Speaking to employees, outgoing CEO Tim Cook talked about his time leading Apple, citing both the successes he is most proud of, and admitting to the one main failure.

As announced, Tim Cook and incoming CEO John Ternus held an Apple Town Hall meeting for employees on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. It was specifically to answer questions about the handover to Ternus, but Cook also addressed his own time as CEO.

According to Bloomberg, Cook described the 2012 launch of Apple Maps as his "first big mistake" after taking over from Steve Jobs.

"The product wasn't ready," he said, "and we thought it was because we were testing more of [the] local kind of stuff."

It's not the first time that Cook has admitted to the failures of Apple Maps, which originally gave erroneous directions, sometimes even life-threatening ones. After firing Apple Maps chief Richard Williamson over the debacle, Cook had issued an apology to users.

The consequences of the failure hadn't ended there, either, as Scott Forstall had been in overall charge of Apple Maps but refused to co-sign that apology. Cook fired him, too, and today Forstall has to be wondering what could have happened if he'd signed.

That's because Forstall had been hand-picked for Apple by Steve Jobs, and for a long time was expected to become the next CEO after Cook.

But this is the first time that Cook has actually given any explanation for the problems. It's shocking that Apple's testing was chiefly around Cupertino, but it does also explain why the company missed how poor Apple Maps was elsewhere.

It's still not perfect, with one AppleInsider staffer finding that tapping "Home" will either take him to where he lives, or a place about three miles away with a similar name. But overall, Apple Maps is now a strong service, albeit one that is now introducing adverts.

Tim Cook's successes

If Cook is proud of what Apple Maps has become, he seemingly didn't say so. But it's interesting that the original service featured life-threatening route errors, because of what Cook says is his greatest achievement.

"I remember getting the very first Apple Watch note from a user who told me that the watch saved their life," he said. "Now, of course, I get these on a daily basis, but that first one hit me particularly hard. It caused me to just stop in my steps."

Cook did say that while the Apple Watch is the chief success of his time, there were "so many moments" that stand out to him. That said, he also admitted that a list of the mistakes he made would be "extraordinary in length."

It's not clear if Cook specifically recounted any of those mistakes, but there was the now cancelled project to make an Apple Car. Plus there was the rare public failure of the AirPower wireless charging mat.