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Now or never. A revolution is expected from Tim Cook's Apple

Ondrej Holzman
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On the outside, everything seemed the same as before, Apple company was walking like a stick even after the departure of his father Steve Jobs, selling millions of iPhones around the world and adding several billion dollars to its coffers every quarter. Nevertheless, Tim Cook, the successor of the late visionary and co-founder of Apple, faced enormous pressure. Many questioned his ability to replace a man who had changed the world multiple times in a single decade. And it must be said that up until now, the great introvert Cook gave room to the doubters. But 2014 could be the year when the head of the most valuable company in the world hits the table with his actions and shows that he too can lead Apple and that he too can bring revolutionary innovations.

In August, it will be three years since Tim Cook officially replaced Steve Jobs as Apple's CEO. That's how much time Steve Jobs usually needed after the turn of the millennium to present his revolutionary idea to the world that changed everything. Whether it was the iPod in 2001, the iTunes Store in 2003, the iPhone in 2007, or the iPad in 2010, Steve Jobs was no robot who churned out one revolutionary product after another in a short period of time. Everything had its time, order, everything was thought out, and thanks to Jobs, Apple got to the imaginary throne of the technological world.

Many people forget, or rather want to forget, that necessary period that even such a genius, although certainly not flawless, needed. Understandably, from the first day he took up his new position, Tim Cook could not avoid comparisons with his long-time boss and friend at the same time. Although Jobs himself advised him to act according to his best sense and not to look back at what Steve Jobs would do, it did not deter the evil tongues. Cook was under enormous pressure from the start, and everyone was looking forward to when he would finally introduce a major new product. Just like Jobs did in the last ten years. The latter - to the detriment of Cook - ended up introducing so many of them that time washed away how many years he needed to do it, and people just wanted more and more.

[do action=”quote”]2014 should be the year of Tim Cook.[/do]

However, Tim Cook was taking his time. A year after the death of Steve Jobs, he was able to present only one new device to the world, the expected third-generation iPad, and that was once again grist for all doubters. Significant news, which Cook would have silenced everyone, did not come in the following months either. Today, fifty-three-year-old Cook could be relatively at ease. The products so far have been huge successes, and in terms of finances and market position, Cook was a must. On the contrary, he planned major coups within the company, which prepared the ground for the subsequent explosion. And the explosion here means nothing but revolutionary products called for by the public and experts.

Although Apple's top officials refuse to talk about a revolution within the respected company, they prefer to talk about the evolution forced by the departure of Steve Jobs, but Tim Cook intervened in the hierarchy and employee structures in a fundamental way. Steve Jobs was not only a visionary, but also a hard stickler, a perfectionist who wanted to have everything under control, and what was not according to his ideas, he was not afraid to show it, often expressively, whether it was an ordinary employee or one of his closest colleagues. Here we see a fundamental difference between Jobs and Cook. The latter, unlike the former, is a quiet man willing to listen and reach a consensus if he feels it is the right thing to do. When Jobs made up his mind, others had to make an enormous effort to change his mind. Plus, they usually failed anyway. Cook is different. The second key thing is that he is definitely not a visionary like Steve Jobs. After all, we cannot find such a second one in any other company at the moment.

This is precisely why Tim Cook started to build a compact team around him right after he took over at the head of Apple, consisting of the biggest minds sitting in the chairs of the Cupertino headquarters. Therefore, after a year in office, he fired Scott Forstall, until then an absolutely key man at Apple. But he did not fit into Cook's new philosophy, which sounded clear: a perfectly functioning team that would not depend on a single article, but would help each other and come up with revolutionary ideas collectively. Otherwise, it is not even possible to replace Steve Jobs, and this Cook plan perfectly illustrates the view into the company's innermost leadership. After Steve Jobs, apart from Cook, only four Musketeers remained in it from the original ten members. To the eye of the uninterested, relatively uninteresting changes, but for Tim Cook, absolutely essential news. He was able to reshape Apple's operation in his own image within three years, when he took Jobs's advice on his own head, and now he is ready to show the world who is still the main innovator here. At least everything points to that so far. 2014 is supposed to be the year of Tim Cook, but we'll have to wait until the fall and maybe even winter to see if that will actually be the case.

The first signs from which the prediction is reflected could already be seen in June, when Apple presented new versions of its operating systems for computers and mobile devices at its annual developer conference and excelled. Apple engineers were able to develop two really big updates for both operating systems in a single year, and in addition, they showed the developers several novelties that no one expected and were, as it were, extra, even if no one dared to call them the famous Jobs' "One more thing". Nevertheless, Tim Cook demonstrated how capable and above all effective the team he created at Apple. Up until now, Apple has focused more on one or the other system every year, now Cook has managed to unify and streamline the work of individual divisions to such an extent that it is practically impossible for an unpleasant situation like in 2007 to arise.

[do action=”citation”]The soil is perfectly prepared. Just take one last step.[/do]

That's when Apple was forced to postpone the release of the OS X Leopard operating system by half a year. Reason? The development of the iPhone took such a large amount of resources from the Leopard developers that they simply did not have time to create on several fronts at once. Now at Apple, they manage to fully develop not only two operating systems at once, but also several pieces of iron at the same time, i.e. iPhones, iPads and others. While the first part of this statement is already confirmed, the Californian giant has yet to convince us of the second. However, everything indicates that the second half of the year will be literally loaded with apple ammunition.

We're expecting a brand new iPhone, maybe even two, new iPads, it could even be computers, but what everyone's eyes have been on for a few months now is a brand new product category. A mythical iWatch, if you will. Tim Cook and his colleagues have been tempting for a revolutionary product that would at least partially rival Steve Jobs for a good two years, and he has gone so far in his promises that if he does not present a product that in reality no one knows anything about for sure yet, to the end this year, no one will just believe him. The ground is perfectly prepared for it. You just have to take one last step. Apple has hired so many new faces for its almost mythical product that an entire complex of offices and studios could easily be built for them. The concentration of brains, smart heads and seasoned engineers is huge in Cupertino.

For Cook, it's now or never. To judge him after a year or two would be short-sighted, but he has now dug himself such a hole that if he does not fill it with fulfilled expectations by the end of the year, he may fall very hard into it. However, it should be noted that this would not be the end of Apple. With the resources that the company has, it would be around for a very long time even without new, revolutionary products.

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