La doar o zi dupa publicarea unor detalii extrem de interesante din viitoarea carte Becoming Steve Jobs, astazi vedem un interviu exclusiv cu Tim Cook, CEO-ul Apple, in care acesta vorbeste despre o multitudine de aspecte legate de compania pe care o conduce. Tim Cook sustine ca desi in interiorul Apple s-au schimbat foarte multe aspecte ale organizarii, filosofia de creare a produselor a ramas aceeasi, compania americana continuand sa creeze produse grozave pentru utilizatori in baza gandirii implementate de Steve Jobs.
Apple a fost intotdeauna de parere ca nu trebuie sa fie prima pe piata cu un produs, ci trebuie sa il lanseze cand este pregatit si lumea este pregatita pentru a-l primi, aceasta gandire ducand la multiple lansari de succes pentru iPod, iPhone, iPad, iar acum poate pentru Apple Watch.
Steve felt that if Apple could do that—make great products and great tools for people—they in turn would do great things. He felt strongly that this would be his contribution to the world at large. We still very much believe that. That’s still the core of this company. We weren’t first on the MP3 player; we weren’t first on the tablet; we weren’t first on the smartphone. But we were arguably the first modern smartphone, and we will be the first modern smartwatch—the first one that matters.
Avand in vedere ca Apple Watch este privit ca un produs mai putin important, Tim Cook nu este ingrijorat cu privire la succesul sau, el sustinand ca in general produsele revolutionare ale Apple n-au fost apreciate de la bun inceput si nu au fost privite ca avand vanzari grozave, oamenii realizand ca au nevoie de ele abia dupa ce le-au testat.
Yes, but people didn’t realize they had to have an iPod, and they really didn’t realize they had to have the iPhone. And the iPad was totally panned. Critics asked, “Why do you need this?” Honestly, I don’t think anything revolutionary that we have done was predicted to be a hit when released. It was only in retrospect that people could see its value. Maybe this will be received the same way.
Vorbind despre Jobs, Tim Cook sustine ca fostul CEO Apple i-a fost cel mai bun profesor si ca prin implementarea unei culturi proprii in cadrul Apple a reusit sa creeze o companie care dezvolta produse grozave, diferite de cele ale competitorilor. Cook sustine ca aceasta cultura a creat o comunitate de oameni care colaboreaza din variatele departamente ale companiei, acesta fiind unul dintre pucntele importante care ajuta compania Apple sa aiba succes.
We’ve turned up the volume on collaboration because it’s so clear that in order for us to be incredibly successful we have to be the best collaborators in the world. The magic of Apple, from a product point of view, happens at this intersection of hardware, software, and services. It’s that intersection. Without collaboration, you get a Windows product. There’s a company that pumps out an operating system, another that does some hardware, and yet another that does something else. That’s what’s now happening in Android land. Put it all together and it doesn’t score high on the user experience.
In continuare il veti vedea pe Tim Cook discutand despre deciziile grele facute in trecut pentru a renunta la dezvoltarea unor produse care nu se dovedeau a fi viabile, despre faptul ca Apple se schimba constant in lipsa lui Jobs, despre faptul ca Apple Campus 2 este unul dintre cele mai importante proiecte ale Apple si multe, multe altele.
Apple has always had the discipline to make the bold decision to walk away. We walked away from the floppy disk when that was popular with many users. Instead of doing things in the more traditional way of diversifying and minimizing risk, we took out the optical drive, which some people loved. We changed our connector, even though many people loved the 30-pin connector. Some of these things were not popular for quite a while. But you have to be willing to lose sight of the shore and go. We still do that.
We change every day. We changed every day when he was here, and we’ve been changing every day since he’s not been here. But the core, the values in the core remain the same as they were in ’98, as they were in ’05, as they were in ’10. I don’t think the values should change. But everything else can change [and] Steve was the best flipper in the world.
It’s critical that Apple do everything it can to stay informal. And one of the ways that you stay informal is to be together. One of the ways that you ensure collaboration is to make sure people run into each other—not just at the meetings that are scheduled on your calendar, but all the serendipitous stuff that happens every day in the cafeteria and walking around.
What we’ll do over time, I don’t know. I didn’t want to move in there. I think he’s an irreplaceable person and so it didn’t feel right . . . for anything to go on in that office. So his computer is still in there as it was, his desk is still in there as it was, he’s got a bunch of books in there. Laurene took some things to the house.
I don’t know. His name should still be on the door. That’s just the way it should be.