Tim Cook: Steve Jobs' dream of Apple products changing the world for the better has been realised'

'Our products do amazing things,' says Cook - and it's all thanks to Steve Jobs

Apple CEO Tim Cook has claimed that Apple products have helped to ‘change the world for the better' in the way that co-founders Steve Jobs ultimately wanted to.

Cook made the remarks during a speech to graduating students at George Washington University in Washington DC.

Steve Jobs died in 2011, but Cook told students that many of the things the Apple co-founder set out to do have now been realised via the use of Apple products such as the iPhone, iPad and iWatch.

"His vision for Apple was a company that turned powerful technology into tools that were easy to use, tools that would help people realise their dreams and change the world for the better," Cook said. "Our products do amazing things and, just as Steve envisioned, they empower people all over the world."

He then described how Apple's tools have helped people do things that they may not have been otherwise able to do. "People who are blind and need information read to them because they can't see the screen; people for whom technology is a lifeline because they are isolated by distance or disability," said Cook.

"[And] people who witness injustice and want to expose it. Now they can, because they have a camera in their pocket all the time," he added.

When it comes to the enterprise, there's a division among IT leaders as to how useful devices like the iPhone and iPad for businesses.

There are those organisations that provide employees with iPhones, such as Italian fashion brand Furla, which recently told Computing that the Apple devices offer a "much higher" degree of security than their Google Android equivalents.

However, Richard Burley, CIO of military mental health charity Combat Stress, told Computing that he's "unable to make an enterprise case of iPhone". A Motorola Moto G handset, with a five-inch screen and the latest version of Android, "is only £130 brand new... It's a very quick handset, very responsive," he said.

"Apple can't get anywhere near that. For the price and functionality of core email and a little bit of collaboration, Android provides all that and I can get four of them for the price of an Apple iPhone," Burley added.

Cook also used the George Washington University speech to provide an insight into life at Apple, describing the state of the company as "adrift" in the late 90s. However, he described the return of "idealist" Steve Jobs as something that provided tremendous optimism to the firm.

"Steve had built a successful company. He had been sent away and he returned to find it in ruins. He didn't know it at the time, but he was about to dedicate the rest of his life to rescuing it, and leading it to heights greater than anyone could ever imagine," said Cook.

"Anyone, that is, except for Steven," he continued, adding: "Most people have forgotten, but in 1997 and early 1998, Apple had been adrift for years. Rudderless. But Steve thought Apple could be great again."

Apple has since gone onto become one of the most successful and recognisable companies in the world, recently posting the biggest quarterly profits for any organisation ever.

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