Politico:
A private conference in Washington with the attorney general (in itself a rarity for many tech magnates) would have been unthinkable for Cook’s irascible predecessor, Steve Jobs, who actively disdained D.C. Cook, much as he sought to shirk Jobs’ shadow as CEO, had also endeavored quietly to rethink his company’s relationship with the nation’s capital, becoming a leader not only ready to engage its power brokers but challenge them openly when it mattered most.
Watching Cook in his dealings with Washington has been fascinating precisely because it’s something Steve Jobs hated and wouldn’t do. Cook seems more open and able to navigate the issues.
Regrettably, the party with which most of Apple politically aligns itself has proven to be the biggest threat to their business interests (high-taxes in Democrat dominant California, inflexibility on the tax-holiday issue so Apple could repatriate overseas earnings, increased challenges to Apple’s privacy and security measures).
Which just goes to show what they must think of the alternatives if they are willing to put up with that and still can do billions of dollars in business each year.
Oh, I call B.S.
Steve himself may not have personally gone to DC for schmoozing, but Apple darn well did what they could. No big business can afford to ignore the federal government.
Why do you think Al Gore sits on the Apple board?
I remember stories several decades ago wondering how a company like Microsoft (and all the other tech giants) could grow so much and have such a small to non-existent lobbying efforts.
Then the federal anti-trust suits came, and Microsoft changed their ways, opening up lobbying offices in D.C. The rest of the tech industry followed in as well.
Is it any wonder why so many view the US Government as a protection racket?
What would the tax holiday do aside from just being a massive windfall for Apple shareholders (not that I would mind as I am one)?
It would allow trillions held overseas to come back to the US, which would add to tax coffers and to shareholder dividends.
The rot started from the legislature and spread outward.
I wish Tim Cook was as focused on shipping quality software as he was being Apple’s CEO. He takes the responsibility of running the world’s largest company seriously, and that is admirable, but I can’t help but think this has come at the expense of Apple being a great tech company. The decline in the quality of their software has been staggering to witness. Case in point: Apple Music. Music is the app that most people use most often on their phone. Ask yourself, do you know anyone who likes Apple Music? It is a bug-ridden soiled sheet and Apple ruined the Music app to foist it upon us. I have bought nearly every model of every device shipped by Apple over the past decade, so I say this as someone who likes Apple. In the past 18 months, they have squandered their greatest asset; customer trust that what they buy from Apple will work.