Apple celebrates seven years with Tim Cook as CEO

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

It's been seven years since Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs passed on the reins to Tim Cook. It was a bittersweet passing of the torch as Jobs was in advanced stages of Cancer and then-COO Cook, who had already served as pinch hitter for Jobs in years past, was reluctant to replace his friend and mentor.

Since then, Cook has represented Apple and steered the company to its greatest heights culminating in the recent trillion dollar valuation, a first for a technology company. Cook has also been a positive force for good, opening up Apple to charity and causes which he believes in.

In Cook, Apple has a pragmatic leader and supply chain veteran who has enabled consistent profits while slowly expanding Apple into new product categories. Stand out products released during Cook's tenure include the AirPods (which are everywhere now) and the Apple Watch, which has become the standard in smartwatches. A veteran of IBM and Compaq, Cook's made Apple more inclusive and a supportive force for human rights as well as women's issues while pushing the boundaries on industry-first green and zero-waste initiatives. Apple has also expanded globally under Cook, through various manufacturing facilities as well as through its Retail Stores.

Apple may have lost a bit of its shine as a cutting edge innovator with various products looking like repeats of previous versions for two or three product cycles. There are also some products that may seem to have been neglected in favour of the hotter items like the iPhone and iPad line. Despite this, Apple's iPhone have outsold the competition and continue to be copied and emulated by competitors.

Apple under Cook is making corrections by releasing pro-focused iMacs and MacBook Pros as well as a rumoured refresh of the Mac mini, MacBook and Mac Pro lines.

Tim Cook's Apple is in good stead and looks poised to take on new challenges possibly in the area of entertainment and content streaming, EVs and autonomous vehicles.