At one time, Apple CEO Tim Cook was regarded as the man behind the scenes. But in the last year or two, he’s become quite the public personality, appearing on late night TV shows, financial news networks, and the U.S. Congress. That’s quite an achievement for someone who used to be the supply chain guy who usually made music with numbers.

At first, Cook’s presentations at Apple keynotes seemed amateurish, the slow delivery with the gentle southern drawl seemed awkward at best. But with experience — and no doubt lots of practice — he has become effective and sincere. Not that he deviates from Apple’s marketing message, but he delivers his spiel in a warm, friendly fashion, thus seeming quite credible overall.

He’s not another Steve Jobs, not even close, but he has managed to develop his public persona into a comforting presence. In addition to the obvious places, you’ve seen photos of Cook opening an Apple Store to launch a new product — usually an iPhone — or checking out the production lines at one of Apple’s contract manufacturers, such as Foxconn. In passing, I wonder how those employees actually react to his presence, or maybe he’s just presented as a visiting dignitary, so be nice to him or else.

Very recently, he was photographed on a sojourn to India trying to grab some business for Apple over there. Evidently he and his cohorts know how to play the political game, because there will be Apple Stores in India someday, and perhaps some manufacturing facilities too. Decoding the byzantine politics companies need to master to do business with  China and India will have a huge effect on the company’s sales and revenue.

So this week, the China Daily reported on Cook’s latest trip to that country, his eighth, where he visited a famous fashion designer. When you look at the photos — and I won’t waste space posting them here — you might imagine he was a visiting politician or show business personality rather than a famous corporate executive. Clearly he’s learned how to play the game.

But why did he play nice with a fashion designer?

Well, evidently the designer uses iPad Pros as part of the design process, no doubt with Apple Pencils. That is a worthy purpose for Apple’s high-end tablets. I thought there’d be a potential Apple Watch presence there, but maybe not. However, it’s also true that Apple’s sales in China dipped by 33% in the last quarter, and that hurts. Even though iPhones did quite well in the U.S. and parts of Europe — buttressed by the hot-selling iPhone SE — a lot depends on China. And such a falloff clearly had its impact.

So that explains the reasoning behind Cook’s visit. He’s seeking opportunities, and getting his name and his smiling face in the Chinese papers doesn’t hurt. He’s clearly learned a thing or two about the marketing game, about hanging with countries that don’t always act predictably or in the best interests of the United States. If Apple can boost sales in China and India, any falloff elsewhere would be more than compensated for.

This public persona is very different from Steve Jobs. Although Jobs was a folk hero to millions, he wasn’t a regular public presence. His appearances were under very controlled conditions, and where he gave TV interviews, they were usually brief. Well, except for those annual All Things D sessions Walt Mossberg used to hold when he was still active with the Wall Street Journal.

Cook has been busy smoothing Apple’s rough edges. The company is now a responsible corporate citizen more concerned with the environment than ever, and Cook has not been reluctant to take public stances on some issues in company blogs or in guest editorials for major newspapers. He grants in-depth interviews for a number of major publications, most recently the Washington Post. There are even apologies, not excuses, for such misfires as the first version of Apple Maps.

What hasn’t changed is that the company develops its best stuff in secret. When asked about purchasing this company or that company, Cook will admit that it’s done to acquire new technologies, and many of the features we take for granted today, such as the Siri personal assistant, were the result of such acquisitions. Ditto for Apple Music, which descended from Beats Music.

But when asked about future products, Cook follows the traditional company line. He may drop a hint or two here and there, but he will not reveal the existence of any product before its time. You could ask him 1,000 times about the Apple Car, and he might admit to an interest in the auto market, but he will not reveal what the company is up to or even confirm the existence of Project Titan. He does admit that the R&D investment is sharply higher than it used to be, which is clear evidence that lots of things are under development. It’s not just a car, but AI, augmented reality and lots of other stuff that few outside of Apple know anything about.

As with a skilled politician, however, Cook is always on message, always controlled. In that, he’s clearly learned a thing or two from his colleagues in China.

If you’ve purchased a Mac in recent years, you may have considered buying the latest and greatest. But it doesn’t seem as if much has changed. While the iPhone of every other year looks different, Apple can keep the same Mac form factor for years before it changes. If you bought a 2010 MacBook Air, you may wonder how it differs from the current model, released in 2015. I mean, they do look the same and all, aside from the near-microscopic lettering on the bottom, although the specs have been beefed up substantially.

That’s certainly one of the shortcomings of Apple’s Mac upgrade cycles and the labeling strategy. You cannot easily detect what model Mac you have unless you consult About This Mac to see. Or you have a good pair of reading glasses to help you check the underside labeling. Even then you have to translate the model or serial number.

So there’s HandOff, the ability to start something, such as an email, on one Mac and pick it up on another, or an iPad or iPhone. But it requires Bluetooth LE and a 2012 Mac or later. But the 2012 Mac looks pretty much the same as its predecessor.

Apple added Force Touch to the mix with the 2015 MacBook Pro, but the difference was not readily visible unless you confirmed the model number or just try it out. Maybe it would be a little cluttered, but wouldn’t it be possible to have the label reflect the true model designation? Instead of putting MacBook Pro below the display, why  not MacBook Pro (2015) or something similar?

I realize using a wider but more informative product label may harm the sensibilities of Apple’s design team. But it’s not that easy to determine the exact model Windows PC you have either. Obviously, an iPhone 6 will seem identical to an iPhone 6s at first glance, though there are slight physical changes to accommodate 3D Touch.

The real issue, though, is the lack of recent upgrades for most Macs. The only all-new model was the 2015 MacBook, which received a modest refresh earlier this year. The current MacBook Air is based on a 2010 design. If you pit the 2010 model against the 2015 version, there were significant improvements across the board from the SSD to the processor. Reducing the price to $899 was a real boon for those who regard Macs as too expensive.

But what does Apple plan next? Some suggest the MacBook is the Air’s successor, but it starts at $1,299, $400 more than the basic 11-inch MacBook Air. Unless Apple can cut $300 from the MacBook’s price, it wouldn’t represent a proper replacement. But what about a MacBook Air with Retina display? Well, Apple added a 5K display to the 27-inch iMac in 2014, and the starting price, after some discounts, is essentially unchanged. It’s a really good deal at $1,799. Compare the cost of a standalone 5K display, plus an all-in-one PC, and you’ll see what I mean.

But can Apple upgrade the Air with Retina displays and not increase the price? What if it cost just $100 more? What if Apple kept a refreshed version of the current MacBook Air with the regular display in stock for $799? I suspect Apple could do it without seriously reducing profit margins. With the latest Intel parts, it would introduce more budget-conscious PC users to the Mac, and provide a substantial upgrade for current Mac owners.

But what about the MacBook Pro? Again, an aging form factor long in need of some changes. Current speculation has it that a major refresh is due this fall, perhaps with a slightly slimmer and lighter case design, along with a touchpad above the keyboard that can be used for context sensitive navigation. With macOS Sierra, you’ll be able to use an Apple Watch and Touch ID to unlock your Mac. But what about having a power switch with Touch ID on Mac notebooks? Perhaps this is something more suited to the MacBook Pro, but it would be a useful feature for the enterprise and any Mac user for that matter. Apple has certainly perfected its fingerprint sensor system. It’s also a feature long offered on PC notebooks, so it makes perfect sense.

Assuming that all new Macs would have the latest Intel Skylake processors, the fall refresh could be fairly decent overall. The iMac is new enough that it would probably earn little more than a slight performance upgrade. The Mac mini is a year overdue for a refresh, and the last Mac Pro shipped in December 2013.

I’d love to know what Apple plans for its powerful workstation computer. While many Mac users will find that a souped up 27-inch iMac provides all the processing power they require, there is a subsection that requires the extra processing power of a multicore Xeon. It’s a small market, but I hope Apple will make it clear where the future of the Mac Pro stands.

I realize a small number of Mac users are probably waiting on the sidelines for the next refresh, though I doubt many would buy a Windows PC as a result. Even when the new Macs come out, as I expect they will this fall, the existing models are good enough of many. People are hanging onto their gear longer than ever, and even a substantial refresh is going to be a hard sell.

One thing is certain about tech gear: People are hanging onto their gadgets for longer periods of time. So I know a lot of people who are happily using Macs that are more than five years old. Indeed, just how much incentive is there to buy a new Mac anyway, assuming your existing machine is working correctly? Indeed, Apple helps the process along by supporting older Macs with the latest and greatest macOS.

So macOS Sierra will work on any Mac from 2010 or later, and a 2009 or later MacBook and iMac. This a pretty large range, even if it’s less than OS X El Capitan. It is true that older Macs will not support certain features, such as Metal graphics and HandOff, the ability to start a task on one Apple gadget and continue it in another. But for most of you, that missing feature won’t make much of a difference.

That doesn’t mean the experience is necessarily perfect otherwise. Users of older Macs very likely don’t have machines with SSDs, although they are available, even if you have to jump through a few irritating hoops to install them. So the presence of a traditional hard drive will make performance seem more and more sluggish. I can’t say if that phenomenon is the result of the higher resource needs, but it’s not at all unusual. In fact, it’s the main reason why I put an SSD in my 2010 17-inch MacBook Pro some time back. Waiting long minutes for startups and agonizing seconds to launch an app became just too much, and it only seemed to get worse year after year.

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I don’t know if this makes any sense, but for months, some members of the tech media and financial pundits have been pretty much calling Apple nearly dead and buried. Any time now, and the recent drop in iPhone sales — and similar results for the Mac platform — clearly indicate the company is in trouble. Lots of trouble.

Or at least that’s the claim, although it is one that I do not regard is correct.

However, it’s clear Wall Street was concerned. After reporting the first-ever dip in iPhone sales for the March quarter — and indicating the same would be true for the June quarter — a shaky stock price became shakier. While Apple isn’t the only company to report lower sales from time to time, it is a company that is supposed to be bulletproof. What that means is that it’s supposed to be immune to market forces or global economic conditions. Or at least that’s the illusion created by some.

Since Apple no longer walked on water, it must be somebody’s fault, and that somebody must be Tim Cook. How could it be otherwise, since he’s the CEO.

Indeed Tim Cook has been under fire almost from the very first day of his tenure as Apple CEO. Well, it didn’t happen when he became a temporary or interim CEO when Steve Jobs was alive but ill. But when it all fell in his hands, perceptions changed. Part of that was because he was not a product guy, but a supply chain and numbers guy, and thus was supposedly incapable of leading Apple.

After all, how could it be otherwise in light of roller coaster ride on the stock market? But it’s not as if that didn’t happen before even when Jobs was around, so that’s not it. Certainly the fact that Apple had a good run of almost uninterrupted sales increases, particularly when the iPhone was involved, certainly set a high standard.

It’s not that Cook’s reign was necessarily perfect. Consider the Maps debacle, where the first release of Maps for iOS, the debut of Apple’s home-brewed services, brought with it a torrent of criticism. Directions were wrong, 3D images were wrong. How could Apple do such a bad job?

Now maybe Apple didn’t quite grasp the scope of the task they undertook, or expected too much of data partners. Regardless, Cook apologized for the flawed release, promised to do better. He even listed alternatives, such as Google Maps. The person in charge, long-time Apple executive Scott Forstall, got his walking papers. Now supposedly this had more to do with personality conflicts rather than a single product or service failure. But it was a huge step meant to repair the public relations nightmare.

It actually didn’t quite work, because some members of the press continue to this day to complain about a problem that has been largely resolved. It was a huge lesson in humility, however. If Apple merely labeled Maps as a “beta,” same as Siri for quite a while, perhaps the reaction would have been more measured. It would have given Apple an excuse for a badly-implemented service, although that was poor consolidation to anyone who found themselves in the wrong place because of getting incorrect directions.

According to published reports, Apple’s public beta programs are the direct outgrowth of the problems encountered with Maps. By giving over a million customers a chance to try out new operating systems before release, potential disasters will be headed off at the pass.

Not that problems don’t occur with Google Maps. But that’s Google, so it doesn’t receive near as many brickbats from the media.

In any case, since Apple’s last quarterly financials weren’t as bad as some expected, the stock price has risen and continues to rise. This doesn’t mean that the financial headwinds are over. Clearly they aren’t, but it does help that iPhone sales are still rising in some parts of the world. A recent report revealed improved sales in the U.S. and parts of Europe. Not enough to overcome the problems in China, but enough to demonstrate that Apple is not suffering from some sort of fatal disease.

It didn’t hurt that Tim Cook did took a marketing journey to China and India  to check out the local market conditions and do some face-to-face PR. The meeting in India included that country’s Prime Minister, and Cook managed to cement a deal to open Apple Stores there. It was also reported that Apple might manufacture some stuff in India too.

More recently, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi, a ride-sharing service that is regarded as China’s answer to Uber. Does that have anything to do with Project Titan, and the efforts to build an Apple Car or an autonomous driving system for other car makers? Perhaps the investment will make it easier to deal with that country’s government and red tape, but it may also give Apple a test platform to set up a network of self-driving vehicles. Indeed, is that Apple’s end game? To build self-driving taxis?

All right, maybe I’m thinking again of the “Johnny Cab” from the 1990 sci-fi movie, “Total Recall.” But it is too early to reply know where the still unannounced Project Titan is going. In the meantime, that investors have more confidence in Apple is encouraging.