Tim Cook scoffs $11m slice of warm Apple pie

Tim Cook took advantage of some of his oodles of Apple stock over the end of last week, taking possession of 37,500 shares and converting them to cash. Cook sold 20,178 of the shares for a tidy profit of $11.1m, using the rest of the shares to pay off the tax and other expenses of the transactions, according to a filing with …

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Share Value

Let's hope he doesn't do a Ballmer though eh?

The only real advantage of the iPad3 is the higher resolution screen, which is great, but I've kind of gotten used to each product launch being a lot more spectacular. It remains to be seen whether Tim Cook can keep up the pace that Steve Jobs did.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Share Value

The new iPad has a little more than that, a faster processor, more RAM, a double-the-resolution retina display, a better camera and the same battery life.

Can apple stay at the top though? No one knows. What we do know right now is that despite what some comentards and journalists predicted (and that's being polite), Apple is far from doomed.

Apples value has risen nearly 50% since Job's death.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/03/12/apple-hits-another-record-high-up-nearly-50-since-jobs-died/

Will it continue to do so? Dunno. Neither does anyone else

[Ammaross Danan]

Re: Share Value

"...a faster processor..."

Wrong. It's the same old 1GHz dual core, just with some extra graphics oomph to drive the high-res screen. (see http://www.reghardware.com/2012/03/13/apple_ipad_3_tablet_benchmarked/)

Want something faster?

http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/compare/577328/550834

[Audrey S. Thackeray]

Re: Share Value

"It remains to be seen whether Tim Cook can keep up the pace that Steve Jobs did."

He almost certainly can't. But that doesn't mean anyone could.

Keeping that pace will be a bit much to ask as he's not going to be able to break as much new ground (assuming smartphones and tablets are joining MP3 players as maturing markets).

But they look well placed for the immediate future - lots of people still think every touch screen smartphone is an iPhone and every tablet is an iPad - until these devices saturate their markets Apple will be raking the money in.

The most recent iPad didn't have to be spectacular, one feature to retain the desirability of the brand was enough.

It's the competition that will need to come up with something stunning.

[Dan 55]

Re: Share Value

I think it's more like Tim's not got the hang of the personal reality distortion field just yet. Steve would have wowed you with the new iPad's marvellous and beautiful new screen, you'd have pre-ordered by now.

[Anonymous Coward]

I am such a loser

If I had $11 millions, I would probably retire right away. Well, maybe not right away, but the temptation would be there.

[Bjorg]

Re: I am such a loser

I'm with you. I've never understood these "stock awards as incentive" programs. Tim Cook got a $5m bonus in 2010. If it were me, I'd be gone then and there (probably much sooner since he likely got similar bonuses in previous years). Screw your millions and millions worth of stock, with just one bonus you gave me all the incentive I need to RETIRE RIGHT NOW. Maybe someone who's super filthy-rich can explain to me why, if you already have enough money to never need money again, you still feel the need to get more money?

[tardigrade]

Re: I am such a loser

I would happily retire on $5m but it's all relative. If you want to go into space on Soyuz it's going to cost you $20m. Or how about buying Roman Abobovitches super yacht for $164m. It's a different world.

[TheOtherHobbes]

Tim is

kind of boring. The iPad announce lacked flair, dynamism or charisma.

Tim is not a disruptive kind of a guy, so Apple momentum will continue for a while, but there's zero evidence he has the vision needed to keep Apple looking super-shiny - either from a product design point of view, or a marketing point of view.

There's a real possibility of Apple drifting back towards the Amelio days of sort-of-interesting boxes and software that get better specs every year, but no real vision for the future.

Tim did say 'post-PC' a lot so iPads will continue to be important. But really, moving professional customers from professional hardware and software to dumbed-down slower and less fully featured app-format software isn't necessarily a win.

In the final years of Steve, Apple basically became a toy shop. There's a lot of money in toys, but I wouldn't want to bet on toy sales as a business model with staying power.

[James Cooke]

Re: Tim is

"There's a lot of money in toys, but I wouldn't want to bet on toy sales as a business model with staying power."

Really Lego and Hornby etc have been doing just fine for nigh on a century. Adults like toys just as much as kids, shiny cars, shiny phones basically shiny anything that you use a lot.

[Tom 38]

Re: Tim is

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/27/hornby-tracks-of-our-tears

[wayward4now]

My ten cents

Is that Apple's stock will belly up at some point, just like realestate did. And, it will take the suckers, who are born every minute, with them. That someone could build and market a $39 working box, shy of proprietary software and license fees, is telling. The Open Source world is flat. It's flat in that everyone can jump in without paying Uncle Steve or Uncle Bill one thin dime. And, many will ... once they acquire the wits to do so. My two cents... Ric