New era with Apple appoints new boss to replace Tim Cook after 15 years
Kali Hayes,Technology journalistAnd
Derbeil Jordan,Economic journalist
Apple has named John Ternus as its new CEO to replace Tim Cook who is stepping down after 15 years at the helm of the tech giant.
Ternus, Apple’s current head of hardware engineering for 25 years, will take office on September 1 and Cook will become executive chairman.
Cook has been Apple’s chief executive since 2011, after co-founder Steve Jobs resigned for health reasons shortly before his death.
Cook will remain as chief executive through the summer to work with Ternus on the transition, after which he will “assist on aspects of the business, including engaging with policymakers around the world.”
Cook’s decision to step down as chief executive follows months of speculation that Apple – which just celebrated its 50th anniversary – was looking for a successor.
He described the position as “the greatest privilege of my life” and during his tenure he led the company to become one of the most valuable in the world.
In 2018, Apple became the first public company valued at $1 trillion (£740 billion). Its value is now $4 trillion.
Cook described Ternus as a “visionary” executive with “the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator and the heart to lead with integrity and honor.”
“He is undoubtedly the right person to lead Apple into the future,” Cook added.
Ternus emerged as a favorite to replace Cook last year, after another longtime executive, COO Jeff Williams, left the company.
During his quarter-century at Apple, Ternus worked on virtually every major product the company released, including every generation of the iPad, numerous generations of the iPhone, and the launch of AirPods and the Apple Watch.
He also oversaw the transition of Mac computer processors from Intel to Apple silicon.
In a statement released Monday, he called Cook his “mentor.”
“I am full of optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come,” Ternus said.
‘Differentiation’
Appointing a leader from the products and hardware sector could allow Apple to move away from constant criticism of Cook’s tenure – that it was no longer innovative enough.
While Cook oversaw a fourfold increase in Apple’s annual profit, with a massive expansion of products sold around the world, his product range remained largely static.
Dipanjan Chatterjee, a principal analyst at Forrester, praised the financial stability Cook brought to Apple, but noted that he didn’t give the company a product like the iPhone that would give Ternus another 20 years of success.
He said Apple “remains structurally dependent on phone” as it “searches for its next growth engine.”
Ternus’ appointment shows that Apple is seeking “differentiation” in its products, Chatterjee said, adding that the new leader “must resist the temptation of incrementalism that has plagued Apple of late and escape the gravitational pull of the iPhone.”
Ken Segall, who was Steve Jobs’ creative director for more than a decade, told the BBC: “I don’t think Tim ever really shook the vibe of the operations guy.
“I think when people talk about the difference between Steve and Tim, it was basically this: Steve the visionary, Tim the operations manager who took over.”
Gil Luria, chief executive of DA Davidson & Co, said having someone so hardware-focused at the helm now shows that Apple will put more energy into new products, like foldable phones and wearable devices like glasses.
The tech giant was also criticized for being slow to respond to growing demand for AI and ended up integrating technology from Google and OpenAI into its operating systems.
Following Monday’s announcement, OpenAI’s Sam Altman wrote on X: “Tim Cook is a legend.
“I’m very grateful for everything he’s done and I’m very grateful to Apple.”
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Cook didn’t come from a hardware or product background when he joined Apple.
Instead, he spent many years as a sales operator at companies like IBM and Compaq. It was a technology executive focused on operations and execution, logistics and sales numbers, less on thinking about and launching new technology products.
This is what Jobs was best known and praised for.
One of the most significant product launches under Cook’s leadership was the Apple Vision Proa virtual and augmented reality headset that did not appeal to buyers.
Nevertheless, his skills as an operational executive will make him one of the most successful business leaders.
Timothy Hubbard, a professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, said Apple’s Cook era made it a company that was “best at refining, evolving and defending an extraordinarily powerful system.”
“The real question now is whether that same organization can pivot to exploration, where success depends on speed, uncertainty and a greater willingness to experiment,” he said.
Apple’s apparent reluctance to dive headfirst into AI products and services has set it apart from other companies like Google, Microsoft and Meta, which spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year to make progress in this area.
With a new boss, Apple could show strategic interest in deeper integration of AI into its hardware, Hubbard said.
“The very assets that have made Apple dominant – their discipline, rigor and control – could become constraints if the next era rewards openness and faster iteration,” he said.
“This rapid innovation is where Apple started, and perhaps this is where the company needs to return.”
