Has Apple Crumbled?

Blog » Has Apple Crumbled?

Known more for cutting-edge personal and design tech than commercial applications such as Web hosting, technology juggernaut Apple suffered a major blow with the passing of Steve Jobs in 2011.

Industry experts were quick to predict the company would soon falter without its charismatic founder at the helm. Yet in the years since Jobs’ successor, Tim Cook, has taken the wheel, Apple has not only continued on, but flourished.

Since his term as CEO began, Cook has overseen the release of the budget-friendly iPhone5c, a complete redesign of the MacPro desktop PC, and the creation and release of the latest version of Apple’s operating system for the iPhone, iOS7. He’s also addressed the company’s controversial Chinese labor practices, increased charitable giving and dividends for Apple investors, and helped lead the company to become the world’s most valuable corporation.

And it’s not just investors and the millions of adoring Apple fans that approve of Cook’s approach. While Steve Jobs enjoyed an enviable 95% approval rating during his last year as CEO, Cook still managed to trump the one-time wunderkind with a 97% approval rating in 2012.

Cook’s dedication to continuing the corporate culture established by Jobs, as well as his long history with the company (he started with Apple as Chief Operating Officer in 1998) and inarguable success in leading Apple to record-breaking profits, no doubt contributed to his popularity. Apple’s customers, employees, and investors are clearly enamored with Cook’s approach—including a few folks willing to pony up well over half a million dollars to have a cup of coffee with the man (all proceeds went to charity).

And while Apple remains mostly an outsider in parts of the tech realm (e.g., very few Web hosting providers offer support for Mac servers), its position as an industry leader seems secure for the foreseeable future (The company is rumored to be planning an “iWatch” wearable computing device for sometime in 2014).

Only time will tell if Cook’s leadership and popularity will help it conquer even more of the tech market and enjoy even greater success.

Has Apple Crumbled?

A number of industry experts predicted that Apple would lose direction without Steve jobs as the guiding force and that new CEO Tim Cook would struggle to keep pace. Two years on from Steve Jobs tragic passing and we look at how the company is performing.

Considerations

A few facts to consider when comparing new CEO Tim Cook with the late Steve Jobs

Cook gained a 2% higher popularity rating amongst Apple staff than his predecessor.

Apple is 77% richer under Tim Cook than it was under Steve Jobs.

A Popularity Contest

Glassdoor have for a number of years conducted an annual survey which gives employees of the major companies a chance to rate their current CEO over the last 12 month period.

Charity

Apple is now more charitable, matching dollar for dollar any donation to a non-profit by up to $10,000. A standard practice for many large corporations but not under Steve Jobs tenure.

Approval Rating

Steve Jobs earned an approval rating from his staff of 95% in his last year as CEO. Tim Cook managed to trump Job’s approval rating by scoring 97%.

Tim Cook – 97%
Steve Jobs – 95%
Intuit’s Brad Smith – 91%
Oracle’s Larry Ellison – 82%
Michael Dell – 81%
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer – 47%

Share Price

Steve Jobs

Revenues

1985 – $2B
1993 – $8B
1996 – $1B loss
2011 – $108B

Stock Price

1993 – up 550%
2011 – up 9,638%

Tim Cook

Revenues

2011 – $108B
2012 – $156B
2013 – sales continue to rise

In the last 12 months the shared have lost about 25% of their value but they are still actually 23% higher than they were when Jobs died.

Innovation

The Apple of the last decade was an almost non-stop invention factory or at least that is how it was perceived. It could be argued that despite this reputation, Apple only launched three truly legitimately pioneering products in the last 10 years of Jobs’ life.

2001 – iPod
2007 – iPhone
2010 – iPad
2014 – iWatch?

That equates to one new product category every three to six years, so on that timeline, the present CEO Tim Cook is not exactly behind schedule on the innovation front. It could be argued that he as until 2014 to match the pace of Steve Jobs creations.

iWatch – how likely would people be to buy an iWatch if and when it came out?

People who owned previous apple products are 7 times more likely to buy an iWatch.

Only 1 percent of respondents who did not own Apple products reported that they were very likely to buy an iWatch for themselves or someone else if and when such a product might be released. By comparison, 7 percent of Apple product owners said they were very likely to buy it.

Customer Wars

One of the things that really drives share price and CEO popularity is how many customers are holding their gadgets in their hand rather than a product produced by a rival company.

Switching Users

Over the last 12 months, 20% of current iPhone users switched from an android device whereas only 7% of Samsung buyers were previous owners of an iPhone.

Demographics

Apple customers tend to be richer, better educated, and younger than Samsung’s customers.

First Timers

Where Apple are struggling compared to Samsung is in attracting first-time smartphone buyers.