Apple raises worries among critics and users on creativity

Tim Cook took over the reins at Apple, Inc. about a year ago when co-founder Late Steve Jobs stepped down as Chief Executive Officer due to terminal ailment. Jobs passed away a month later due to fatal pancreatic cancer.

The company under Cook’s leadership prospered in both stock and consumer markets exponentially, joining $500 Billion club of elite of the elites. The iPhone 4S, the new iPad, iOS 5 and MacBook Pro with Retina Display recited the success stories of Cook’s business acumen.

It was not the first time Apple had gone under Cook’s control. He acted as the acting CEO during Jobs’ three sick leaves previously and formally was the Chief Operating Officer at Cupertino-based headquarters.

During his time that spans over more than a decade, CEO Cook made fame with his ability to negotiate with vendors, keep a healthy and efficient supply chain. In terms of operations Cook does not have a match.

However, critics and Apple users are of the growing concern that Cook lacks what Jobs had in abundance and what actually made Apple what it is today, craftsman’s creative mind. Walter Isaacson  has mentioned Jobs’ involvement in the designs and marketing operations of the company in his biography on the departed, named Steve Jobs.

With Steve’s departure, the creative mind behind the products has gone according to some critics. The current advertisements are evident of the premise.

The recent ‘Genius’ advertisement campaign from the company which ran for a short period of time during the 2012 Summer Olympics was immediately pulled out after receiving criticism. A blue-shirted Apple sales employee helps customers at the company’s retail stores. In the other part, Siri helps out celebrities like Zooey Deschanel, Samuel Jackson and John Malkovich.

“Those Olympic ads were horrible,” said ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall. “If Steve were still around, those Olympic ads probably would never have seen the light of day.”

The ads clearly show that the customers are clueless and less intelligent, according to some reviewers of the campaign.

“That campaign made the users look stupid,” said Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle. “You want to convey the impression that smart people buy Apple products. People like to identify with smart people.”

Cook was not behind ideas as they were created by an outside advertisement agency, but he surely had the power to reject them. However, he didn’t and that shows that Apple might have lost the oomph of being a cool company.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Aug 24 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.