Jobs, Tim Cook, designer Jony Ive and several of his other former colleagues and friends. The book gives an insight into the life of one of the world’s top tech visionaries.

Business Insider tells about one incident narrated near the end of the book where Jobs’ close friend and Pixar’s chief creative officer John Lasseter tells about a conversation he had with Tim Cook during Laurene Powell’s 50th birthday party in November 2013.

“I got there kinda early, and Tim came in,” Lasseter said. “He came over and we started talking, and I said, ‘Do you miss him? I really miss Steve.’ And I showed him this.”

Lasseter took out his phone and showed Steve Jobs’ phone number and photo stored in favorite contacts on his iPhone saying, “I can’t get rid of that.”

On seeing this, Tim Cook also opened his iphone and showed Lasseter that he too still had Jobs’ contact number saved in his phone.

Lasseter was a close friend of Jobs and remained so up to his death. Tim Cook was close too and had even offered a part of his liver to Jobs.

“It’s funny, there’s a little club, I guess is the best way to describe it,” Lasseter says in the book. “The people like Jony and Tim, myself, that were very close to Steve up until the very end. And no one gets it, how much we miss him.”

Tim Cook kept Steve Jobs’ contact number in his iPhone long after he passed away

Tim Cook Leads Apple Differently than Steve Jobs

Tim Cook became Apple’s chief executive in October 2011, 6 weeks before Jobs passed away. When he first took over the position, there were a lot of assumptions that Apple would not be as innovative as when the company was managed under Steve Jobs. However, Cook proved them wrong.

There are a few tangible proofs that Apple is going to be better financially. With the release of Apple Watch, Apple Pay Service as well as the $3 billion acquisition of Beats music service. On top of that Apple’s stock has increased tremendously from $54 to $126 which means Apple has a market value of $700 billion, double than either Exxon Mobile or Microsoft.

Cook has different style of management than Jobs. Rather than looking into small details like Jobs did, Cook behaves like a coach who is aware of the issue, involved at the high end and gets involved as needed.  He lets his staffs do their own thing.  On top of that he does not try to be Steve Jobs. He always tries to be himself. These are some of the character of Tim Cook’s as described by one of the senior management, Eddy Cue, senior vice president for Internet software and services who joined Apple in 1989.

The next thing for Apple is the new corporate university. If everything is going as per scheduled, then it will be finished by the end of 2016. The building will have a doughnut shape design which looks like a spaceship from far.

Apple reportedly planning to begin its electric car production by 2020

A few days back there were reports that Apple was secretly working on a new car. We now have Bloomberg revealing that the Cupertino giant is indeed working on an electric car which could enter production as early as 2020. This is quite fast considering that auto companies normally take 5 to 7 years to develop a car.

Apple’s electric car could pose a threat to Tesla and General Motors, both of which are planning to unveil their respective new electric car models that can cover over 200 miles on a single charge and they would cost less than $40,000.

As Steve LeVine, author of the book “The powerhouse” told Bloomberg TV, “That’s the inflection point — the proving ground — that brings on the electric age. Now you have Apple coming in and this is critical mass. Was GM really going to be able to match Tesla? Apple can.”

With a record $18 billion profit during the previous quarter and holding a whopping $178 billion cash, Apple is currently in a very strong financial position to easily spend money to build a car speedily if it so desires. Apple CEO Tim Cook is reportedly keen for the company to pursue new lines of products.

According to a source, Tesla’s success has shown that overcoming the traditional barriers to enter the automotive industry are not as difficult as thought earlier. Several companies are now investing to bring technological developments in automobiles.

Apple already has about 200 employees in its car team, the company has been hiring many techies expert in batteries, robotics and other fields related to car manufacturing, in the past couple of months. Apple has poached about 50 people from Tesla and recently a battery maker A123 Systems has filed a lawsuit against Apple for “aggressive campaign to poach” its employees.

Apple has been known to scrap some of its secret projects so it may very well scrap its car project or delay it if the progress is not satisfactory. Tim Cook himself had said back in 2014 that although Apple has several projects in development which are not in public knowledge, the company may not release them all. So there is no guarantee that Apple’s electric car will arrive in the market by 2020.

There is no official word from the company itself about the project.

Source Bloomberg

Apple reportedly planning to begin its electric car production by 2020

Is Apple CEO Tim Cook Polar Opposite of Steve Jobs?

During the late Steve Jobs’ time in power as CEO, “Think Different” became Apple’s creed. Tim Cook, current Chief Executive Office of Apple is embracing all together a different idea that would have appeared crazy to the late Steve Jobs.

Apple’s pending acquisition deal with streaming musing and headphone making company Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion is an example of Cook’s deviation from his predecessor. Jobs always had great level of confidence in his company’s innovative powers and wouldn’t spend a large amount of money on acquisitions.

Tim Cook was appointed as CEO of Apple in late August 2011; it was approximately one and a half month before Steve Jobs died. Cook is kind of starting to put his own mark on Apple. Cook is drifting from Jobs’ practice by making commitment to return $130 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends.

Apple displayed more social responsibility under Cook’s leadership by improving labor conditions in their device assembling factories oversea. Also, steps taken to reduce carbon footprints by reducing pollution caused by Apple’s gadgets and data centers.

Change in the management looks to have changed the creed of the company. It has started to look more like any other company without innovation. Jobs always tried to come up with innovative products such as iPhone, iPod & iPad and made revolutions. Right now the company is concentrating on upgrading existing productions and finding ways to make bulk profits after Cook’s take over.

“Jobs wanted Cook to step out and be different,” says longtime technology analyst Rob Enderle. “But I think he wanted (Cook) to do the things that were central to the business, not things that Jobs thought were stupid,” he added.

Though Cook has repeatedly assuring investors and customer that Apple would continue to invent “insanely great” products, iPad was the last innovative product released in April 2010. iPad was released 18 months before Steve Jobs died of cancer.

Aside, Google launched its Google Glass and Samsung unveiled Gear Smartwatches. Nest was purchased by Google for $3.3 billion in January. Nest makes internet connected housewares and appliances, by former Apple designer, Tony Fadell.

“We’ve got some great things that we’re working on that I’m very, very proud of and very, very excited about,” Cook told analysts in a conference call last month. “But, for us, we care about every detail and when you care about every detail and getting it right, it takes a bit longer to do that and that’s always been the case.”

It was pointed out that there were other smartphones, tablet computers and digital music players before Apples devices in those areas, Cook said “It means much more to us to get it right than to be first,” that sounded like an echo of Steve Jobs.

Wall Street is still taking a wait-and-see attitude with Cook. Apple’s stock ended last week at $585.24, well below its peak of $705.07 reached in September 2012, but still a 56 percent gain since Cook became CEO. That’s just slightly behind the 60 percent increase in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index during the same period. Despite the lag, Apple’s market value is the highest in the world at about $500 billion.

Cook gave few clues about the new products Apple is working on, the possible products could be internet connected watch, a suit of mobile application for managing health, a digital wallet and a new system that can easily toggle between traditional television and internet videos. But we can expect a new iPhone to be released in August of September with a larger screen.

“We have not seen any dramatic product changes to suggest Apple has evolved a lot from where it was three to five years ago, but it sure feels like the company is pregnant and we will soon know a lot more,” says Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett. “If a Beats acquisition is the biggest news of the year, then it will be a bust.”

No comments made by Apple of Beats Electronics on reports citing that the two companies are nearing the deal.

Hip-hop artist Dr. Dre and music executive Jimmy Lovine together found Beats Electronics. A line of fashionable headphone and audio equipments would be given to Apple those are very popular among teenagers and young adults. Beats launched music-streaming subscription service earlier this year, Apple would gain it too.

Apple’s own streaming music service hasn’t gained as much traction as the company expected and says Erick Joachimsthaler, founder and CEO of Vivaldi Partners Group: “If you look at the current music market, downloads are declining for iTunes. So Apple needed to do something.”

Apple has $150 billion in cash, so buying Beats would be affordable and easy. However it still remains as a puzzle why Apple would even think of buying Beats when it already owns iTunes and could license technology to make even better headphones on it’s own.

“Apple’s brand is way stronger than Beats,” Gillett says. “It’s a head scratcher.”

In last month’s conference call, Cook acknowledged to being “on the prowl” for acquisitions.

“We look for companies that have great people and great technology and that fit culturally and we don’t have a rule that says we can’t spend a lot or whatever,” he said. “We’ll spend what we think is a fair price.”

Yukari Iwatani Kane, the author of a new book called “Haunted Empire” that explores how Apple has changed since Jobs’ death. The Beats deal looks like a distress signal to him.

“When companies start expanding their accessory line-up, it’s a worrisome sign for innovation,” Kane says. “Accessories have always been an easy way for any company to beef up their sales.”

Cook has always been a highly respected executive; he was focusing on managing Apple’s product inventor and needs of component before replacing Jobs position when he was fighting cancer, specifically the final seven years.

Cook is “the guy who liked doing everything that Steve Jobs hated to do,” Enderle says. “When you make Jobs’ polar opposite the CEO, it’s probably not going to work out well.”

Is Apple CEO Tim Cook Polar Opposite of Steve Jobs?