Any question about how well Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, is managing the reins of the world’s most valuable company will most likely be put to rest after Tuesday’s profusion of product announcements at the Flint Center in Cupertino, Calif., where Steve Jobs first showed off the Macintosh in 1984, Farhad Manjoo reports.
The announcements included two large-screen iPhones, a stylish smartwatch called the Apple Watch and a new electronic payment system that allows users to make purchases at stores through their phones.
Apple, under Mr. Cook, looks every bit as daunting to rivals as it did under its iconic co-founder, Mr. Jobs, who oversaw the introduction of products that radically altered how the technology industry conceived of its future.
Both the new watch and the payment system, Apple Pay, appear to be of a level of polish that suggests the company still possesses the capacity to invent new products and services that can define an entire industry. And the two iPhones will most likely prove that Mr. Cook can still do what has long been Apple’s bread and butter: incrementally improve its top-performing products in ways that keep them just ahead of rivals. Read more »