Tim Cook Reveals the "First Big Mistake" of His Tenure as Apple CEO
On April 23rd, according to Bloomberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to step down in a few months. He stated that the 2012 launch of Apple Maps on the iPhone was the "first truly major mistake" of his time leading the company.
At the time, the map application was not functioning properly in many places around the world, providing users with incorrect directions and mislabeled landmarks, offering an overall experience far inferior to the map service then provided by Google on the iPhone.
On Tuesday, Cook said at an all-hands meeting with his newly appointed successor, John Ternus, “That product wasn’t ready, and we pushed it out anyway, because we thought it was. We tested more on local relevance.”
The launch of the product ultimately led to the first major management shakeup of Cook’s tenure, resulting in the dismissal of Scott Forstall, head of the software division. Forstall was a close associate of Cook’s predecessor, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Cook also said there were many moments he was proud of, but the Apple Watch and its health features stood out in particular. The primary health feature of the Apple Watch when it debuted in 2014 was heart rate monitoring. Since then, Apple has gradually added a variety of functions, such as high blood pressure detection.
“I remember the first piece of feedback I got from a user on the Apple Watch, and he told me the watch saved his life. Now, of course, I get those messages every day, but the first one was particularly impactful and made me stop in my tracks at the time.”