"You could say that Cook provides Apple a skill set very similar to what offered HP -- meaning the company should continue to be very efficiently and profitably run," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

From a product standpoint, analysts say Apple won't make any drastic changes in its go-to-market product strategy, at least in the short term. Cook has already ensured Apple employees that things won't change as the company adapts to life after Jobs.

"From a product development and strategy point of view, the company will likely hew very closely to a 'What Would Steve Do?' philosophy," King says.

When Jobs was on leave, Cook was Apple's public face and proved his mettle by handling day-to-day operations. As CEO, he's diplomatic, energetic and could do a better job at maintaining relationships than Jobs did, says Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. By all accounts, Jobs was considered a taskmaster who at times could be difficult.

"Cook tends not to exert power for the sake of demonstrating he's boss," Kay says. "His diplomacy may smooth over things that Jobs made difficult."