The Washington Post:
Jobs himself didn’t often weigh in on political issues, and rarely had Apple do so as a company. Cook has stepped up Apple’s philanthropic efforts (he’s also said he’s going to give a majority of his wealth to charity after his death, but hasn’t said to which charities.) But, generally speaking, Cook hasn’t deviated much from the Jobs playbook — and has received harsh criticism when he has.
That makes the timing of this op-ed all the more interesting.
While I agree to a certain extent with the premise of the article, I don’t think there’s anything to be read into the timing. The writer conflates this issue with the release of the Apple Watch:
To be willing to stir the pot even a little bit and risk distracting from that focus shows that this means a lot to Cook and that he’s fairly confident that Apple, the world’s most valuable company, can weather whatever controversy his view might throw its way.
I can be fairly certain in saying Cook isn’t worried about weathering a storm. He’s doing what he feels is right for Apple and damn the consequences. If you don’t want to buy Apple products because Tim Cook is standing up for what he believes in, he has no problem with that.
Since Bezos took over the Post, their tech reporting, especially about Apple, but other topics as well, has been dismal. They take the side of Cable giants on Net Neutrality. They say stupid things about photography, but their worst reporting is when it comes to Apple. They just released the Apple Pay isn’t secure nonsense this week as if it was new!
Bezos lied when he said they would be independent of his, and Amazon’s, interests. But the evidence is clear. They are not independent.
Citizen Kane is alive and well, and making smartphones that nobody wants.
Amazon does appear to be an odd bird… maybe like Google pretends to do “good”. I do not trust any of them – Apple included, but it seems Apple’s heart is in the right place – for the time being – I just wish Apple’s heart could be in more practical places – bring back the Woz!!!!
“bring back the Woz!!!!”
Why?
Apple could stop selling products altogether and still run the company on cash for 10 years. Weathering storms is not a problem.
As much as I admire Tim Cook and the article he wrote, his actions are really in Apple’s best interest because what Apple needs in the future to continue to be successful is vast legions of middle class shoppers who can buy Apple products. Those legions cannot come solely from European-heritage heterosexual Christians, because there are not enough of them. For Apple to continue to succeed over the next 20 or 30 years, they not only need to be open for business to everyone, they need the world to be a place where everyone can be safe and successful, so that they can be happy, middle class Apple customers.
So not only should Apple be at the forefront of anti-bigotry efforts, they should also be taking on income inequality, perpetual wars, corrupt politicians, and other large-scale issues, because Apple is so big that those big issues literally threaten Apple’s future by threatening to reduce Apple’s supply of customers.
Hopefully, Tim Cook is teaching the entire business community a lesson here.
The writer of this article has yet to learn it — he or she is thinking in terms of not angering their grandparents by challenging their bigotry. Their grandparents’ bigotry is irrelevant.
I just wish Apple’s heart could be in more practical places
Is this a disease of youth that the internet has engendered, this idea that Apple and the Apple executives can only do one thing and one thing only at any given time?
Not just youth.