Tim Cook is Tech 'Lightweight', Says Former Apple Exec

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David Sobotta criticizes Cook's management style.

David Sobotta, a former director of Apple's federal sales group, has criticized current CEO Tim Cook's lack of leadership skills, as well as being "lightweight" in terms of understanding technology.

Sobotta, who published a Kindle book pertaining to his 20-year experience at Apple called "The Pomme Company" (Pomme being French for apple) spoke about Steve Jobs' successor in an interview.

When asked for his thoughts of the recent firing of iOS chief Scott Forstall, which was purportedly due to his lack of apology for Apple's abysmal iOS maps app, and retail chief John Brownell, Sobotta said: "Tim will react to the numbers or his fear of being wrong quickly. Fear of being wrong is a managerial trait that runs strong and deep in Apple because of the way Steve ran the company. Even the appearance of being wrong when in the end you might be right is dreaded at Apple."

"Technology-wise, I think Tim Cook is a lightweight," he added. "I never felt passion for technology from Tim like I did from Steve and some of the great engineers."

Sobotta has previously been critical of Apple in a number of areas on his blog, Applepeels. The titles to some recent posts are "Do Apple Employees Need A Witness Protection Program?", "Has Apple lost its soul?" and "Will Apple Ever Figure Out the Cloud?"

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Zak Islam
36 Comments Comment from the forums
  • wilem_WAR246810
    It's obvious that he didn't know what he was talking about when he bashed all the other 7in tablets
    Reply
  • sixdegree
    It's time to whip out the lawsuit.
    Reply
  • neon neophyte
    MS surface is like a flying car...
    Reply
  • TheBigTroll
    n00b....
    Reply
  • magnetite
    Tim Cook isn't worth the money they are paying him
    Reply
  • scannall
    I think he has the wrong fruit in mind. It sounds more like sour grapes to me.
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    I recall reading an article about Steve Jobs. His managerial style was, interesting.

    -If an employee was wrong according to Jobs' view, he would directly cuss out such employee and drop the F bomb repeatedly.

    -He was not hesitant about shutting down projects that didn't seem to be able to succeed, and occasionally firing the entire team.

    -Before the mid 2000's, one of Apple's suppliers was being a jerk and constantly late on the shipment. The supplier threaten a lawsuit if the contract was canceled, and Jobs canceled it anyways to set an example and took the lawsuit hit.
    Reply
  • halcyon
    magnetiteTim Cook isn't worth the money they are paying himI think that is correct, unfortunately.
    Reply
  • wilem_WAR246810
    magnetiteTim Cook isn't worth the money they are paying him
    Apple isn't worth the money everyone is paying them
    Reply
  • house70
    Yeah, but on the "bright" side, Apple's trollish lawsuits have multiplied.

    I think Cook is the embodiment of what Apple has become; a company interested in killing competition by deploying their vast cash reserves into lawsuits rather than using the cash for tech innovation.
    Reply