Apple CEO Tim Cook Stepping Down, John Ternus Taking Over

[jlc1978]

For the next 5 years John Ternus will be releasing hardware that is already on the roadmap today. He will inherit things like a folding iPhone, a redesigned MacBook Air, redesigned MacBook Pro, the rumoured MacBook Ultra with touch, etc.

Under Ternus products will ship that were put in motion before him, just like Cook shipped things that were put in motion before him.

No CEO or company goes from a lightbulb idea in January to a mass produced and sold product in December of that same year.

None of which will stop MR posters for criticizing him for the products.

 

[AndiG]

I disagree. Most of these companies tech savvy people will find the news interesting. But other than maybe meta and tesla the rest no one cares. Especially oracle, amazon, google, and IBM. The moment a company stops selling products and just starts selling “business solutions and cloud data infrastructure software” their CEO can literally be anybody and no one will care. Tesla matters only because elon musk is an Internet personality and Meta because the famous founder still runs it. But the moment these companies change hands, no one will care who their CEO is. I still believe that Apple and Disney are the only companies culturally relevant enough for people to care about CEO transitions. Right now it feels like a new pope has been selected at apple. If IBM got a new CEO there would be no message boards talking about it. Maybe google might fit here somewhere but I am stretching since google itself has also made CEO’s irrelevant.

Nadella turned Microsoft inside out

 

[mike.coulter]

Now for Apple to release their most exciting, most powerful products yet!*

*2.3x faster than undefined competitor in one specific test.

 

[jlc1978]

Cooks retirement hits the news

https://theonion.com/apple-backs-up-tim-cooks-memories-to-port-over-into-next-ceo/

 

[Fraserpatty]

I hope this change will bring real advancement for Siri. It is unbelievable to me that Tim Cook let such an important feature for ALL Apple devices languish.

 

[Abazigal]

None of which will stop MR posters for criticizing him for the products.

It is in their nature to hate. Nothing Apple does will ever appease them, because great products was never their objective to begin with.

 

[acconda81]

let’s hope it gets better then

 

[Luftkopf]

So now, instead of every article having someone call Tim, Timmy.
We are going to have people calling John,Johnny.

Yeah, they aren't going to stop finding ways to be bitter and condescending now.

 

[frownface]

The car thing was just too complex for Apple-- they learned that they had to become a car company in order to do it and that's why it was abandoned.

I do agree with you that the iPhone is a missed opportunity-- the iPhone should be the premier gaming controller that interfaces with an Apple TV gaming console. But there are a lot of people who use the iPhone for games, they're just normal consumers not gamers.

I disagree, a company as large and well resourced as apple can participate in many markets, huawei and xiaomi make electric cars that are already being sold today.

Plus of course they could've bought tesla for pennies compared to it's current worth today.

 

[iMac The Knife]

If you hate Apple's product line-up this much, why are you even here? Go buy a Windows or Linux computer and an Android phone, and get on with your life...

I don't hate Apple's product line, as much as I hate Tim Cook as Apple's CEO. So, calm down. I'm here because it's a free country, and because I am an Apple fan.

 

[jlc1978]

I disagree, a company as large and well resourced as apple can participate in many markets, huawei and xiaomi make electric cars that are already being sold today.

Being a protected market with government support is different tahn teh automotive landscape in teh US or teh EU, likely two of Apple's largest market.

Just becasue Apple has the money to develop a car doesn't mean it should.

Plus of course they could've bought tesla for pennies compared to it's current worth today.

Perhaps, but making and selling cars is vastly different than phones/computers/etc, with very different regulatory requirements, risks and liabilities. The margins are also much lower than Apple traditional wants for its products. It also doesn't fit with its services growth model.

Things like CarPlay and electronic keys fit better with the existing ecosystem and compliments it, adding to the iPhone's versatility.

 

[noanker]

User: Hey Siri, did Tim Cook leave Apple?
Siri: Hmm… I found something on the web for “Tim Cook leaf apple.” Would you like me to read it?
User: No. Leave. As in quit. Resign.
Siri: Okay, here’s what I found for “lime cook quitting recipes.”
User: Oh my god. TIM COOK. Apple CEO. Did he step down?
Siri: Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple. He enjoys hiking and values privacy.
User: I KNOW THAT. Did he leave??
Siri: I’m not sure I understand. Would you like me to set a reminder to buy apples?
User: No. Stop. Just answer the question.
Siri: Here’s what I found on the web for “what is a question.”
User: Are you serious right now?
Siri: I take all my responsibilities seriously.
User: Clearly not. Okay, has Apple announced a new CEO?
Siri: Calling… Steve Jobs.
User: HE’S DEAD.
Siri: I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. Would you like me to try again?
User: No. No, I would not like you to try again.
Siri: Okay. I won’t.
User: …So did Tim Cook leave?
Siri: Here’s Apple Music.
User: I didn’t ask for music.
Siri: Now playing “Don’t Go” by Yazoo.
User: Oh that’s actually kind of…
Siri: Volume set to 100%.
User: STOP.
Siri: I found this on the web for “stop signs near me.”
User: I am begging you. One last time. Did. Tim. Cook. Leave. Apple.
Siri: Tim Cook is still at Apple.
User: FINALLY.
Siri: As of 2019.
User: …
Siri: Would you like directions to the nearest Apple Store?
User: Yeah. So I can throw this phone into it.

🤦‍♂️

 

[transpo1]

I disagree, a company as large and well resourced as apple can participate in many markets, huawei and xiaomi make electric cars that are already being sold today.

Plus of course they could've bought tesla for pennies compared to it's current worth today.

They could have, and they tried, but why did they cancel the project? It was sucking up too many resources and wasn't close enough (apparently) to success. The car project is why they missed the rise of AI.

 

[satchmo]

They could have, and they tried, but why did they cancel the project? It was sucking up too many resources and wasn't close enough (apparently) to success. The car project is why they missed the rise of AI.

And apparently this took resources away from other projects for 10 bloody years.

A more decisive CEO would have cut bait much earlier. And when Cook finally axed the project, he moved onto his vanity project, Vision Pro. Touting it as some revolutionary headset which in reality, had already been in the market for years.

 

[deconstruct60]

They could have, and they tried, but why did they cancel the project? It was sucking up too many resources and wasn't close enough (apparently) to success. The car project is why they missed the rise of AI.

And apparently this took resources away from other projects for 10 bloody years.

That is not apparent at all. It has been revealed at this point Google was cutting Apple a check for $2-10B a year for a long time. If Apple took $1-2B and 'blew' it on a car project to rattle Google's cage it really didn't restrict any other project at Apple much at all. One of the primary points to extracting so much money from Google was so that Google had to take resources away from Google's projects; not Apple's. Apple could spend the money however they wanted and Google would send them another check next year. Nothing Apple itself did have to directly produce revenue at all. It was a 'money falls out of sky' check.

When the DoJ started making rumbling they might cut off that Google yearly check. Apple Car gone.

And how much the 'Car' was a cover story for Apple Vision Pro is debatable too. Spatial reasoning engine .. in both products. LiDar in both products. Multiple Camera inference in both products. ... Also the case when AVP revealed ... Apple Car project done. Coincidence? Perhaps, but likely not completely 100% disconnected either.

I think Apple was partially using Google money to shadow Waymo. But it also was a horrible fit for Apple. It backfired a bit on CarPlay also.

A more decisive CEO would have cut bait much earlier.

Decisive on 'free' money that collect for doing almost nothing ( just loaning out user userbase while wrapping themselves in the cloak of 'privacy royalty'. ).

And when Cook finally axed the project, he moved onto his vanity project, Vision Pro. Touting it as some revolutionary headset which in reality, had already been in the market for years.

And when Cook finally axed the project, he moved onto his vanity project, Vision Pro. Touting it as some revolutionary headset which in reality, had already been in the market for years.

The notion that the headset spun up as the car got axed is likely revisionist history. By some reports the AVP concept started development before the Car project even get 'started'. That was gestating inside of Apple for about 10 years also.

2020 there was 1,000 folks on it by some reports.
"... Specifically, the report covers disagreements between former Apple design chief Jony Ive and Mike Rockwell, the executive heading up Apple's secretive 1,000-strong group devoted to VR and AR, regarding fundamental aspects of the headset, codenamed N301. ..."

Bloomberg: Apple's AR/VR Gaming Headset Plans Altered By Internal Divisions

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman this morning filed a story detailing the internal divisions at Apple that led it to change the course of its AR and VR headset development. Specifically, the report covers disagreements between former Apple design chief Jony Ive and Mike Rockwell, the executive...

forums.macrumors.com

The AR project burn rate wasn't as high. ( although as I said there was also dual use tech being used by both). Buying full size luxury Automobiles and paying drivers costs more than some demo screens of a prototype.

 

[frownface]

They could have, and they tried, but why did they cancel the project? It was sucking up too many resources and wasn't close enough (apparently) to success. The car project is why they missed the rise of AI.

The rumoured explanation was that they didn't forsee the auto market as delivering the levels of profit margin they're accustomed to.

For context, the gross margin of a tesla is estimated to be about 18-25% whereas the GM of an iphone is estimated to be about 50-55%. The GM of an average ferrari would also be about 50%

While i think it'd be disengenous to expect similar margins on a car vs a phone or a service; it didn't meet apple's expectation.

 

[ppdix]

I thought at this point he’d at least stay until the announcement of the new Siri At WWDC

he's afraid that they might delay Siri one more year 😛 😛

 

[ppdix]

After a long time making Apple a successful trillion dollar, but stagnant, company, it's time to shift back to Steve's way of doing things. Taking risks and releasing products faster than before without overthinking them.
That's the way the Chinese do things... No hesitation.
Apple has been wasting too much time on quality control delaying products but even after release, they have lots of bugs. Get better engineers and designers and surprise us long time customers with something radical and different like the original iPhone, AirPods & Apple Watch

 

[curtvaughan]

I disagree. Most of these companies tech savvy people will find the news interesting. But other than maybe meta and tesla the rest no one cares. Especially oracle, amazon, google, and IBM. The moment a company stops selling products and just starts selling “business solutions and cloud data infrastructure software” their CEO can literally be anybody and no one will care. Tesla matters only because elon musk is an Internet personality and Meta because the famous founder still runs it. But the moment these companies change hands, no one will care who their CEO is. I still believe that Apple and Disney are the only companies culturally relevant enough for people to care about CEO transitions. Right now it feels like a new pope has been selected at apple. If IBM got a new CEO there would be no message boards talking about it. Maybe google might fit here somewhere but I am stretching since google itself has also made CEO’s irrelevant.

I don't know, but my guess is that if Michael Dell retires, people will notice something's missing. When founder / directors of successful corporations move on or retire, it is usually noticed. It was very much noticed when Bill Gates retired as CEO of Microsoft. There was a guy named Gordon Moore (the Moore's Law guy) who was a co-founder of Intel long ago. The CEO's of the corporation since those days are mostly unknown to most people. Seymour Cray, founder / director of the Cray supercomputer corporation(s), is well known. It's now a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard, but do most people know that? Yes, in the vast plethora of corporations, the CEO is generally anonymous, only becoming noticeable when / if drastic failure or success of the corporation occurs.

 

[mrhick01]

As a long time (1983) shareholder, Tim Cook has been awesome.

As a hardware user, letting Ivy go was his greatest achievement. Followed by the transition to apple silicon.

As a software user, i'm scared to death that the guy who oversaw liquid glass is now CEO

As someone who would like to have yet another apple toy to play with, I'm cautiously optimistic that we have a product guy leading apple.

Not that he's asking:

1) Every two years do a 'snow leopard' release across the board. In between actually hire regression testers.
2) Give us options: Let us turn off the lousy music in apple fitness+ and play our own. Let us design our own watch faces. Let us completely disable liquid glass and transparency. let us move the horrible music controls in apple music out of the way of the list of songs. Let us own our music and still download to our watch. Let us stream music to homepods AND appleTVs (because some of us have real sound systems), give us access to ALL our playlists in carplay, and so on.
3) Give siri a brain
4) Publish a hardware and software lifecycle
5) Real GPU's in Macs please. #nvidia
6) Stop with the mandatory ads - or give us 'ad-free' as part of Apple One #ensh*tt*f*cat*on is a real thing
7) Did I mention give siri a brain?

#5 is not happening, and I hope that it will never happen.

Apple, a company who wants to build silicon that is both powerful and energy-efficient, why would they want to regress to cards that will need nuclear reactors (hyperbole, I know) to power their total capacity?

It appears that Apple is choosing to guide AI compute more locally than through the cloud. Nvidia themselves are de-prioritizing their gaming customers. Why would Ternus want to do such a thing?

 

[ErikGrim]

It was written

 

[-BigMac-]

Name a better Intel Mac Line up than the one Apple has now?

What exactly is Tim's political focus?

That’s honestly a terrible argument lol

‘Name a better Intel Mac lineup’… bro you’re comparing 2026 Apple to its own decade-old stuff and acting like that’s a win. Of course it’s better… time moved forward. That’s not impressive, that’s the bare minimum.

The whole point is Apple has more control than ever under Tim Cook - their own chips, full ecosystem control… and somehow everything still feels safe and predictable. Faster? Sure. More exciting? Not really no

And asking what the political focus is just tells me you haven’t been paying attention. Apple has been loud on public/social/regulatory stuff for years while the products just get yearly spec bumps.

No one’s saying the products are bad… they’re just not pushing anything anymore. Apple used to drop stuff that changed the game. Now it’s just ‘same thing, slightly better’ every year.

If your best argument is ‘it’s better than 2016,’ you kinda proved my point😬

 

[RandomTox]

Good news!

 

[uwdude]

There's nothing wrong with Apple being a profit-oriented company; that's how it gets the $$$ to do R&D and create innovative products.

The problem comes (and has come, lately) when customers feel that they aren't getting sufficient VALUE for the money they spend on subscriptions, hardware, socks, etc. People romanticize Steve Jobs as if he wasn't hard-core focused on profits, but the truth is that he really was. What set Jobs apart was that he wanted to create products so excellent that you HAD to pay more for them, but were so excellent that you WANTED to pay more for them. If Ternus has an eye for the kinds of technology that will make us empty our wallets gladly, we shouldn't begrudge profit-orientation as part of the mix that should keep Apple on the cutting edge of innovating excellence.

This is it exactly. I remember I paid what was at the time a ridiculous amount for a phone to purchase the original iPhone. And it was the best product experience I ever had. People would gawk at me when I pulled it out in stores, theme parks, etc., wanting to hold it and swipe the screen. It was amazing. Their products were really aspirational. I hope they can get back to that someday.

 

[Ethosik]

Can we stop with the nonstop penny pinching? Fact is if shareholders want margins increased, ANY CEO needs to do it. They could fight it, get fired and get replaced. But what good would that do?