Former Apple CEO John Sculley believes Tim Cook is doing a “terrific job” at leading Apple after taking over from Steve Jobs two years ago. Cooks is “continuing the Apple philosophy of no compromise and quality of their products and great styling,” Sculley said, and he commends Cook for “not trying to be Steve Jobs.”
“I think Cook is doing a terrific job. He’s not trying to be Steve jobs; only one person could be Steve Jobs and that was Steve,” Sculley told CNBC Asia on Tuesday.
Sculley worked with Jobs at Apple between 1983 and 1985, before a power struggle between the two saw Jobs ousted by the board of directors. But while they may not always have seen eye to eye, Sculley still had a lot of respect for the Apple co-founder and the contributions he made to the company.
“Steve could make the big creative leaps. What Tim is doing is continuing the Apple philosophy of no compromise and quality of their products and great styling. I think people are giving Apple a bum rap on what is still a great company with great products.”
Apple still takes a lot of criticism from fans and industry experts, and the company’s share price has dropped dramatically since it reached a $700 high last September. But Sculley is optimistic about the future of Apple and its products. In fact, he hasn’t sold any of his shares in the company because he’s confident they’ll rise again.
“I’m still very optimistic that Apple’s going to do just fine,” Sculley “It doesn’t mean that Android won’t be larger in market share, it already is, but Apple makes great quality products.”
Sculley also gave CNBC Asia his opinion on BlackBerry’s current struggle.
“I believe the future is bright and BlackBerry is here to stay,” he said — but he believes the Canadian company must separate its devices and services businesses to turn things around.
“The challenge is you can’t sell a phone for $700 in most of the world, so there has to be some real rationalization on the device side of the business. If you can strategically separate the device side of the business, it can be under the same ownership, but operationally separate from the enterprise service business, there’s a terrific chance to turn BlackBerry around.”
Source: CNBC Asia
