After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul

by Tripp Mickle

At Apple’s request, Foxconn built a supply chain to make 1,500 units a day, but Jobs decided to change the computer’s target market from high-end professional customers to general consumers. Cook needed Foxconn to expand its capacity tenfold, and he needed it done fast. Apple’s quarterly results would hinge on the success of the new computer. Cook flew to China with some of Apple’s top engineers to oversee the expansion. He stayed there through Thanksgiving and Christmas, working on the factory floor to identify problems as computers came off the assembly line and escalate issues to Gou when needed. It was a high-stress environment, but Cook kept his composure throughout, radiating the same calm he had shown during challenges at IBM and Intelligent Electronics. It was emblematic of his situational management style that he remained emotionally indifferent and defused situations by adapting to changing circumstances. As December came to an end, Apple loaded the computers onto planes to ship them out of China, allowing the company to book the new units as sales for the September-to-December period and fulfill Wall Street’s quarterly sales expectations.