[ti:Has Apple’s Chief Tim Cook Replaced Steve Jobs?] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.80]Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died in 2011. [00:09.04]Many thought his ability to lead the technology company would be impossible to replace. [00:17.56]However, the current head of Apple, Tim Cook, seems to be doing extremely well. [00:27.52]Cook was at first believed to be little more than a caretaker for Apple after Jobs' death. [00:36.08]But Cook has continued to build Apple with his own skill and ideas. [00:44.20]He will celebrate his ninth year as Apple's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Monday. [00:55.00]Training Cook to take over the company was "one of Steve Jobs' [01:01.00]greatest accomplishments," said Apple analyst Gene Munster. [01:07.76]The company's stock market value was $400 billion when Cook became CEO. [01:17.24]Its stock is worth five times that amount today. [01:22.80]It is the first U.S. company to have a market value of $2 trillion. [01:30.44]However, Cook has faced many problems as the company's head. [01:36.24]They included a slowdown in iPhone sales [01:40.64]as smartphones outgrew their newness. [01:44.56]Another was an argument with the FBI over user privacy. [01:52.32]In addition to that is the U.S. trade war with China [01:57.24]which threatens to force up iPhone prices, [02:01.92]and the pandemic that has closed many Apple stores [02:06.96]and sunk the economy into a deep recession. [02:12.72]Cook has also done some things that Jobs refused to do. [02:18.80]Apple now pays a dividend, which Jobs did not want. [02:23.88]Cook also has used his position [02:27.52]to become a supporter of civil rights and renewable energy. [02:34.64]In 2014, he became the first openly gay CEO of a major American company. [02:45.04]However, Apple has not brought out a product [02:48.52]that creates a new market as it did with the iPhone. [02:53.44]Its smartwatch and wireless ear buds are good products, [02:58.64]but not nearly as revolutionary as the iPhone was. [03:04.64]Cook and other company officials have suggested that [03:08.64]Apple wants to make a revolutionary product in the field of augmented reality. [03:16.84]It would use phone screens or high-tech eyewear to create digital pictures. [03:24.76]But, Apple has not yet offered such a product. [03:30.72]Apple also appears to be behind in the creation of artificial intelligence, [03:38.04]especially for voice-activated digital assistants. [03:43.88]Although Apple's Siri is used on Apple devices, [03:48.88]people have accepted Amazon's Alexa and Google's digital assistant more easily. [03:59.00]Cook has also made some mistakes. [04:02.40]In 2017, Cook angered iPhone users [04:07.36]by slowing the performance of older iPhones with software updates. [04:13.28]The users believed the company did it to force them [04:17.24]to buy new and more costly iPhones. [04:22.08]The company later paid $500 million to end a legal case over the issue. [04:30.92]Apple also faced government investigations [04:34.76]into its attempts to lower its corporate tax. [04:40.92]Cook has been most worried about the fall in sales of iPhones [04:45.60]as people keep the devices longer. [04:48.92]Four years ago, he rebuilt the Apple app store [04:53.72]which provides programs for use on Apple devices. [04:59.04]He placed importance on subscriptions services [05:03.76]that can be used by the 1.5 billion iPhones already in use. [05:10.96]That effort has added more than $50 billion each year to Apple's income. [05:19.64]I'm Susan Shand. [05:22.28]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM