The Macalope Daily: Under pressure

12.09.2012

Happy iPhone day, kids! Enjoy it while it lasts, because the s Andrea Chang and Jessica Guynn think Apples in dire need of a shake-up. For some reason.

(tip o the antlers to Phil Michaels)

Does the know Cook actually runs Apple &

Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs&

No denying that, Apple fans. Might as well close up shop and return the money to the shareholders. Damn you and your non-Jobsian genes, Tim Cook!

' so far, that hasnt been a problem for Apple Inc.

Inflection point in 5 & 4 & 3 & 2 &

Oh, sure, Apples managed to chug along on Steve Jobs momentum for a year now &

But all that may not be enough.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNN.

Wait. May not be enough for

With Apple poised to announce the long-awaited iPhone 5 on Wednesday and reap heavy sales from it, analysts and software developers are looking beyond the product launch to whether Cook can set his own course at the company after the death of its co-founder.

Let us pause for a second and wonder why, exactly, Cookwhos been at Apple since 1998 and helped architect the Steve Jobs courseneeds to set his own course. The course Apple has been following seems to be working kinda well and, you know, he was involved in setting it. Its like some people wont be satisfied until Cook licenses iOS or does something else incredibly stupid.

If it aint broke, dont fix it. Or, in Apples case, if it aint broke, iteratively keep improving it anyway.

I think we are definitely still riding Steve Jobs stewardship, said Matt Brezina, chief executive of mobile start-up Sincerely Inc.

Well, yes, that comment from a guy who sells a postcard-making app is certainly damning.

Tim needs to define what kind of leader he is externally. As a developer on their platform, Im not quite sure what kind of leader he is yet.

The Macalope is sure that keeps Cook up at night.

[eye roll]

Much of Apples success can still be traced back to Jobs. So far, Cook has delivered only incremental product improvements with the Siri-equipped iPhone 4S and an iPad tablet with better screen resolutionnot the showstopper that Apple will eventually need in a fast-paced, hits-driven business. Both the iPhone and the iPad are credited to Jobs.

Who did all the soldering himself.

Despite the fevered imaginations of reporters, Apple did not churn out products that reinvented whole markets every year under Steve Jobss leadership. But the fact that Cook has not released an iPhone in the year hes been fully in charge is somehow a big problem.

So the pressure is on Cook to deliver some of that old Apple magic&

What pressure is that, exactly? The reporters go on to detail how happy everyone is with Cookfrom Twitter CEO Dick Costolo to Apple investors to a random kitten they interviewedso other than the idle musings of those in the iOS postcard-making app industry, the Macalopes not sure where this pressure is coming from.

Cooks dad, maybe? Maybe its his dad. You know how dads can be.

Macworld