Two years after the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, a lot of things have changed at Apple. The most obvious change is how Tim Cook had been placed to the position that was once occupied by his predecessor which enabled him to guide and expand the product lines of Apple, revamp the executive team, soothe the investors, and witness how the stock gets a beating.
The day when Steve Jobs died, Apple's share price closed at $378.25. Its highest closing price to date was achieved on September 19, 2012 at a record of $702.10 with $705.07 in intraday trading. Analysts predicted that the stock value could reach $1,650 per share by the year 2015.
So far, there are no signs yet that show such assumption is likely to happen. People have wondered if part of the blame goes to Cook while the other part goes to his fellow executives. Others are also looking at the possibility that perhaps Apple had been overvalued in September 2012 and now has slipped back to a more realistic state.
If we are to evaluate Cook's performance as the new CEO of Apple, we should consider that he didn't meet such without any preparation beforehand. Moreover, we should remember that he wasn't seen as a “superhero” that has been tasked to save a crumbling business just like what Yahoo's Marissa Mayer and HP's Leo Apotheker had been assigned to do.
The first time that Jobs had allowed Tim Cook to be in-charge of Apple's daily business operations happened in early August 2004. Five years later, he took another leave and made Cook as the person in charge during his absence. His third leave of absence was filed on January 2011. During that same year in August, he formally passed his position to Cook. After merely two months, Jobs died and Cook was left on his own.
