Steve Jobs - A tyrant, demanding perfection in every job, always intending to deliver the best experience to the device users. No less was acceptable."Steve Jobs put in place at Apple a culture of innovation," Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross says.Survived pancreatic cancer, had a liver transplant and expired on 5 Oct’11.

Cook, an Alabaman, has been an asset to Apple since his arrival in 1998. Credited with tuning Apple's manufacturing process to solve chronic product delays and supply problems, his inventory management skills helped Apple build up its $73 billion hoard of cash and marketable securities — funds that it can use to keep its lead in the portable electronics market.

Not as recognizable as Steve Jobs, he became the very public face of Apple, when Jobs was in consistent medical leave. A very strong track record at Apple, when in charge at 2004, Cook was promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Then, the innovation has translated to sales. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads in a quarter, bringing sales to nearly 29 million iPads. Also sold 20.3 million iPhones in the same period, which was millions more than analysts expected. Scheduled release of new version of iPhone and Laptop in 2009.Major Milestone: More than one billion apps were downloaded within the first nine months of its existence.Apple's stock rose 62 per cent during that time, satisfying investors' concerns over Jobs' absence.Honestly, the company thrived under Cook’s leadership in Jobs’s absence.

When stepping down from the position CEO, Steve also recommended Tim Cook take over as the Chief Executive Officer."It was absolutely one of the saddest days of my life when Steve passed away," Cook said with visible emotion.The company's market value, for example, is up some $140 billion since Cook took over. At a market cap of about $500 billion, Apple is more valuable than Exxon Mobil (XOM) by $100 billion -- despite Apple's shares being down 15% from their peak.

Team:I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as C.E.O. of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I've ever made and it's been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve's optimism for Apple's bright future.I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple's unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that - it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.Second, Apple has innovated beyond customer expectations. Over and over again, the company has created products that people never asked for but now can't live without. In doing this, Apple has raised customer consciousness and expectations around the world. As the standard-bearer for elegant design Apple has changed the way we all live our lives. While the world rarely knows what it will be, it has come to expect the NEXT BIG THING from Apple.With Steve gone the people of Apple have too much passion to let the world down. Driven by a sense of cause we think Tim Cook and team will emerge to uphold the legacy of design thinking they helped create.Third, while Jobs set an unbelievably strong tone for Apple, astonishing the world with 'gotta have' products is a collaborative effort. The leaders, designers and engineers with whom Jobs surrounded himself have had an opportunity to get 'inside Steve's brain' for a long time. With strong leadership comes 'thick' culture. Over time the cultural DNA that has made Apple the envy of the world could get diluted. But in the near term, we seriously doubt that it will be easy to undo the discipline that created the best designs, best quality, best marketing, and best delivery of some of the world's best products.

 Tim Cook Is Not a Scrooge McDuck

Just a week into Cook's tenure, he started a program in which Apple matches dollar-for-dollar any charitable donation made to a nonprofit, up to $10,000. Apple under Cook also gave away $50 million to Stanford hospitals.By contrast, Jobs personally didn't have any public record of giving to charity.Tim Cook has Made Apple a Ton of Money

The most important thing for investors is the stock price itself. And in one year, Cook has made Apple 77 percent richer. On his first day, a share of Apple was trading for $376. And now, it's trading for $667, which means Apple has an additional $353 billion. Cook has certainly guided the company to a great height.

Tim Cook Doesn't Make Employees' Lives Miserable

Not necessarily for every single one of Apple's 60,000 employees, but there are indications that employees are happier under Cook than they were under Jobs. As Fortune's Adam Lashinsky wrote of an annual retreat for Apple’s top executives in April, “the spirit of the meeting was upbeat and even fun - a stark contrast to the grim and fearful tone Jobs engendered at the meetings. ”Even there are mentions in Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs about him scolding his workers for their incompetence. Cook, in contrast, seems like a leveler head.Tim Cook Goes to China

The poor working condition in China was much talked about. This year Cook actually took a step and visited one of the manufacturing sites in China, which Steve Jobs never did. Cook also asked the D.C.-based Fair Labor Association to independently audit Foxconn's and other's component manufacturing facilities. Investigators found that laborers often worked more than 60 hours per week in March. Since then, Apple reportedly sketched out a timeline for having workers work sane schedules.

Brain Drain

One of Cook’s problems faced was whether or not he could retain the talent in post-Jobs Apple. He has seen a number of senior executives and vice-presidents leave during the time Jobs took his final medical leave. Right from the resignations of retail chief Ron Johnson, Mac software vice-president Bertrand Serlet, and vice-president of mobile advertising for iAd Andy Miller.

Tough Act to Follow and Impossible Expectations?

There were a lot of expectations from Cook, after Jobs' death. And Cook handled it well. He picked up the company and forged his own way. He's made enough of a name for himself to claim his stake to the Apple fortune.

Keeping the Edge

Cook has well kept the product lines running and also worked to make the company's image different. From investor dividends to matching charitable donations, these things put Apple in the par category with most other companies. Also under his leadership, Apple won the latest patent war against Samsung.

Joining Apple

"No more than five minutes into my initial interview with Steve, I wanted to throw caution and logic to the wind and join Apple. My intuition already knew that joining Apple was a once in a lifetime opportunity to work for the creative genius, and to be on the executive team that could resurrect a great American company.“

The “Irreplaceable” Steve

To an interview with Fortune magazine in November 2008, Cook said: "Come on, replace Steve? No. He's irreplaceable. That's something people have to get over. I see Steve there with gray hair in his 70s, long after I'm retired.“

This is What Steve Jobs Meant to Him

"I personally admire Steve not most for what he did, or what he said, but for what he stood for. The largest lesson I learned from Steve was that the joy in life is in the journey, and I saw him live this every day." About the legal Battles

In Apple earnings call on April 24, Tim Cook said, "I’d highly prefer to settle versus battle ... I’ve always hated litigation. We need people to invent their own stuff.”

iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina™ display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless technology*—all while delivering even better battery lifeLaunched on 21st Sept’12.Estimated sales in the first week: 8 million unitsActual Sales: 5 million unitsMore than 100 million iOS devices have been updated with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. iPhone 5 is available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK, and will be available in 22 more countries on September 28 and more than 100 countries by the end of the year. Demand for iPhone 5 exceeded the initial supply and while the majority of pre-orders have been shipped to customers, many are scheduled to be shipped in October.

Opening weekend sales grew 70 percent between the 3GS and the iPhone 4, and then an astounding 135 percent between the 4 and the 4s. That's

acceleration. iPhone 5 sales, meanwhile, grew only 25 percent. That's massive deceleration.

Apple sold the iPhone 5 in nine countries over its opening weekend. It sold the iPhone 4S in seven. It actually sold fewer iPhones per country this year than the last. That's not just deceleration, that's shrinkage.

“It looks like it has become a more conservative execution engine rather than a pushing-the-envelope engineering engine.”

“I’ve been told that any meeting of significance is now always populated by project management and global-supply management.”

“When I was there, engineering decided what we wanted, and it was the job of product management and supply management to go get it,” he

continued. “It shows a shift in priority.”

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