- Donald Trump praised Tim Cook as an incredible leader and a big fan of his
- Trump said Apple would not have done as well under Steve Jobs as it did under Cook
- Cook called Trump early in his term with a problem only the president could fix
Donald Trump has called himself a fan of Tim Cook, hours after the Apple CEO declared he would step down. The US President went on to praise Cook as an "incredible guy" in a Truth Social post that was all about himself, dotted with incidents of "big helps" (for Cook) and the Apple boss calling him to "kiss his a**."
Trump also picked a better Apple leader between him and Steve Jobs. He said the visionary co-founder of Apple, Jobs, would not have been able to run the iPhone-making firm as well as Cook.
"I have always been a big fan of Tim Cook, and likewise, Steve Jobs, but if Steve was not taken from the Planet Earth so young, and ran the company instead of Tim, the company would have done well, but nowhere near as well as it has under Tim," his Truth Social post read.
He also acknowledged what an "amazing, almost incomparable career" he had - but one that saw Trump as his biggest support.
The president recounted when he got a phone call from Cook at the beginning of His first term. Cook had a "fairly large problem" that he said only he could fix as the president.
"When I got the call I said, wow, it's Tim Apple (Cook!) calling, how big is that? I was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to "kiss my ass"," Trump said in his post, concluding that he got it taken care of, "quickly and effectively".
That, he said, was the beginning of a long and very nice relationship.
During his first five years as President, Trump said Tim would call him, but never too much, and that he would help him where he could.
"Years later, after 3 or 4 BIG HELPS, I started to say to people, anyone who would listen, that this guy is an amazing manager and leader. He makes these calls to me, I help him out (but not always, because he will, on occasion, be too aggressive in his ask)," he emphasised.
Cook, who had taken over as Apple CEO in 2011, will step down later this year, making the end of a leadership that saw the firm navigating a technology landscape being revolutionised by AI.
He will be succeeded by John Ternus, a senior vice president of hardware engineering.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
