GoKawiilPeople love to compare Tim Cook’s tenure to that of Steve Jobs’. They say that Apple hasn’t been able to innovate under Tim Cook and that he never had his iPhone-level moment. In Cook’s defense, no other company or CEO has had an iPhone-level moment since that 2007 announcement. But just because he never had his iPhone moment doesn’t mean nothing happened. Under Tim Cook, Apple didn’t just coast. It built on what Steve Jobs created, and instead of chasing one massive breakthrough, Apple built multiple billion-dollar businesses, expanded into new categories, and turned its ecosystem into one of the most powerful in tech. Think about it, AirPods, Apple Watch, the transition from Intel to Apple silicon, all market disruptors that happened under Tim Cook. So let’s take a look back and see everything from the Tim Cook era.
Be sure to watch our video where I rank all the Tim Cook-era products from 2011 to today.
Tim Cook era products
There is a lot to highlight about products and services during the Tim Cook era. But if you had to pick some of the defining highlights, there are a few standouts. The first that comes to mind is AirPods, which became a cultural icon and, arguably, Apple’s most successful accessory of all time. They are everywhere, and you know exactly what they are when you see them. Then there is the Apple Watch, which went from a questionable product in 2015 to a health device that millions of people rely on. Then you have the game-changing transition from Intel to Apple Silicon, which delivered massive gains in performance and efficiency almost overnight. Below is the full list of products from the Tim Cook era in chronological order.
When you look at this list, it feels different from the Steve Jobs era. Jobs had a few products that were insanely impactful: G4 iMac, iPod, iPhone. But with Cook, instead of having one or two defining products, he was able to build multiple product categories all at once and thrive within that space. He also had meaningful products like the AirPods, Apple Watch, and new services, which allowed Apple to enhance its best product: its ecosystem. There has just been nothing like it. The Cook era was not about re-inventing the wheel; it was about enhancing everything Jobs did and bringing it to the masses.
Ranking these products
I thought it would be fun to create a tiered list to rank these products. Please keep in mind that this is completely subjective and my opinion. Feel free to sound off in the comments below and either agree or disagree!
For S-tier, I wanted to place the products that were game changers. Products or services that we now use on a daily basis, whether we know it or not. So I put:
Then, for the A tier, this was more just a personal choice. The iPad Pro will forever have a special place in my heart, so I had to place it there, as well as:
iPad Pro
... continue reading