Why Apple is no longer cool under Cook (in-depth analysis)

In January 2020, Apple's market value increased by another 10% in this month and now has reached 1.4 trillion US dollars, making it the world's most valuable technology company.

When talking about Apple, we have to mention Apple’s two CEOs - Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.

However, the reputations of the two are completely different.

Steve Jobs: One of the greatest product managers and CEOs, a great innovative leader, and a genius who changed the world.

Tim Cook: A qualified CEO, a pure businessman, and a senior manager.

All in all, although Cook led Apple to make a lot of money, he made Apple uncool.

One of the most mainstream views is that Apple's lack of innovation in the Cook era has made Apple uncool!

Is that really the case? This article only talks about product innovation, not market value business.

Innovation points

Important innovative changes in Apple mobile phones

Steve Jobs:

• iPhone touch screen + Home button
• Remove the keyboard, multi-touch
• App store built into the system
• Siri voice interaction
• Added gyroscope

Tim Cook:

• 3D-Touch function
• Fingerprint unlocking
• Apple Pay
• Remove the Home button to achieve full screen
• Face Recognition
• Bangs
• Apple Arcade game subscription

Innovation comparison

First, multi-touch

Jobs' biggest innovation was multi-touch. With this technology, the keyboard could be removed and the screen expanded, making the entire UI and look and feel completely different from other mainstream mobile phones at the time.

The iPhone touch screen and Home button + multi-touch directly change the user's operation method from pressing buttons to touching.

In the Cook era, there were 3D-Touch features, face recognition and bangs. Thanks to these technologies, the Home button was removed and the screen was expanded.

Since the advent of touch-id and face-id in the Cook era, the unlocking methods have also changed from sliding unlock and password unlock to fingerprint unlock and face recognition unlock.

Second, the App store is built into the system

Another major innovation during the Jobs era was the App Store, which greatly increased the number of mobile applications and made the entire Apple ecosystem complete.

During the Cook era, there were also Apple Pay and Apple Arcade subscription services. If the App Store is an important part of Apple's online ecosystem, then Apple Pay is an important part of Apple's offline ecosystem.

Apple Arcade's game subscription service shows that Apple has begun to lay out the game industry. The game industry makes a lot of money, and a large part of the profits of Tencent and NetEase come from games.

If Apple Arcade is benchmarked against PC platforms, it should be steam and wegame. The importance of this platform to Apple's entire ecosystem may be only slightly inferior to the APP store.

Third, Siri voice interaction

The third major innovation of the Jobs era was Siri voice interaction. In that era, this feature was indeed a groundbreaking feature. Siri voice interaction raised the ease of use, fun and technology of the entire Apple phone to a higher level.

In the Cook era, there were face recognition and dynamic emoji. The difficulty of this innovation can barely be compared with Siri voice interaction, but of course its effect is not as great as Siri voice interaction.

Innovative product comparison

Steve Jobs:

• iPad
• iPod

Tim Cook:

• Apple Watch
• AirPods
• Airpower

Earlier, we compared the innovations of the iPhone during the Jobs era. Now let’s take a look at the product innovations. The iPad and iPod during the Jobs era are both very impressive, no need to elaborate.

The innovative products in the Cook era are also not weak. The Apple Watch has redefined the watch and is currently the number one in the field of smart watches, with an absolute monopoly position.

AirPods are really good! Warning!

In 2019, Apple's revenue from AirPods alone reached $12.5 billion, exceeding the revenue of Adobe, Nvidia, AMD and Twitter.

Summary of the above comparison

On the Difficulty of Innovation

Facial recognition technology in Cook's era is not necessarily simpler than multi-touch.

On the role of innovation

The role of Apple Pay in the Cook era is not necessarily less than that of the App store in the Jobs era.

On innovative products

Are Apple Watch and AirPods in the Tim Cook era much worse than the iPad and iPod in the Jobs era?

Ask yourself, dear readers, is Apple's innovation during the Cook era really much worse than that of the Jobs era?

Xieyang believes that we cannot directly conclude that Apple in the Cook era lacks innovation capabilities, but why do we still feel that Apple in the Jobs era is cooler?

Reasons why it's not cool

Reason one: the dragon slayer turned into a dragon.

Of course, this does not mean that Apple is an evil dragon. What it mainly means is that Apple has changed from a challenger to a rule maker.

When Apple first started, the authorities in smartphones were established mobile phone companies like Nokia, Motorola, BlackBerry, and Palm.

At that time, any useful innovation made by Apple, as long as it was inconsistent with the mainstream mobile phone companies, would be refreshing to all users.

But now, Apple is the benchmark for the entire smartphone industry. Any innovation made by Apple is unlikely to exceed the expectations of ordinary people, and it is difficult to surpass itself.

More often than not, it is imitated by others amid a lot of complaints, such as the notch screen.

Reason 2: The paradox of the minority

"Cool" is not an absolute concept, but a relative one. For example, in a class of people who love to study, the student who doesn't study will make others feel cool. In a class of people who don't study, the student who studies will make others feel cool.

So only when Apple is in a niche position can it be considered cool. The larger the share of Apple's trial production, the bigger it becomes, and it becomes a "street machine". That doesn't make people think it's cool at all.

Reason 3: Imitators and similar functions

Apple's UI interface and appearance design have been imitated by many people. Smartphones used to have their own characteristics.

The collision between Apple Pay and Alipay and WeChat Pay has meant that even other smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi, which do not have their own payment systems, can rely on Alipay or WeChat Pay to compete with them.

Summarize

Xieyang believes that the reason why Apple under Cook's leadership is uncool is not the lack of innovation, but because the dragon slayer has become the dragon, the niche paradox, the imitators and the similar functions.