Apple's (AAPL) Tim Cook Has To Prove Himself

Very few people would want to be in the position that Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) Tim Cook is in, as to follow in the footsteps of one of the greatest entrepreneurs in history will be hard enough, but to carve out his own niche and to have vision of what consumers want before they know it, like Steve Jobs has, has yet to be proven.

For Tim Cook, the small-town football fanatic turned steward of the world's largest technology company, it always comes back to the vision question.

The search for an answer will frame succession planning discussions in Building 4 of 1 Infinite Loop -- the heart of Apple's California headquarters -- when Cook is expected to step in for his boss to lead the annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday.

But little did Cook know that a gut decision he made in 1998 during his first meeting with Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs would forever change his life -- and alter the course of technology history.

Today, the heir presumptive at Apple Inc (AAPL)has to prove his technology instincts are as sharp as when he elected to jump ship from the once-mighty Compaq, which was then the world's top PC maker, to an Apple in the 1990s that was barely afloat.

"My most significant discovery so far in my life was the result of one single decision, my decision to join Apple," a reflective Cook told Auburn University students at his alma mater last year. "Working at Apple was never in any plan that I outlined for myself, but was without a doubt the best decision that I ever made."





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