Can we let Tim Cook do his job?
Apple has once again donated to the Trump administration.
As a user and lover of Apple products, this sucks. I’m seeing lots of folks online becoming so outraged by this behaviour that they are swearing never to buy another Apple product again.
I’m not quite that upset about it. To be absolutely clear: the Trump administration is utterly deplorable in every way. However, it’s pretty clear what Apple’s motivation is for “bending the knee”.
Fundamentally, Apple is a publicly traded company. That means it has one primary purpose: to deliver value to its shareholders. Everything it does serves that goal in one way or another.
Being driven by shareholder value doesn’t exclude a company from being product- and customer-focused. In fact, Apple’s entire product strategy has been to make the best possible products in order to drive customer loyalty, which then leads to ongoing sales, which then leads to… increased shareholder value!
Other companies have different strategies for driving shareholder value, but that’s Apple’s.
In order to protect shareholder value, companies have to accept and work within their political and economic environment. The reality is that — in the current political climate — Apple’s shareholder value is directly tied to Donald Trump’s personal opinion of Tim Cook. If Trump decides one day that he doesn’t like Cook, he will impose tariffs on Apple’s supply chain such that the iPhone price could double. Then nobody would buy iPhones, and Apple’s stock price would tank. That is the world we live in.
So I actually imagine that it was a very easy decision for Apple’s leadership to decide to “cosy up” to Trump. Morally reprehensible as it is, Apple’s job is not to signal virtue at the expense of their shareholders. That’s a great way to get a CEO fired. His job is to make decisions which benefit the shareholders. Those decisions in turn benefit customers, because Americans get to keep buying iPhones for $800 instead of $2,000.
I really believe that Tim Cook is personally disgusted at the actions he is required to take. But this is his job. So let’s focus on the real problem: the fact that Donald Trump has abused his power in order to create an environment in which this kind of sucking up is necessary. This is not how a capitalist society should work.
If you want to boycott Apple, you are letting Donald Trump win. If we want Apple to continue making great products, the best thing we can do is keep buying them, and let Tim Cook do his job.