Cook did oversee successful product launches, such as AirPods and the Apple Watch. But others, like the Vision Pro headset and a failed foray into self-driving cars, fell flat, feeding into criticism that Apple lost its innovative edge. To some investors, the company’s underwhelming AI offerings have been a missed opportunity.

Yes, Siri is still a work in progress, which is the kindest thing I can say about it.

Cook clearly took a terrific company and make it gigantic. There were some hits and misses, but they are still reliant (mostly) on the invention(s) that existed before he took over - or which were forced or opened by others (the Watch, for instance.) That said, it’s a marvel for a CEO to take over from a legendary CEO and become a legendary CEO in their own right. That almost never happens.

My biggest disappointment was the cancellation of the Apple car effort, although I have no particular insights as to why or how hard it might have been to get into the field. My newest thought: since the objection to Chinese cars is that “they will be taking pictures everywhere and have other possible nefarious intelligence issues”, why not gin up that legendary software team, buy the BYD shells, strip out the Chinese software and install all-US softwares and rebadge it as the Apple car. There’s certainly enough margin between the Chinese costs and American pricing to merit profits for both, plus pay for a new software suite. The auto industry is larger by revenue and output (3x-5x depending on who’s counting) than even the cell phone business, although margins are thinner. But then keeping almost all the manufacturing capital investment off books would surely make those margins pop, no?

Yeah, OK, the UAW isn’t going to like it much and there goes Michigan, but hey, a boy can dream, can’t I? And if you can’t get USians to go along I bet Canada would love to get a whole bunch, and then the pressure would build, I betcha.