Fox News says Apple board concerned about pace of innovation

Fox Business Network's Charlie Gasparino reports that there is concern in Apple's boardroom. According to his sources, the board of directors is getting antsy about the pace of innovation under Tim Cook's leadership. He stated that his "sources are solid on this thing," and the "pressure is on to innovate and do something fast."

"There is now on the board level a recognition that something needs to be done about the future in terms of what's in pipeline, what they are going to do in the future and are they innovating enough and is Tim Cook innovating enough as CEO," Gasparino said. He added that nevertheless, the board is still 100 percent behind Cook, and the "concern" doesn't mean that the board is getting a CEO search underway.

It may be that Apple's board is concerned, as is Cook, with the pace of innovation and the speed with which competitors are knocking out new products and taking shares in various geographies. But the idea that the pressure is on to "do something fast," and that Apple's engineers can snap their fingers and produce Apple's 3D iGlass or iPhone 8 is unreasonable. More important than fast is not shipping flawed products. Apple's highly accomplished board isn't going to press a panic button that could lead to a product, such as an iWatch, launched before it's really ready. That said, a little hurry up, meet deadlines isn't unreasonable.

The speculation about Cook's fate started the moment he took over from Steve Jobs. Could he carry on the tradition of hit products and record profits? The narrative continues, and the secrecy about what's coming from Apple doesn't give much insight as to whether Cook and team have "one more thing" up their sleeves that will stop the naysayers.

What's clear is that this fall Apple is going to introduce some new products. If the products, which are expected to include new iPhones and iPads, don't thrill the Apple fans, then there may be some trouble in Cupertino. Until then, we wait and watch.