John Ternus takes over as Apple’s new CEO
The Verge · LC · trust 50/100
Share RSS Gift The multitrillion-dollar home of the iPhone, Mac, and so many other tech gadgets has a new leaader, as Tim Cook has been replaced as CEO as of September 1st by former hardware boss John Ternus . How will we look back on Cook’s legacy, and what will Apple look like under the leadership of Ternus and new chief hardware officer Johny Srouji?
With the next iPhone event scheduled for September 9th , we’ll probably find out soon. Here’s everything we think we know so far about the John Ternus era at Apple.
Apple’s new CEO is jumping onto social media with his registered-in-June X account on day one . No sign of a presence on Instagram or anywhere else yet.
As much as any Apple product released during his time as CEO, Tim Cook’s tenure will be remembered for its ruthlessly efficient tight-rope walk between an autocrat in China and a would-be autocrat in the US.
During his 15 years as CEO, Cook steered Apple through relations with both Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, including escalating conflicts between the two. As Apple’s enmeshment in China raised serious questions about reports of forced labor and censorship, Cook managed to appease Xi while maneuvering around political blowback in the US. And when Trump launched a trade war against China, Cook managed to soften the blow through his White House diplomacy. Cook’s ability to thread the needle between two superpowers helped expand Apple into a multi-trillion-dollar company, while downplaying concerns about civil rights, working conditions, and other serious issues.
Welcome to your first day as CEO! Hopefully you’re finding your new office spacious and comfortable. If you have trouble with any of the doors just ping us — being a Jony Ive design, you won’t find anything as unsightly as a door handle here!
Expectations for Tim Cook were almost impossibly high when he stepped in to replace Apple’s visionary cofounder in 2011. He inherited a company on a blockbuster run, after Steve Jobs returned and revitalized the Mac, launched the iPod, and oversaw the launch of the iPhone.
Now, after 15 years in the CEO role, Tim Cook is stepping down. He’s replaced today by hardware leader John Ternus. Over the course of Cook’s tenure, Apple accomplished a lot, with the launch of plenty of new products, features, and services that the company just wouldn’t be the same without. There were plenty of ups and downs, but Cook helped cement the company as one of the most profitable tech companies on the planet.
For the first time since 2011, one of the world’s most valuable companies has a new leader, as today marks John Ternus’ first day as Apple’s CEO. He’s replacing Tim Cook, who will continue on as the executive chairman on Apple’s board and departed with a letter to employees that remarked, “This place is proof that culture triumphs over everything. We share a belief that what we build matters, and that we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to leave the world better than we found it.”
Ternus is taking over a company dealing with the rise of AI, shortages of RAM and other components due to that growth in AI, and a political and economic situation that is only getting more complicated as time passes. He will also do it without many of the executives who worked with Cook and Steve Jobs, like Phil Schiller, who Bloomberg reported will step down from his role leading the App Store.
Longtime Apple executive Phil Schiller is stepping down from his role as the head of the App Store and Apple events, according to a report from Bloomberg . Following the change, Schiller will keep his Apple Fellow title and continue “working on unspecified initiatives,” Bloomberg reports.
Schiller initially joined Apple in 1987 and became the company’s head of marketing in 1997. He helped launch the App Store alongside Steve Jobs in 2008, but only started heading up the store in 2015. Over the years, Schiller has played a role in the development of many of Apple’s products, including the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Macs, and has presented several of them at the company’s launch events. In recent years, Schiller has started stepping away from some of these responsibilities, as he relinquished his role as senior vice president of marketing to Greg Joswiak in 2020 .
Steve Jobs’ successor carried the torch of the iPhone and built Apple into a global powerhouse with few rivals. Since becoming CEO in 2011, Tim Cook has led the company to become one of the most dominant forces in the daily lives of billions of people. Today is his last day as CEO.
We’ll have a lot to say about new Apple CEO John Ternus as the change happens. For now, you can read Cook’s final letter to Apple staff below, as reported by Bloomberg and 9to5Mac :
With its Vision Pro headset suddenly even more expensive , and plans for smart glasses apparently in the works , Bloomberg reports Apple is losing Paul Meade, the hardware VP who was in charge of those projects. The report says he’ll reunite with former Apple designers, including Jony Ive, Tang Tan, and Evans Hankey, at OpenAI , which purchased their startup last year , as the executive shakeup under new Apple CEO John Ternus continues.
This moment for the transition is the right one for a number of reasons. First, our business has been performing extremely well. The first half of this year was very strong, growing double digits year over year. Second, our roadmap is incredible, and most importantly, we have the right leader ready to step into the role. As I have said, there is no one on this planet I trust more to lead Apple into the future than John Ternus.
As Tim mentioned, we have an incredible roadmap ahead, and while you’re not going to get me to talk about the details of that roadmap, suffice it to say this is the most exciting time in my 25 year career at Apple to be building products and services.
Apple is about to become a very different company. This September, Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping…
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