Tim Cook's Final Message as Apple CEO ➹

This is indeed the end of an era. As I wrote when the transition was announced, Cook built Apple into what is probably the most formidable product manufacturing and logistics organisation on the planet (I remember when Nokia was considered the same, albeit only for mobile phones), and Patrick McGee’s Apple in China makes the sheer scale–and strategic cost–of that achievement painfully clear.

But Cook was never a product person, in my view, and that showed in the decline of overall software quality over the years. Contrast that with the tremendous growth in services and the sheer volume of the App Store–run by Phil Schiller, who is also changing roles today–and the lasting impression is one of relentless efficiency, perhaps a tad lacking in soul.

Everyone has high hopes for Ternus as his successor, particularly around QA and actual product focus. Cook will stick around as executive chairman to deal with politics (his understated main focus these days), but I am going to reserve judgement for a year or so…