Tim Cook is No Steve Jobs, Jobs' Ex-Publicist Says
*By Chloe Aiello*
Tim Cook is an excellent steward of Apple, but he's no Steve Jobs ー and what Apple really needs right now, is innovation, said Andy Cunningham, who worked with Jobs to launch the Macintosh.
"Tim Cook is an amazing steward of the assets he was left ... however, they have not been able to come up with the next big thing, which is really what they have to do. And Steve did it over and over and over and over again," Cunningham told Cheddar on Thursday.
Apple ($AAPL) stock plunged 9 percent on Thursday, continuing its declines from Wednesday for its lowest stock pricing since July 2017. The losses followed a letter Tim Cook wrote to investors on Wednesday, adjusting Apple's first-quarter revenue guidance down significantly to $84 billion from a previous estimate of $89 billion to $93 billion. The new outlook is about 5 percent less than the $88.3 billion in revenue it reported the same quarter last year.
[In the letter](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/01/letter-from-tim-cook-to-apple-investors/), Cook mostly attributes the revision to "the magnitude of the economic deceleration" in emerging markets, especially China.
"Most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance, and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline, occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac and iPad," Cook wrote in the note, adding that lower than anticipated iPhone revenue "accounts for all of our revenue shortfall to our guidance and for much more than our entire year-over-year revenue decline."
The company has now lost about $420 billion from previous all-time highs, dropping it into place as the fourth largest publicly traded company, behind Microsoft ($MSFT), Amazon ($AMZN) and Alphabet ($GOOGL).
Although Cook blamed China and its decelerating economy, Cunningham said it's all really about iPhone sales.
"Apple missed on its iPhone and I think that's the real issue here," Cunningham said. "They blame the Chinese economy, primarily for the sluggish sales of the iPhone, but really I think underneath that issue is, I think, the fact that Apple really is in need of its next big thing."
Despite the company's sizable cash horde, Apple prefers to invent in-house rather than acquire new products, Cunningham said, so what the company really needs is "a product visionary," like Jobs, to explore new ideas. Barring that, the company could be in trouble.
" I think we are starting to see ー this may be an omen ー but we are starting to see the beginning of the last days of its heyday," Cunningham said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/member-of-macintosh-launch-team-talks-apple-troubles).
Art Hogan, Chief Market Strategist at National Securities, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says investors are taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to the situation between Russia and the Ukraine and elaborates on the impact higher oil prices stemming from the conflict would have on the market.
Kyle Jaeger, senior editor for Marijuana Moment, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why a stigma still exists for the cannabis industry in advertising and social media after NBC rejected Weedmaps' ad for the big game even though more states across the country are legalizing cannabis.
A bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) aims to tackle the spread of misinformation on social media platforms, as well as the addictive nature of the sites and negative mental health impacts they have on users. The 'Nudge Act' would require studies to find and compile potential interventions that platforms could use to encourage people to think before they share a post, or log off after spending too much time on an app. The FTC would create rules based on these findings, and hold the platforms accountable. But will it work? Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, joins Closing Bell to discuss the bill, whether real results and regulations could come from it, and more.
We know that the Los Angeles Rams emerged as Super Bowl champions, but the crypto industry also came out a winner on Sunday with several notable companies getting airtime in primetime. However, Richard Smith, author of the Risk Rituals Newsletter, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the campaigns were a 'disappointment' and adds that crypto companies would be wiser spending their resources on creating value.
A.I.-based entertainment company, Deedub, recently raised
$20 million in a Series A round, led by Insight Partners. Deepdub uses A.I. technology to automate the dubbing process for foreign-language movies or TV shows, while using actors' original voices. The company says it can take just two to three minutes of data from an actor's voice and transform the voice into a different language. The funding comes as foreign-language films and shows like Netflix's 'Squid Game' have recently become more popular with audiences in the U.S. and around the world. Oz Krakowski, Chief Revenue Officer at Deepdub, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Energy Vault, the company developing sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the completion of its business combination with Novus Capital Corporation II. Energy Vault develops sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions designed to advance the transition to a carbon free, resilient power grid. Robert Piconi, co-founder and CEO of Energy Vault, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to disucss.
