I think Elon Musk would make a much better CEO for Apple than Tim Cook for the reasons below
i) Elon Musk is a true visionary and does meaningful, game changing innovations that change the world, Apple is in an envious position than any other company in the whole world, because of the amount of cash it has. Elon Musk would use that cash in the best way possible and make a huge difference to the entire world. Elon Musk would boldly take up and successfully deliver on game changing technologies, instead of making silly things Like Apple Watch and Apple Car. The reason Apple Watch and Apple Car are silly because everyone else is already doing it. It was fun for a company like Pebble to do a Smart Watch, where as Apple just copied that Pebble and did in a fancy way rather than solving a real problem that is why Apple watch is not successful yet and still Apple is not releasing the sales numbers on the Apple Watch. Tim Cook is playing it very safe, taking highly calculative bets and making things like Rose Gold iPhone, conquering China market etc, which are superfluous progress compared to how Steve Jobs or Elon Musk that innovated to the core, which is bad for a leader in that position, because the leaders that occupied such roles before were iconic due to the fact that they set forth a grand vision, which many thought cannot be done, and rallied people around that vision, made people not only believe, but also feel involved that they are working on something meaningful, leveraging their intrinsic motivational behavior and fired them up to achieve something that normal humans couldn't achieve so easily. Tim Cook is playing it safe, making things like best Apple Watch is not bold enough to get people fired up and feel them involved and engaged enough. That is why Tim Cook is not an iconic leader yet, where as Elon Musk is, if Tim Cook were to do a bold innovation, Apple should build an intergalactic spaceship or something similar, game changing, that is the best use of Jony Ive and rest of Apple's talent and the cash that Apple has hoarded so far. That is why many people love to work for Elon Musk than Tim Cook.
ii) Apple is getting beaten in its own game by Samsung, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is ready to take the crown of the best SmartPhone, whereas Apple is starting to copy Samsung, one example is Low Power mode, it is shame that Samsung is beating Apple in its own game, had Steve Jobs been there or had any other iconic leader would have lead Apple, that wouldn't have happened. It is shame that every single Smart Phone manufacturer has the fast charging technology, Apple still has not addressed the charging capabilities and very limited battery life of the iPhone.
iii) Tim Cook does not have a overarching vision to change the world, Tim Cook is just a manager that was at the right place that got the baton, Tim Cook is playing it very safe, he is just solving one puzzle here, one puzzle there, incrementally delivering capability after capability. If you look at Steve Jobs, his vision was to make computers that made humans into super humans because with the ability to do complex computations with computers, humans can amplify their computing power, which speeded up progress, the Macintosh, the Macbook, the iPhone, the iPod, the iPad all those were different pieces of the puzzle, with the whole puzzle being amplifying the computing power of the humans.
Tim Cook is just there to deliver numbers, quarter after quarter, and does not have that overarching vision to change the world. Also if you look at Elon Musk the same way, he has an overarching vision as well, with Tesla, SpaceX and Solar City, which are set up to solve problems in the world, Tesla was to eliminate the dependency on fossil fuels, so all the conflict in the middle east can be avoided, SpaceX to make humans galactic travelers and Solar City to eliminate the dependency on fossil fuels and reuse what is already there, a vast amount of Solar power that is readily available.
I love Apple products, I have great respect for people that make great products and Apple used to be one, but with the amount of bugs that are coming up in the recent versions of iOS, the other Smart Phone manufacturers coming up with better devices than Apple, the other capabilities that other Smart Phone manufacturers are delivering, I am losing confidence in Apple. It seems like Apple is losing its grip on not only meaningful, game changing innovation but also losing its market share to rivals like Samsung. I would love to see Tim Cook come up with a game changing innovation like Elon Musk, rally people around that vision and put a dent in the universe. So far in my opinion that has not happened yet.
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