I get emotional whenever I see anyone with enough good sense to pass the baton at the proper time rather than die in office, letting it drop and clatter to the ground.

I snicker at it as well, but then I also get emotional when people mention SGI, Commodore, Nintendo, SEGA.. so, there's that. Key difference, from my angle, is mostly the lack of people idols in the latter vs the former. Yes, there _are_ key people, but emphasis is more on products they made. Who knows. Interesting phenomenon in any case.

I can understand a "deeper bond with the product."

This is just blandly glazing a CEO.

"Cook has transformed Apple in his own image. The company is much more predictable now than it ever was, or could have been, under Jobs."

Not precisely what I would call "praise."