Today is a momentous day for Apple. After the announcement in April, starting September 1st, in fact, John ternus officially becomes the new CEO of Cupertino. He will sit in the chair that for 15 years was occupied by Tim Cook and, even before, by the co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs.
Cook will remain with the company in the role of executive chairman of the board of directors, in addition to handling certain institutional relations with governments and international political authorities, namely President Donald Trump and the Chinese government. Some see him as "watching over" the new CEO's work, accompanying him through this delicate transition period; others see him as a burdensome presence that will inevitably impact his work.
Tim Cook's Legacy
"Has been the greatest privilege of my life “I am thrilled to be Apple’s CEO and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” Cook said, explaining that he loves the company “with all my heart and am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such an ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring team of people who have demonstrated an unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of our customers and creating the best products and services in the world.”
L'legacy that the now ex-CEO leaves to his successor is enormous. As he recalls Bloomberg, he himself took the reins of the company less than two months before Steve Jobs' death, at a time when Apple was still reeling from the loss of its visionary co-founder and there were real doubts about its ability to continue growing under anyone else's leadership.
Yet, during what has been called for years now “the Cook era”, the company's revenues nearly quadrupled, reaching 416 billion dollars, while his market value has increased fifteenfold, exceeding the 4 trillion dollars.
Cook never made another revolutionary innovation comparable in scope to the iPhone, but he did introduce successful products such as the AirPods and the Apple Watch. He also developed Apple Pay and Apple Music, transforming services revenue, which had previously been a negligible item, into a business that now generates more profit than the entire company did when Cook took over.
Who is John Ternus, Apple's new CEO?
Fifty years old, with a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Ternus joined the Apple design team in 2001 and started working on Macs, then took on increasing responsibilities for iPad, AirPods, iPhone and the entire hardware division, of which he became vice president in 2013. Since 2021, he has been part of the Cupertino executive team. Ternus was considered both inside and outside the company as the Cook's natural successorHe is credited with leading Apple through major hardware transitions, such as the switch to in-house designed chips for Macs.
In a meeting with all employees, after the handover had been announced, Cook described it like this“He's a man with a bird's eye view. He has the ability to see things clearly from 30.000 feet in the air, but also to go down to the basement and dig into the fine details of an issue,” he said, adding that “there's no one in the world I trust more than John to lead Apple into the future.”
The baptism of fire with the new foldable iPhone will be on September 9th.
The day of Ternus' inauguration represents a epochal turning point for Apple, although the handover at the top of the company will happen gradually. "Managing this transition well will likely be crucial in determining whether Ternus, 51, ends up being as successful a CEO as his mentor," he observes. Bloomberg.
In the meantime, however, the wait is growing for the debut: next September 9th, as his two illustrious predecessors have done for years, John Ternus will take the stage at the Steve Jobs Theatre to present the new devices made in Cupertino as part of the traditional annual event which this year will have the slogan “Surprise and shine”.
According to rumors, together with the new iPhone 18, 18 Pro and the new Apple Watch, Apple will also present its first Foldable iPhone, called the iPhone Ultra. A product that will therefore be associated with the new CEO and on whose success part of its initial reputation could therefore depend.
