I remember my first iPod. It was white and slim and just the coolest, most beautiful thing. Going running with a thousand songs in my pocket was life-changing.
I can’t say I feel the same about my iPhone 16, despite it containing all the world’s knowledge, and near-infinite songs. iPhones are everywhere these days. Even my mum has one. And when is the last time Apple, now a $4 trillion company, put out something that felt as game-changing as the iPod, or the original iPhone?
Last week, Tim Cook — the successor to the legendary Apple chief executive Steve Jobs — announced he’d be stepping down. I wanted to use the opportunity to talk to my colleague Tripp Mickle, who has written a book about Apple, on the state of the company. It’s one of the most profitable in the world. But can it become cool again?
Where does Apple go next?
Tripp, when we talk about Apple chief executives, there’s no getting away from the Steve Jobs mystique. How real is it?
It’s real. Under Jobs, Apple was a place of imagination and innovation. It went from releasing the iMac — the signature, candy-colored computers — to the iPod, which changed the way we listen to music, to the iPhone, which started the smartphone revolution.
All of that happened in around one decade. Jobs had the vision for what people wanted, and he was able to harness all these creative forces within Apple to make it happen. He made Apple the signature American company of the past 20, 25 years.
You wrote a book called “After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul.” What was Apple’s soul, and how did the company change under Tim Cook?
The soul of Apple, as embodied by Jobs, was this philosophy of living at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts, or, put more simply, creativity. That infused all the products they were bringing into the world.
When Jobs died, there was a real question from industry peers, Wall Street and even people inside the building about whether Apple could still innovate. Almost nobody thought the company would have the success that it had over the previous 15 years.
The reality has been more complicated. Under Cook, Apple has been tremendously successful. But it became a different company, more conservative, more focused on making the most money possible with the products that Jobs had helped originate. It’s more of an operational juggernaut and less of a creative powerhouse.
How would you describe Cook’s reign?
One of the most underappreciated things about Cook is that he figured out how to make this company that was built around Jobs function without Jobs. He had to create a company that was more democratic, where decisions were made by a team of leaders versus a more autocratic approach under Jobs. That wasn’t an easy transition.
If you ask people at Apple who worked with Jobs the hypothetical question, “What would it be like if he had lived?” they’d tell you that Apple would be a lot more interesting as a company — but not as rich.
Jobs would have taken more risks, made more mistakes, started products that flopped. Cook was laser-focused on the bottom line.
And what made Cook so very, very good at making money?
One answer is China. In 2013, he persuaded the Chinese government to allow Apple to sell iPhones in China. He got permission for China Mobile, China’s largest wireless carrier, with 750 million subscribers,to carry the iPhone. To this day, Apple’s China business is the envy of most companies.
He also recognized around 2017, 2018 that iPhone sales were slowing and began looking for other ways to make money. He shifted the company’s focus from developing devices to selling software and services across those devices. Apps, a credit card and TV shows kept people reliant on Apple.
So there’s Jobs, the creative visionary, and Cook, the operations guy. Where does Cook’s successor, John Ternus, fit in?
He comes from the product side and has been there since the early 2000s, so he’s very familiar with that period of innovation and creativity under Jobs. But he has also been part of the Cook era of making careful, calculated choices.
So he’s this hybrid figure. The hope is that he’ll do both: bring back more of a spirit of innovation, and keep the profits flowing. But we just won’t know until he gets into that seat.
What are the biggest challenges coming his way?
There are two — one technological, one geopolitical.
The technological challenge is that we are in the A.I. era, and Apple is behind. Inside Apple, they’re very concerned that A.I. could lead to a new operating system and that if Apple doesn’t develop its own A.I. operating system, the iPhone experience as we all know it will be broken by somebody else who develops it. So they’ve got to figure out how to control their own destiny.
The other challenge is geopolitical. Apple is still heavily reliant on China to make its smartphones, and being Apple’s chief executive requires navigating the adversarial relationship between the U.S. and China. Tim Cook proved to be a diplomat and statesman. He was very skilled at working with government ministers in Beijing and officials in Washington, including President Trump. Ternus will have to learn that.
What’s the next innovation up Apple’s sleeve? Will Ternus start his term with some nifty new gadget?
This transition is very stage-managed, very scripted. They’ve been working on a foldable iPhone that reportedly could be released in September. That coincides with when Cook steps down and Ternus steps in, so he might be the one bringing this new iPhone to the world. Watch this space.
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Where is this desert?
BEFORE YOU GO …
Close readers of this section might have noticed, as my editor put it, “an unusual number of references to dancing for a middle-aged journalist.”
Guilty.
I love dancing. I did quite a lot of it as a teenager. During university, I gave classes myself, which paid my rent. Then life and work and family took their toll and I abandoned regular classes. But I still get ridiculously happy from dancing socially, or even just watching other people dance. I’m convinced our favorite childhood hobbies remain a source of happiness for the rest of our lives.
Last weekend I tapped into that happiness at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. “The Center Will Not Hold” by Dorrance Dance is a pacey hour of powerful breakdance and club moves that combine magically with some very intense tap. (I was never that into tap. Now I’m a convert.) The music, a combo of beats and body percussion, is hypnotic. Try to catch them on tour.
I was so into it that I spontaneously bought tickets for me and my daughters to this weekend’s Breakin’ Convention hip-hop festival in London. Maybe I can even persuade them to come along to a daytime workshop!
To play you off, I have something special for you — “Big Flexa” by the late Costa Titch, a South African amapiano rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer. But be warned — don’t start watching if you have something pressing to do. I’ve probably watched this video 500 times, and it still sucks me in.
Have a great weekend! — Katrin
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