I have a blog article brewing on this, but for now: what drove Apple was Steve Jobs' /taste/ and that others believed in his taste.
The first time Tim Cook presents a computer with a major feature missing - ie: no CD drive or no floppy drive, the audience will think he's crazy, and will think it's proof that the company can no longer work without Steve-o.
It wasn't the coming up with new ideas that drove Apple. It was a single man knowing which of those ideas were good, and which were bad, and people having enough faith in him to go with it, and seriously consider and get behind the ones that other executives would have labelled crazy-sauce.
Maybe you just picked a poor example, but CD drive is actually something Jobs would take out, so critics would likely see it is a continuation in his spirit. Tim Cook would be more likely to be chastised if, say, the new laptop were covered in brand stickers.
I have a blog article brewing on this, but for now: what drove Apple was Steve Jobs' /taste/ and that others believed in his taste.
The first time Tim Cook presents a computer with a major feature missing - ie: no CD drive or no floppy drive, the audience will think he's crazy, and will think it's proof that the company can no longer work without Steve-o.
It wasn't the coming up with new ideas that drove Apple. It was a single man knowing which of those ideas were good, and which were bad, and people having enough faith in him to go with it, and seriously consider and get behind the ones that other executives would have labelled crazy-sauce.