Apple iPhone drama: Tim Cook's breakthrough? - MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) â€" OK, Tim Cook. You’re on.

The performance of the new, ballyhooed iPhone will go a long way toward determining how Apple Inc.’s bloggers and Silicon Valley chroniclers will assess Cook’s performance in Apple’s first post-Jobs year.

Apple’s chief executive has to compete with Steve Jobs, the legendary visionary whose creativity and imagination propelled Apple to become arguably the most admired and successful company of modern times.

Cook, 51, is faced with putting his stamp on Apple. Maybe he won’t be able to do it. Maybe no one could, really.

Apple’s (US:AAPL) glittering iPod shook up how we listen to recorded music. The iPhone took personal convenience to unforeseen levels. The iPad epitomized the tablet revolution.

As a leader, Cook faces a thankless task. If Apple continued to make progress, people could likely point to the stellar bench of executives and products Jobs left behind. But if Apple messes up, the same audience might turn on Cook for failing to duplicate Jobs’s success.

Specifically, can Cook climb out of his predecessor’s long shadow?

As the Los Angeles Times noted: “Analysts and software developers are looking beyond the product launch to whether Cook can set his own course at the company after the death of its co-founder.”

Cook has been able to stick his chest out. Last April, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Apple’s stock rose 31% from Oct. 5, 2010, to Oct. 5, 2011 â€" the day that Jobs died.

Since then, the company’s shares are up 75% as of this writing. By comparison, the S&P 500 (US:SPX) fell 1.4% from Oct. 5, 2010, through Oct. 5, 2011, and has gained 25% since.

At the same time, Apple’s results surprised investors last quarter. It missed Wall Street’s earnings-per-share projections for only the second time in more than 30 quarters. For any of Cook’s accomplishments, there is always bound to be a chorus of “what have you done for me lately?” Read “Apple shares fall on iPhone sales miss.”

At the unveiling of what most people expect will be called the iPhone 5, the light is on Cook because this kind of an event â€" a glitzy introduction of a new Apple product â€" is exactly the sort of occasion in which Jobs shined. He had an unerring sense of exactly how best to market a new offering and make it seem like the most dynamic, glamorous and, yes, indispensable product on earth â€" and not what skeptics darkly suggested it actually was: merely the latest smart phone coming down the pike.

Many analysts are estimating sales of more than 40 million phones for the December quarter, the first full period from the launch. If the new iPhone’s launch turns out to be an unqualified success, Cook will temporarily escape the shadow of Jobs. It’s a good bet that comparisons between the two â€" not to mention those including any subsequent Apple CEO â€" will never quite cease.