Cook scaled up the iPhone (and its broad ecosystem, which includes the iPad, iWatch, iServices), maximizing its global potential.

I don't know if it qualifies as genius, however it's plainly obvious that Cook is an exceptionally competent manager and logistician. He has also been a stable hand on an increasingly sprawling behemoth that easily could have gotten out of hand (~$400 billion in operating profit every five years - in the wrong management hands that's a disaster waiting to happen). He's successfully operating a mass consumer product company with the profit of Saudi Aramco, a once unthinkable outcome (Aramco used to tower over the profit of most every other corporation globally). Ten years ago Microsoft was one of the few global profit giants with ~$20b in annual profit; Apple is near six times that scale now. Cook has done a relatively good job of keeping a leash on Apple's financial behavior.

This. I had doubts about Cook until the new M1 macs came out and I realised he’s doing just fine. Cook is no Steve Jobs, I think of him more as a Bill Gates figure - a relentless executioner. But Cook has made a better and more ethical company than Gates ever did.

It’ll all change when the AR revolution kicks in and it will all depend on how apple deals with it. If they succeed there again, then Cook will be one of the best CEOs in the business. He’s got his own way but underestimating him after the M1 chip and successful transition seems foolish to me.

The AR revolution has been promised since the 80s.

And?

I think this is a good analysis. He has an incredible set of talents, they just aren't the same as Steve's.

> >reviving the “computer for the rest of us”

> That's just the spirit of Apple and the place where Steve Jobs wanted it to be.

Eh, there's nothing that points in the direction that Steve Jobs wanted Apple to be computers for the rest of us. Apple was always marketed as expensive and exclusive. Which is ironic because Apple devices are clearly mass products, with design that has little variation over the quite limited product line, and almost zero variation between Apple products owned by people. Somehow Apple made people believe it is hip to own the same thing as everybody else, and feel privileged about it, which defies all logic.

Steve Jobs literally said that several times. But he wasn’t referring to cost. He was referring to ease of use. Especially in the 80s the difference between graphical and text interfaces was a massive gulf. 90% of people simply could not be productive with a text only interface. Even the good ones they had on the AppleIIs. GUI changed everything. That’s what Jobs meant by a computer for the rest of us.