Apple Has Changed Under Tim Cook — It Is Now His Company (AAPL)

Tim Cook says that when Steve Jobs picked him to be CEO, Jobs said, “I never want you to ask what I would have done. Just do what’s right.” 

This is a great quote, and a great guiding principle, but is really true? 

For the most part, Apple today feels the same as it did when Jobs was alive and running the company. It still has, essentially, the same products at the same prices. It still has the same focus on, um, focus, and simplicity.

But below the surface, Cook has indeed followed Jobs' advice, and he has changed the company to fit his idea of what is right. We've assembled some of the biggest moves Cook has made as CEO to illustrate the changes. 

Apple is more charitable now.

One of Tim Cook’s first acts as CEO was to implement matching charitable donations from employees by Apple up to $10,000. In 2012, Cook said Apple gave $50 million to Stanford hospitals, and $50 million to Project Red. Apple also recently donated $500,000 to SF Gives, which is an anti-poverty initiative. This never happened under Jobs, who was regularly criticized for his lack of public philanthropy. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Cook explained his philosophy saying, "My own personal philosophy on giving is best stated in a [John F.] Kennedy quote, 'To whom much is given, much is expected.' I have always believed this."

Google Maps and YouTube were tossed from the iPhone as default apps.

Reportedly, Apple had another year with Google Maps, but decided to move early to break up with Google. Apple launched its own maps, and it didn’t go so well. Tim Cook had to apologize to consumers, and recommend other applications.

Apple introduced the iPad Mini, made the iPhone screen bigger, and is reportedly going to make the iPhone even bigger this fall.

These aren't huge changes, but the iPad Mini in particular is interesting because Steve Jobs once went on a rant about how small tablets are garbage. The iPad Mini is a little bigger than the typical 7-inch Android tablet, but it's still small compared with the bigger iPad. Apple was willing to ignore what Jobs said to expand its tablet line.