As Apple prepares to complete its CEO transition on September 1, Tim Cook used an employee town hall with successor John Ternus to look back on 15 years in the top job. He said the 2012 launch of Apple Maps was the first major mistake of his tenure, while the achievement he values most is Apple Watch’s health work and the messages from users who say the device saved their lives.
Apple Maps became the first major crisis of Cook’s tenure
Cook said Apple’s decision to replace Google Maps on the iPhone with its own mapping service quickly turned into a serious problem. The product launched with faulty directions, mislabeled landmarks, and an experience that compared poorly with Google’s version. He told employees the product “was not ready,” adding that Apple believed it was prepared because testing had focused too heavily on locations close to home.
The fallout reached the executive level. Software chief Scott Forstall was dismissed, marking the first major leadership shake-up under Cook. Apple also took the unusual step of issuing a public apology and telling users to download competing map apps in the meantime. Cook described that episode as swallowing a large dose of humility.
Even so, he said Apple Maps improved over time and now, in his view, has become the best maps app in the world. The episode, he said, taught Apple what persistence looks like and how to respond after getting a major product decision wrong.
Why the first “your watch saved my life” message stood out
Cook drew a sharp contrast when discussing Apple Watch. When the device debuted in 2014, its main health feature was heart-rate monitoring. Apple later added blood oxygen sensing, ECG support, and blood pressure detection. Cook said the first email he received from a user saying the watch had saved a life left the strongest impression, stopping him in his tracks.
He said those messages now arrive on a daily basis, but the first one remains the most powerful memory. For Cook, the impact of Apple Watch is tied not only to the product itself, but to the way it entered real-world health situations for users.
From $350 billion to $4 trillion, with some projects that never arrived
When Cook became CEO in August 2011, Apple’s market value stood at about $350 billion. It has now climbed past $4 trillion. During that period, Apple expanded its iPad and iPhone lineups, introduced AirPods, and pushed deeper into online services.
Cook also acknowledged projects that failed to reach the finish line. Alongside the early Apple Maps disaster, Apple canceled AirPower before launch, and its decade-long self-driving car effort also came to nothing. Bloomberg reported that neither turned into a crisis that threatened the company’s foundation.
At the same employee meeting, John Ternus outlined the next product roadmap and said Apple would change the world again. Cook said he remains in good health and plans to stay on for the long term after moving into the role of executive chairman.