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Tim Cook

Everything you need to know about Apple's CEO

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Tim Cook was appointed CEO in 2011 when Steve Jobs stepped away from the company as his health worsened. Cook was handpicked by Jobs to be his replacement, having served as a close friend of Jobs during their entire career together.

A graduate of Auburn University with a degree in industrial engineering, Cook earned his Masters from Duke University’s School of business. Prior to joining Apple, Cook spent 12 years at IBM, then served as the Chief Operating Officer of Intelligent Electronics. He then had a short stint at Compaq.

Cook first joined Apple in 1998 after being recruited by Jobs. Cook remarked in a commencement address at Auburn University that, five minutes into his interview with Jobs, he knew he wanted to join Apple. “My intuition already knew that joining Apple was a once in a lifetime opportunity to work for the creative genius,” he remarked.

At Apple, Cook started out as senior vice president of worldwide operating. He served as interim CEO in 2009 while Steve Jobs was on medical leave. In 2011, Cook again stepped in to lead day-to-day operations while Jobs was ill, before ultimately being named CEO permanently just before the death of Jobs.

Cook has been very outspoken on a variety of social issues, including the need to protect user data and privacy, as evident by his vocal refusal to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino gunmen. Cook has also voiced his displeasure with controversial legislation that enables LGBT discrimination in a handful of states in the United States. Likewise, Cook has frequently called on the United States Congress to pass LGBT protection legislation. He became the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company in 2014, as well. Cook has led Apple in the San Francisco Pride Parade in recent years.

View all Tim Cook-related articles below:

Tim Cook talks AR, his (someday) successor, and one-sentence comment on iPhone X availability [Video]

Buzzfeed briefly interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook and retail head Angela Ahrendts at the recent opening of the new waterfront Chicago store, with Cook discussing augmented reality, rumors of his successor, and making a one-sentence comment on iPhone X availability.

Cook thinks AR is going to be as big in the future as mobile apps are today …


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Tim Cook talks education, diversity, and more in interview with Chicago mayor

Apple this week opened its new flagship retail store in Chicago, and present at the opening were several Apple executives. Tim Cook, Angela Ahrendts, and Eddy Cue were all in attendance, giving interviews, taking selfies, and more. While there, Cook sat down with the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, for an in-depth interview on Emanuel’s podcast “Chicago Stories.”


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Tim Cook visits Swedish forests with ‘innovative & sustainable’ packaging supplier chosen by Steve Jobs

Any time you unbox an Apple product, it’s clear that the company puts a huge amount of thought and design effort into the packaging, and we learned a little more about that during a visit to Sweden by CEO Tim Cook.

Cook visited the ‘breathtaking forests of northern Sweden’ where the trees are grown to make sustainable packaging for iPads …


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Tim Cook visits French tech firm Eldim whose ‘talented engineers’ are said to be key to Face ID [U]

Update: More stops on his French tour below…

During a trip to France in which Tim Cook is scheduled to meet French president Emmanuel Macron, the CEO also visited a small French company whose technology is reported to be key to Face ID.

Cook tweeted a photo of himself at the company, thanking the small team of 42 employees for helping to make the iPhone possible …


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Tim Cook says iPhone 8 in ‘good supply’ on launch day, Apple Watch Series 3 LTE issue ‘very minor’ 

It’s iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus release day, and CNBC caught up with Apple CEO Tim Cook during his ritual Apple Store visit to check in on the launch. Despite the both new iPhones not selling out across the board like previous models (because the iPhone X is coming in November), Cook says ‘we really like what we’re seeing’ with today’s launch. He also acknowledged the reported LTE connectivity bug affecting some Apple Watch Series 3 models.


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Tim Cook says Apple will work with Congress to protect Dreamers as Trump rolls back DACA

The Trump administration announced plans this morning to rescind the DACA program initiated under the Obama administration. In response, Tim Cook has issued a memo to employees expressing the company’s intent to work with Congress on legislation that permanently protects those affected by the immigration policy change including employees at Apple.


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Tim Cook to announce new nationwide training program at press event in Austin today [Video] [U]

Tim Cook

Update: Apple has announced that the Swift app development curriculum noted below is being expanded to more community colleges.

Apple today announced the App Development with Swift curriculum will now be offered in more than 30 community college systems across the country in the 2017-2018 school year, providing opportunities to millions of students to build apps that will prepare them for careers in software development and information technology. The Austin Community College District (ACC), one of the nation’s largest higher learning institutions, will begin offering the course to its 74,000 students this fall.

It will be a bit of a disappointment if this turns out to be the entirety of Apple’s announcements today …

Tim Cook is currently travelling around the USA, with stops in Ohio and Iowa before moving on to Austin, Texas. According to a speech by Austin mayor Steve Adler, Apple will be announcing a new nationwide training program later today.

I’m in a press conference tomorrow with Apple, and Tim Cook is here as we’re announcing a training program for people. They’re announcing it all over the country.

The visit to Iowa came ahead of Apple confirming plans for a new $1.3B data center in Waukee


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