Apple CEO Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams have been named to TIME’s list of The 20 Most Influential People in Tech Right Now

Behind Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook is 4th on Time’s list of the 20 most influential people in Tech right now. According to the magazine, Cook has a “nearly unmatched influence over the technology world” as head of the world’s most valuable company ($750 billion).

From the Sauce:

“As CEO of Apple, one of the world’s most valuable brands, Tim Cook has nearly unmatched influence over the technology world. Anything Apple does is bound to be copied by a seemingly endless number of rivals, meaning his choices will reverberate far beyond One Infinite Loop. Today, Apple is rumored to be experimenting with everything from advanced artificial intelligence to augmented reality and self-driving vehicles. Given Apple’s role as tastemaker extraordinaire, how Cook decides to move forward with any one of these projects will shape the future of the consumer technology landscape.”

Pretty snazzy write up, no?

Jeff Williams, as COO of Apple, ranked 17th for his “no small task” of overseeing Apple’s entire supply chain since 2010 as Cook’s second in command.

The rest of the list is as follows:

1 Elon Musk ( CEO, Tesla & SpaceX)

2 Jeff Bezos (CEO, Amazon)

3 Mark Zuckerberg ( CEO, Facebook)

4 Tim Cook (CEO, Apple)

5 Sundar Pichai (CEO, Google)

6 Evan Spiegel (Co-founder & CEO, Snap. Inc)

7 Mary Barra (CEO, General Motors)

8 Satya Nadella (CEO, Microsoft)

9 Susan Wojcicki (CEO, YouTube)

10 Andrew Jassy (Amazon VP)

11 Ajit Pai (FCC Chairman)

12 Demis Hassabis, (cofounder and CEO of Google-owned A.I. firm DeepMind)

13 John Giannandrea (Head of Search, Google)

14 Travis Kalanick (CEO, Uber)

15 Ginni Rometty (CEO, IBM)

16 Cheng Wei & Jean Liu (Didi Chuxing)

17 Jeff Williams (COO, Apple)

18 Anthony Levandowski (Key figure in  the future of the autonomous vehicle industry)

19 Del Harvey (Twitter’s head of Trust & Safety)

20 Terry Myerson (Microsoft)

Tim Cook joins board of Directors for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

Apple CEO Tim Cook has joined the board of directors for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. He has long supported the organization and counts Robert F. Kennedy as one of his personal heroes.

From the Sauce, himself:

“Growing up, I was inspired by Robert Kennedy’s infinite hope for humanity and his belief that people at their core are good, sharing universal goals for themselves and the world in which we live,” said Cook. “Robert Kennedy spoke to our highest aspirations, calling Americans from all walks of life to fight for something better. He was and is a hero and role model to me, and I am honored to serve alongside Kerry and the rest of the board to advance his message of justice and equality.”

The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights aims to reach Robert F. Kennedy’s goal for a just and peaceful world by advancing corporate responsibility, teaching social justice, and partnering with human rights leaders.

From the other sauce, Kerry Kennedy, President and CEO of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights,

“Tim knows the importance of advocating for and representing people who have not been heard. He has integrity and does not shy away from challenging issues when he knows they are right and just. Tim is deeply committed to the social justice work that he is helping Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights accomplish.”

Congrats Mr. Cook!

Be Inspired by Tim Cook’s Commencement speech!

Yesterday Tim Cook spoke at the graduation ceremony at George Washington University and, as we have come to expect from the Apple CEO – his speech was a stirring, inspiring and challenging one.

The speech lasted for 20 minutes, in which Cook told the class that they had to be the ones to change the world, be it by where they work ( I hear Apple’s hiring…) or by simply pursuing a life that you believe in and making a lasting impact in the world, such as one of his hero’s, Martin Luther King.

“The sidelines are not where you want to live your life,” Cook said  “The world needs you in the arena. There are problems that need to be solved, injustices that need to be ended,” he said.

“People that are still being persecuted. Diseases still in need of cure. No matter what you do next, the world needs your energy, your passion, your impatience with progress. Don’t shrink from risk and tune out those critics and cynics.

History rarely yields to one person, but think and never forget what happens when it does. That can be you. That should be you. That must be you.”

Well, Gee, Mr Cook. Way to make the world a better place.

Watch it below!

GW Commencement 2015 Tim Cook from GW Media Relations on Vimeo.

Tim Cook speaks out against new law in Indiana

If you’ve been following the news recently, you’ll be aware that the Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence,  just passed a controversial law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

This legislation has brought forth massive opposition from both inside Indiana, the States and the world because many believe it will lead easily to discrimination, particularly towards the LGBT community.

Tim Cook, a beacon for equality in the corporate tech world, has been one of those directly opposed to the law, making it clear that he thought it was a massive step backward.

Apple is open for everyone. We are deeply disappointed in Indiana’s new law and calling on Arkansas Gov. to veto the similar #HB1228.

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 27, 2015

Around the world, we strive to treat every customer the same — regardless of where they come from, how they worship or who they love.

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 27, 2015

He also took to The Washington Post, writing a public op-ed letter condemning the legislation. From the Sauce:

“America’s business community recognized a long time ago that discrimination, in all its forms, is bad for business, at Apple, we are in business to empower and enrich our customers’ lives. We strive to do business in a way that is just and fair. That’s why, on behalf of Apple, I’m standing up to oppose this new wave of legislation — wherever it emerges. I’m writing in the hopes that many more will join this movement. From North Carolina to Nevada, these bills under consideration truly will hurt jobs, growth and the economic vibrancy of parts of the country where a 21st-century economy was once welcomed with open arms.”

Others have come out alongside Cook in condemning the legislation, including the NCAA, who have questioned the impact the legislation will have on future sporting events, Salesforce, who has vowed to halt expansion plans in the state, as well as both Mayors of Seattle and San Francisco who have barred all non-essential publicly funded City employee travel to the state.

Mike Pence has since come out in defense of the bill, claiming it won’t and shouldn’t have any effect on how people are able to discriminate in the state, however in the face of such anger, he has said that he now wants a bill on his desk this week that would “fix” the law, making it clear that “this law does not give businesses the right to deny services to anyone.”

The law is set to take effect July 1st.

Apple earnings call & Apple Watch release update

Tim Cook has had a busy day. But – a pretty good one by all accounts. He had to make the earnings call which covered the first fiscal quarter of 2015. In it, he told financial analysts and investors that not only did Apple sell about 9 million more iPhones than what was expected and forecast, but that they also had reported earnings of $3.06 per share on revenue of $74.6 billion which is way more than anyone was expecting.

According to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters, analysts had actually expected Apple to report earnings of about $2.60 a share on $67.69 billion in revenue.

Yeesh.

The iPad was the only soft note in the earnings call, with sales hitting a quieter 21.4 million units instead of the 22.2 million unit estimate. However, Apple’s cash rose to almost $178 billion, up 15 percent from the prior quarter.

Again – Yeesh.

So – to the best news! Straight from the Sauce, Mr Cook himself –

“Development for Apple Watch is right on schedule, and we expect to begin shipping in April… My expectations are very high on it. I’m using it every day and love it and can’t live without it.”

Bam. Bam. Bam. April. Early April, Apple Watch, tech we apparently can’t live without. Excellent! And with a battery that can be charged just by thinking good thoughts. Right Tim?

Tim Cook rounds out 2014 with CNN’s CEO of the year

Tim Cook, revered CEO of Apple, has taken out top spot in CNN Money’s list of the best CEO’s in 2014.

<Applause>

The accolade is in recognition of his many successes this year, including proving wrong all the critics who thought he couldn’t live up to the leadership voracity or innovative style of Steve Jobs, his insistence of and steps toward creating a equal workplace, the release of successful new products and successful new product lines in the Apple Watch and Apple Pay, AND, very importantly for CNN (and investors), Apple’s pretty incredible 40% stock climb this year.

Phewf.  That’s some 2014.

Cook can put this award right next to the other one’s he’s collected this year, such as the Financial Times ‘ Person of The Year’, being a finalist for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, and his Lifetime Achievement Award from Auburn University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering.

You can see the other finalists for best CEO here. 

So, what does 2015 look like, Mr Cook? You can tell us, we can keep a secret.

Kinda.

New anti-discrimination bill named after Tim Cook

Tim Cook must feel pretty good about 2014. Looking back, we’ve got the successful launch of 2 new iPhone models, the Apple Watch announcement, his inspiring announcement about how he was tackling work place discrimination, starting with the announcement that he was gay in a personal essay in Boomberg Businessweek, and now an Alabama Representative is planning on introducing a new anti-discrimination bill named after him.

Named the Tim Cook Economic Development Act, the bill aims to end work-place discrimination based on sexual orientation, something which is very close to Tim Cook’s heart. The representative, Patricia Todd, was inspired to name the Bill after Cook after he spoke about how we are not moving quickly enough when it comes to equality for the LGBT community.

This was during another awesome 2014 event for Cook, when he was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor.

Originally, there was some confusion at Apple by staff who wanted to protect the company from getting embroiled in politics by preventing the Bill being associated with Mr Cook, however Apple have since come out and said that they are proud to be linked in such a manner to a cause that they so fiercely believe in.

Equality and anti-discrimination is something that Mr Cook is bringing to the forefront of values at Apple, in the hopes that these values will inspire others to do the same. Congratulations on a pretty amazing year, Mr Cook. If they made a Holiday special about your year in review, it would be something we would sit down and watch with a glass of whiskey.

P.S Because we’ve been working so hard on our annual iPhone Antidote Christmas Gift guide, we won’t be having our Deals of The Week Wednesday this week, but keep a look out for our gift guide, because that thing… that thing’s gonna rock socks.

Tim Cook’s Bloomberg essay.

You might have heard that a couple of days ago, Tim Cook, CEO over at Apple, had an essay published in the latest edition of Bloomberg Businessweek. You might not. Either way, you should probably read it when you can.

In the article, Tim Cook publicly opens up about his life as a gay man. It’s something that’s never been a real secret, but also something that’s never been publicly stated, because up until now Cook has kept his private life pretty separate from Apple.

What spurred this public statement is an admirable attempt at tackling discrimination in the workplace, beginning from within Apple. Cook has put aside his desire for privacy to prioritize instead his need for providing a workplace where equality isn’t an issue, be it gender, race or sexuality equality.

Cook believes that equality in the workplace is an important issue everyone should be prioritizing, and that the ability to make a workplace better is a gift anyone who finds themselves in a position to provide, should.

It’s a great read. Check it out here: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-30/tim-cook-im-proud-to-be-gay

Tim Cook does the Ice Bucket challenge. BTW, if you haven’t heard, there’s an ice bucket challenge.

So if you haven’t heard, there’s a social media ‘challenge’ making the rounds where you pour a bucket of ice on yourself, film it, and put the evidence on social media. Um… fun? Well, yeah, duh it’s fun, but the actual reason behind the challenge is to raise both awareness & funds for Amyotrophic Lateral  Sclerosis, more well known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Sweet! But, is this like those other times when you do the thing and put the thing on social media and then everyone makes fun of you for doing the thing and no one actually benefits? Well, the good news is – not so much with this one.

The Ice Bucket challenge has garnered some high profile challengees such as Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake to name but two, and it has a caveat – if you refuse to do the ice bucket challenge once you have been challenged – you must make a donation towards ALS charities. What is awesome is that many people who have participated in the challenge have poured ice over themselves and  made a donation.

So far, since August 12th, the challenge is said to have raised over $4 million dollars. Now that’s some seriously helpful cash.

Today, Apple CEO Tim Cook took part in the challenge after being challenged by Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller.  He did it at the company’s bi-weekly beer bash with Vanilla Ice playing in the background. ICE ICE BABY MR COOK SiR.

He then went along with the rules and challenged three others – Apple board member Bob Iger, musician Michael Franti, and Beats co-founder Dr Dre.

So we learnt two things today – The ice bucket challenge is good and fun and we should do it if we get challenged, and Apple has a BI-WEEKLY BEER BASH WHAT

Bucket of Ice by Nautical9 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

WWDC Lands Tomorrow!

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference starts tomorrow at San Francisco’s Moscone center! The proceedings will kick off tomorrow morning at 10:00 A.M. PST with a keynote speech most likely given by Tim Cook.

In that speech, we’re preparing to hear about iOS 8, OSX 10.10 ( or El Cap as it is believed to be called), as well as a range of other updates and possibly new software products such as the much rumored ‘Healthbook’.

We as consumers won’t see any of the new updates or products for a while, as the conference is used as a chance to have developers, well, do their developing job in time for the update or product’s release to the public months afterward.

There is always a chance that Apple will pull magical rabbits out of their beautifully packaged hats tomorrow, the same as there is always a chance that people will be disappointed if there is only incremental updates to the operating systems.

We’re hoping for the first of those options, and we actually think we might get it this year. We also may or may not still believe in Santa Claus, so there’s that.

But! We’re excited for tomorrow! You can watch the whole keynote on your Apple TV or catch the live stream via Apple. It requires Safari 4 or later on OS X v10.6 or later; Safari on iOS 4.2 or later.

OR you can keep an eye out for our comprehensive coverage of the keynote, with everything you need to know about what was revealed straight from sunny San Francisco!