It is near impossible to find someone who has not had some apple product, an iPhone, an iPod, an iPad or any of the mac’s. Those same people may also be able to tell you apple’s most famous leader, Steve jobs, but not many know the new CEO Tim Cook. That is why I would like to look at both to see whether apple was better under Steve or Tim. We will be looking at the Sales and Value of apple, the public perception of the company, and the market share of the company to decide whether Steve or Tim have had apple at its most successful.
THE MARKET
One of the biggest indicators in sales and hold in the market place can be found in the stock price. Since Tim Cook took over as president the stock price has risen from $55 to a staggering 111.73 as of yesterday (Forbes). This is in stark contrast to the early years of jobs when from 1988 to 1998 the company was near the floor at .98 in march of 1998 (Forbes). While Steve got the stock to $55 before leaving the near doubling of the stock has driven the overall value of apple through the roof. What makes this even more interesting is that since cook took over, apple has only had one new product, the apple watch. Also with this rise in stock Tim has implemented a capital return program that has bought back roughly 127 billion in shares (Market watch). This program was not something jobs was a fan of but since has allowed for a raise in apple’s dividend by 10% ! However not everything is gold! Per an article from CNN money, the company has failed to increase profits for the first time since 2001!
Changing Market
The increasing popularity of cell phones and devices has caused a boom in the market for all the devices. Today we now have companies like Samsung, google, HTC, LG and others competing against the iPhone. This fierce competition is something new to the iPhone as it was competing in a small market in its early years.
This is abundantly clear in a pew research study done in 2013. In the study, they look at the cell phone ownerships choice of platform. Looking at the first column its right before Steve left in fall of 2011 and the iPhone is beating the blackberry as well but its down nearly 5 percent to android. Now later into 2012 and 2013 as Tim cook stepped in he was able to improve the ownership while also closing in on Android with the nearly 2 years passed it has closed within three percent!
Since leaving the company in 2011 many have wondered whether apple could continue the great legacy of Steve jobs. That is why I researched this topic and compared him to the new CEO Tim Cook. In the end, I find that the new direction and leadership have tremendously helped the company. While most recently the company has seen hardship in the marketplace for the first time in years, the profound impact of its work in the last 5 can’t go unnoticed. Steve jobs is a legend in the tech industry and for good reason but now apple has risen to new heights and for the foreseeable future its new leader is looking to make his name known
Sources
DeSilver, Drew. “As It Turns 6, a Look at Who Uses the IPhone (no, Not ’everybody’).” Pew Research Center. N.p., 29 June 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
Http://fortune.com/author/christinaaustin2015/. “The World’s Most Admired Companies for 2016.” Fortune. N.p., 04 Apr. 2016. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
O’Marah, Kevin. “Is Tim Cook a Better CEO than Steve Jobs?” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 25 Mar. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
Booton, Jennifer. “5 Things Tim Cook Has Done Better at Apple than Steve Jobs Did.” MarketWatch. N.p., 28 Aug. 2016. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
“A Quote by Steve Jobs.” Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
Fiegerman, Seth. “Apple’s Annual Sales Fall for First Time since 2001.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 25 Oct. 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
I really enjoyed reading about this topic. I am not a huge fan of Apple, but I found myself wondering whether or not they have fallen down since the death of Mr. Jobs. I really like how this is a very concise article with only the facts. I also think that chart really helps your article.
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