There is no light at the end of the tunnel, Apple's shareholders are using this process to manipulate the stock price. If the next quarter performs poorly then the move up the timeline, if they do well then Cook's leash gets longer. Tim needs to be gone yesterday, not in a few months.

Yep, if letting the stock market determine how the business is run, eventually it will be run in a way that will blow out the bottom of the bucket.

There is a fine line that needs to be walked between innovation and appeasing share holders. Cook is mostly just doing the latter.