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Tim Cook's speech at Goldman Sachs Conference moved to open market slot
This is an interesting note that might not turn out to mean much, but who knows? Apple CEO Tim Cook is scheduled to speak at the upcoming Goldman Sachs Tech Conference this week, as he's done before. The talk was originally set to take place on Tuesday at 4:15pm ET, which would have placed it after regular trading ends in the stock market. But Cook's speech has instead been moved to 10:15 AM ET, which will put it right at the beginning of the stock-trading day. This has lead investors and analysts to wonder if Cook really has something to say. In the past, he's basically just waxed eloquent on Apple's philosophy and choices, but the rumor mills are ablaze with news of new products from Apple, so it's possible Cook could hint at a new announcement, or just plain make one. It does seem unlikely that Cook would use someone else's event to make a big announcement, as Apple usually likes to run its own events these days. But Apple will be streaming audio of Cook's presentation, as usual, so maybe he will have something new to tell us. No matter whether the change means a new bit of news or just a schedule conflict, we'll of course be listening in live to see what Cook has to say.
One year of Tim Cook as CEO of Apple
Exactly one year ago today, Tim Cook took over the leadership of Apple from Steve Jobs. CNET's Josh Lowensohn reports that his first year at the company has been a huge success. Not everyone believed that Cook, who had filled in for Jobs twice during his battle with pancreatic cancer, would keep the company on its incredible journey. When the announcement of his appointment as CEO was made, Apple's stock dropped more than $6 a share. But now the stock is up 44 percent over its value at this time in 2011 and Apple was recently named the most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization. During Cook's first year, the company continued to see revenue growth outpacing the rest of the industry during a worldwide recession, continues to fight patent battles against rivals in court to assure that Apple (in the words of Cook) "not become the developer for the world," and has released follow-ons to its highly successful products. However, some Wall Street analysts believe that Apple's future is bleak without the charisma of Jobs at the helm. Forrester CEO George Colony was quoted in April as saying that "Apple's momentum will carry it for 24 to 48 months, but without the arrival of a new charismatic leader it will move from being a great company to being a good company." Cook has made several mistakes. He hired John Browett to replace Ron Johnson as the head of Apple's retail operations, and Browett tried playing with staffing at some stores. That resulted in rumors that employees were going to be laid off or work fewer hours, forcing the company to publicly announce that it had been trying out a new staffing plan and had gone back to the old and trusted system. Widespread criticism of iPhone ads using celebrities and the recent "Genius" ads shown during the 2012 London Olympics are considered another faux pas. On the other hand, Cook has been visible in ways that Jobs would never have been. He visited Foxconn plants during criticism of the way that the manufacturer treated its employees. He created a matching charitable donation plan for employees, and set up better employee discounts for Apple products. He even made a personal donation of $100 million to the Stanford (CA) hospitals and PROJECT (RED), while Jobs wasn't known as a philanthropist. The long-term future of Apple cannot be foretold, but after the first year of Tim Cook at the helm, it looks like the company is doing just fine. Be sure to read TUAW blogger Michael Grothaus's post from last year talking about his personal experiences with Cook.
Tim Cook joined Apple because even 'when customers got mad at Apple, they'd continue to buy'
It's epic storytelling time at AllThingsD 10 as audience Q&A has begun, with Apple CEO Tim Cook opening up on why he came to join the company in the first place in response to a question from Lance Ulanoff of Mashable. To hear him tell it, an executive search firm came calling and he wasn't pressed -- until five minutes into his meeting with Steve Jobs. We'll let him tell it: It was a very interesting meeting. Steve had hired an executive search firm to find someone to run operations. They kept calling, and eventually I said 'Okay, I'll talk.' I flew out Friday on a redeye for a Saturday morning meeting with Steve. The honest-to-God truth, five minutes into the conversation I wanted to join Apple. I was shocked. Why did I want to do it? He painted a story and a strategy that he was taking Apple deep into consumer when I knew others were doing the exact opposite. I never thought following the herd was brilliant. He told me a bit about what would late be named the iMac, and I saw brilliance in that. I saw someone unaffected with money, and that has always impressed me when people do indeed have it. Those three things to me to throw caution to the wind and do it. I went back, and resigned immediately. Did I see the iPad and iPhone? No. What I saw was this: Apple was the only technology company that I knew of, including the one I was currently at, that when a customer got mad at a company, they'd continue to buy. If people got mad at Compaq, they'd buy Dell. If you were mad at Dell, you'd buy IBM. But an Apple customer was a unique breed; there's this emotion that you just don't see in technology in general. You could see it and feel it at Apple. When I looked at the balance sheet of the company, I thought I could do something in turning around a great American company. Whether you call it the reality distortion field or simply a strong brand attachment, it was enough, along with Steve Jobs' vision, to lure Tim Cook to work at Apple even when things weren't going so well back in 1998. Can he keep the shield generators running as CEO? Time will tell.
Tim Cook meets Chinese Vice Premier in Beijing, talks IP law, worker rights
Tim Cook's visit to China this week marks his first as Apple's CEO, but what originally appeared to be a casual jaunt to Beijing with possible carrier meetings on the agenda, has turned out to be a carefully orchestrated visit, including appointments with top government officials to talk economic development and intellectual property rights. Xinhua, the country's official press agency (and therefore not the most objective of sources), reported that Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang stated that the country will "strengthen intellectual property rights protection" and "pay more attention to caring for workers." Typical of state-sponsored releases, the report failed to expand on either statement, but even if nothing comes of this particular meeting, Keqiang is in line to take over as Premier next year, making him a solid addition to Cook's rolodex. There's a Chinese-language video of the encounter waiting just past the break.
Steve Jobs takes medical leave from Apple, Tim Cook taking over daily operations in his absence
That's all we know for now, folks. Apple's CEO is taking a medical leave from work, his second in as many years, with Tim Cook filling his role during that time. In an email to the Apple team, Steve Jobs says he'll be on leave to "focus on [his] health," though he will retain the position of CEO and will remain involved in the major strategic decisions -- Tim Cook will be picking up the slack on day-to-day operations. No further details have been provided, save for Steve expressing his love for Apple and wish to return to his duties as soon as he can. See his email missive in full after the break.
Silly Sunday Survey: Who would replace Steve Jobs?
Douglas McIntyre over at Blogging Stocks posed an interesting question the other day, in light of the current issues surrounding Apple's option back-dating. If it were discovered that Steve Jobs played a key role in the option mishap and he was forced to resign as CEO, who would/should be his replacement?Here are the candidates McIntyre suggests as possibilities: Phil Schiller -- He is the long-time head of global product marketing. He has been with the company since 1997 and has been critical in most product launches. (Update: Bob points out in the comments below that Phil started at Apple in 1987, then left for a few years during Spindler and Amelio's tenure, then returned in 1997) Tim Cook -- The company's COO. He had a long career at IBM. He also heads the Mac division. Tony Fadell -- One of the fathers of the iPod; he has an engineering background. He is a former executive at Philips Electronics. William Campbell -- One of Apple's leading directors. He has run a large public software company, Intuit. Jerome York -- Although he is over 70, York has experience operating troubled companies. He was CFO of IBM and a member of that company's board. He is also on the GM board. (Update: Alex alerts us in the comments that as of last week York is no longer on the GM Board) Jim Allchin -- Head of platforms and services at Microsoft. He intends to retire with the the launch of Vista. Allchin has an engineering background. Sue Decker -- The highly regarded CFO of Yahoo! She has a Wall St. background and now runs several key divisions at Yahoo! John Thompson -- The highly-regarded CEO of Symantec, has a background in running a large software company and is well liked on Wall Street. Perhaps some of you would like to weigh in?
