10 years of Tim Cook: how Apple and Big Tech have evolved and taken over the market

Post-turtle neck era... Tomorrow marks the 10-year anniversary of Tim Cook becoming Apple's CEO, replacing founder Steve Jobs. Jobs was a creative visionary who pioneered the revolution from the PC to mobile era. Cook has been more of an operational magician. But how has the tech giant changed under his reign? A big part of it is Cook's ability to scale.

• #s: 72M iPhones sold in 2011, vs. an estimated 240-250M in 2021. Since 2011, the number of App Store apps has more than quadrupled to 2M today.
• Top-selling smartphone: In 2011, it was the Samsung Galaxy SII — the iPhone 4 ranked 4th. In 2021, the top-four sellers are all iPhones.
• Value: In 2011, Apple hit a $337B market cap, surpassing Exxon to become Earth's most valuable company. Today, it's worth $2.5T — still the most valuable.
• Products: In 2011, Apple unveiled the new iPod touch and iPod nano (#RIP). In Cook-era 2015 we got Apple Watch, followed closely by AirPods.

Tim Cooking in the kitchen... iPhone is still the core of Apple, and brings in more than half its sales. But Apple's biggest shifts under Cook have been scaling services and elevating privacy.

• Services: In 2011, Services consisted mainly of iTunes, App Store, and iCloud. Now, Apple's self-feeding ecosystem has expanded to include TV streaming, fitness, games, and even a services bundle, launched last year.
• Privacy: Apple has become a leader in privacy — from Face ID to the latest iOS upgrade, which lets users decide whether to let apps track them for ads. But it's recently received unprecedented backlash over a new anti-child pornography measure.
• Through the App Store and its consumer-friendly devices, Apple has also contributed to the growth of other tech giants. About that...