Tim Cook Takes over as CEO
Written By: William Channel
Staff Writer
On Aug. 24, Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, resigned from the company leaving Tim Cook, his Chief Operating Officer, as CEO of the company. Steve Jobs, whose ailing health has made it hard for him to continue his job as CEO, sent out an email saying that “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.”
At this moment it is unclear exactly what is ailing Steve Jobs. This is not the first time Jobs has been out of commission do to health reasons. However, his resignation has left some Apple customers worried.
“Oh that’s not good,” said Jamar Diggs, a junior in the sociology department. “When he leaves, Apple is going to go downhill.” This is a fear that many are having now.
Tim Cook released an email soon after being officially announced as the new CEO trying to quell these fears. In the email, he talks about how Apple will not change and will continue to remain at the top of its field.
As far as experience is concerned, Tim Cook has filled in for Steve Jobs on a number of occasions in the past, specifically when Jobs has had to take leaves of absences due to his health. Tim Cook has spent many years with Apple working with its sales activities and management. During those time in which Cook filled in for Jobs, Apple sales skyrocketed.
One major problem of Cook’s seems to be that not many people know about him. Aristio Alston, a senior at ODU, voiced his curiosity about the new CEO. He, like many others, is wondering if the new Apple company is going to be as, if not more innovative as when the company was led by Jobs.
“Based on his resume, he is a product manager not an idea person,” said Janet Brunelle, Assistant Chair for the Computer Science Department. Instead of coming up with new ideas himself, Cook is going to need to rely on the ideas that the company employees come up with. Therefore, it is hard to say if the ideas that the apple workers come up with will have any of the innovations or flare that Steve Jobs was famous for.
Much to the same point Dajuan Stallworth, a senior in the biology department at ODU, mentions his belief that Apple will stay the same in the fact that “the people behind it all are still the same people.”
Indeed, there are many employees working for the company that have intensive experience with what the customers expect and want from their products. Tim Cook also mentioned that he intends to keep Apple products at the same level of excellence that the consumer has grown to expect from them.
The shear fact that Tim Cook was recommended by Steve Jobs should alleviate many fears about the future of Apple. “It’s unrealistic that such a smart man would leave his company in the hands of someone not capable,” said Janet Brunelle.
He may not be the creative genius that Steve Jobs was, but the shear recommendation of Tim Cook by Steve Jobs speaks a lot about the confidence in the man’s ability to perform.
