cook

David Sobotta, a former director of Apple's federal sales group, says CEO Tim Cook is afraid of being wrong, lacks leadership skills, and is a "lightweight" when it comes to understanding technology.

Sobotta, who published a Kindle book about his 20-year experience at Apple called "The Pomme Company," (pomme means Apple in French) gave an interview to Dan Lyons, who is now editor of Readwrite.com.

We haven't heard much about Cook's management style so this is among the first reports. Lyons asked Sobotta what he thought of the recent firing of iOS chief Scott Forstall … Read more

It shouldn't be a surprise to learn that Apple suffers from political infighting, fiefdoms, and dysfunctional relationships. What company doesn't, especially a large company full of big egos, with money to burn? And so we learned from various reports this week that CEO Tim Cook made a calculated decision to remove divisive software head Scott Forstall and hand over some of his responsibilities to hardware design guru Jony Ive. 

It also shouldn't be a surprise that Ive's power base is expanding. He already had the most powerful voice among Apple executives, if you believe what … Read more

The iPad Mini is here! The 7-inch tablet market is going to be one of the hottest this holiday season, but did Apple do enough with the iPad Mini to justify its $329 starting price point?

iTunes 11 is pushed back to November, which is something to be thankful for after seeing what happens when Apple rushes out features like Siri and Maps.

The new fourth-generation iPad is also here, and it's a beast when it comes to performance. Plus, we'll break down Apple's big management shake-up and tell you how it might affect you. One thing'… Read more

It wasn't that Apple CEO Tim Cook was ever viewed as Mr. Nice Guy. He was more mild-mannered and less mercurial than the late Steve Jobs, but his job was to squeeze the life out of suppliers and sharpen Apple's manufacturing operations to increase margins and profits.

A year after Jobs' death, he has now cemented his authority with his first major management shuffle, terminating John Browett, the retail chief he hired (thus cutting his losses) and getting rid of what some viewed as a toxic executive in the person of Scott Forstall, his iOS chief.

Cook also … Read more

For those looking for signs of change in a post-Steve Jobs Apple, yesterday was your day.

No, it wasn't a miss on earnings, or a product that was perceived to be disappointingly iterative instead of groundbreaking. Nor was it an ad campaign that just felt a bit off.

The changes came as part of one of the most drastic adjustments to Apple's top management since Jobs stepped down, and at a time when Apple finds itself on the defensive. The company has missed Wall Street's earnings expectations for two straight quarters and it is still smarting after … Read more

Tim Cook has been applauded as a kind of operational superman, bringing Apple to new heights of efficiency and profit in the last year. Apple's stock has tumbled about 14 percent from its all-time high and its recent quarterly earnings weren't as fantastic as in previous quarters, but the latest set of new products introduced this week augurs a strong holiday season. Apple is expecting to generate more than $50 billion in revenue from October through December.

While Cook isn't the showman that his predecessor was, don't let his Southern, seemingly mild-mannered demeanor fool you. He … Read more

But seriously, Tim Cook, how do you really feel about smaller tablets?

The Apple CEO let loose on 7-inch tablets during a conference call with investors, insisting that the company would never build one. "We would not make a 7-inch tablet," he said today. "We don't think they're good products."

Cook, of course, is staying true to the late Steve Jobs' proclamation that a tablet that's smaller than the original 9.7-inch iPad was too uncomfortable, and that consumers would have to shave off parts of their fingers to actually use it.

But … Read more

Users of Apple's iBooks can now turn to some helpful new features.

Available from the App Store, iBooks 3.0 now taps into iCloud. So your bookshelves can display any books stored on Apple's cloud along with books saved locally.

You can now opt to scroll vertically through your books instead of turning each page horizontally. Simply tap on the Fonts icon, click on Themes, and choose the Scroll theme. You can then swipe the screen to move up and down page by page, an option I found quicker and easier than the default horizontal book layout.

You … Read more

Tim Cook came prepared to dazzle the crowd of Apple employees, friends and journalists covering the iPad, iMac and Macbook product unveilings. Dressed in Apple casual, a long-sleeved, blue-grey polo shirt and dark slacks, Cook stalked the stage at the California Theater in San Jose and seemed to find a more animated voice for his remarks than at past events he hosted.

He gave special vocal emphasis to words like "billion," "amazing," "cool," "phenomenal," "absolutely incredible,"  and "thin," one of the major product themes of the day. … Read more