Apple iPhone 5: CEO Tim Cook takes the stage
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Tim Cook took the stage at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., on Tuesday morning to kick off Apple’s Let’s Talk iPhone event, which is expected to bring in news of a new iPhone.
But the media event is also a significant one for Apple and Cook personally in that Steve Jobs isn’t running the show for the first time in more than a decade.
‘This is my first product launch since being named CEO -- I’m sure you didn’t know that,’ Cook said upon taking the stage. ‘I love Apple and consider it the privilege of a lifetime to have worked here for 14 years and to assume this role.
‘Today we’ll remind you of the uniqueness of this company as we announce innovations from our mobile OS, to apps, services and hardware.’
Jobs stepped down as chief executive in August, and was named chairman of Apple’s board of directors. But while Cook has been running Apple’s day-to-day operations since January, when Jobs took a leave of absence due to health concerns, this marks the first time that Cook is running such an event for the tech giant.
Interestingly enough, Apple has declined to stream the event live online to the public, which has become common practice of the company over the last few years. Apple hasn’t explained why the move was made to not stream the iPhone unveiling.
Cook stepped in to run Apple when Jobs took medical leaves twice before in 2004 and 2009.
But while this might be the first time that Cook has run a product unveiling for Apple, he is not a stranger to high-profile events. It was Cook who ran Apple’s shareholder meeting in February when a small group of shareholders wanted to see Apple’s succession plan for Jobs -- which ended up being a plan to name Cook as CEO.
And Apple sent Cook to China last year after the manufacturer Foxconn, which assembles Apple’s iPhone, dealt with employee suicides.
In his opening remarks at Tuesday’s event, Cook noted that Apple has opened two new stores in China -- one in Hong Kong and one in Shanghai.
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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles and David Sarno
Twitter.com/nateog and Twitter.com/dsarno