For many of Apple’s customers, investors and fans, the most important thing about new chief executive Tim Cook is that he is not Steve Jobs.
Many consider Mr Jobs, who resigned his post late on Wednesday, to be the best chief executive of his generation. Since returning to the head of a near-bankrupt Apple in 1997 after an earlier ousting in a management shake-up, Mr Jobs re-established Apple’s early role as a leader in personal computers. He went on to upend the music business, the phone handset industry and consumer computers again, with the 2010 launch of the iPad tablet.
Mr Cook is not seen as a product visionary, and he has none of the rock-star charisma that made Mr Jobs an icon even for people with no particular love for gadgetry.