1 month ago
Apple’s changing of nan defender pinch low-key Head of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, group to switch CEO Tim Cook successful a matter of months, launches a caller era astatine nan tech giant.
The mobility is — what will that look like?
Hardware is key, obviously. Investors and fans would emotion a genuinely transformational device. It’s been a hit since nan iPhone, aliases nan Apple Watch. Software runs nan hardware. Services, a sprawling section that includes Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple App Store, Apple Pay (and connected and on), is nan glue that binds group to their Apple devices. AI, which galore opportunity Apple has been slow to develop, is filtered done Services.
Ternus is good liked wrong nan company, often referred to arsenic a “great guy,” and not very Hollywood, who shares outgoing CEO Tim Cook’s values. Cook himself is said to beryllium highly nice. He’s had a crisp attraction connected privateness and pushed Apple to beryllium c neutral.
People wrong Apple’s Cupertino HQ and successful L.A. besides telephone Ternus a instrumentality of nan streaming service. “If anything, John wants to make it much competitive,” says 1 Apple insider. Will that mean continuing to bankroll costly original bid for illustration Severance, Masters Of The Air and The Morning Show? Apple’s committedness to movie is unclear contempt blockbuster F1 last year.
Ternus is said to beryllium a instrumentality of nan sport. Apple past autumn inked a five-year authorities woody for Formula 1 successful nan U.S. He likes to title cars himself and attended nan F1 premiere and a number of others for nan streamer Apple TV. He watches it, and has a beardown narration pinch Apple Services SVP, Eddy Cue.
One tech insider speculated that good regarded Cue, 61, could get an expanded role, different that he mightiness retire, which would beryllium “a immense gut punch,” nan personification said. At SXSW past year, Cue sat pinch Severance head and executive shaper Ben Stiller conscionable earlier nan series’ Season 2 finale. “It’s been astonishing for maine and Apple, and an unthinkable grant to activity pinch you connected this. We couldn’t beryllium prouder,” Cue said. “Apple picks its projects very carefully.”
As nan CEO news rippled done nan NAB Show successful Las Vegas, wherever giants for illustration Google and Amazon arsenic good arsenic a number of smaller tech firms are showing their wares, nan reactions were favorable and Ternus was seen arsenic a logical prime to return complete for Cook.
“There’s nary existent astonishment here,” 1 elder tech exec told Deadline. “They’d been moving connected nan succession process and if you’re a institution that scale, continuity is key. I thought nan full process was managed really smoothly,”
Brian Wieser, who runs nan strategical advisory patient Madison and Wall, observed successful a blog station aft nan news, “Early indications propose we’re successful for much of nan aforesaid nether Ternus.” The caller CEO comes from hardware, he noted, “and has apt been portion of nan decision-making model that prioritized a controlled, tightly integrated personification experience.”
That hasn’t been nan lawsuit pinch different tech handoffs. Amazon, aft Jeff Bezos passed nan CEO baton to Andy Jassy, moved aggressively into advertising. Within nan first mates of years of Jassy astatine nan helm, Prime Video had turned connected nan jets and was bringing successful billions successful advertisement revenue. Don’t expect nan aforesaid benignant of pivot nether Ternus astatine Apple, Wieser cautioned.
Cook’s predisposition toward privateness and distant from ads was highlighted successful Apple’s announcement of nan CEO transition, Wieser noted. That merchandise accuracy is apt to proceed nether Ternus. As it stands, Apple ranks 13th in advertisement revenue, and has astir 1% of nan full market, making it a overmuch smaller subordinate than Meta, Google and different tech giants.
Cue and a fewer different Apple executives were rumored to beryllium successful nan succession operation months agone but nan modulation to Ternus has been successful nan useful for immoderate clip successful a amazingly smooth, leak free and seemingly low-drama transition. He’s been looped successful pinch Cook connected decisions and soul discussions. The longtime CEO, who took complete for legendary Apple laminitis Steve Jobs successful 2011, will modulation to executive chairman. Cook grew Apple’s sales, marketplace headdress and stock value tremendously, navigated though Covid disruptions, and has successfully advocated for nan institution successful challenging governmental times.
Big AI Reveal?
This summertime will beryllium a nan first awesome trial for Apple and its caller CEO, who doesn’t formally return nan domiciled until Sept. 1 but will beryllium beforehand and halfway months earlier.
Unlike astir companies, which walk nan CEO baton astatine yearly shareholder meetings, Apple will coming its caller main connected a massively bigger shape — nan yearly Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC26) from June 8-12. Ternus has been astatine nan arena before, but ne'er font and center. Last year’s livestream had 824,000 viewers. This upcoming version was already nan buzziest successful years since usually secretive Apple has publically promised to showcase anticipated AI advances.
Now, erstwhile it does, nan institution will person a caller look to do it.
“I’m very optimistic astatine this choice. But he’s connected a shorter leash pursuing a world people CEO successful Tim Cook. He needs to show occurrence retired of nan gate. It’s important he starts retired connected nan correct ft successful June,” says Wedbush Securities exertion expert Dan Ives of Ternus, a 50-year-old mechanical engineering grad from University of Pennsylvania who has been pinch Apple for almost his full career.
AI is only getting much and much blase and alleged “agentic” AI is coming. Wall Streeters person noted really basal Siri is compared pinch chatbots for illustration ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Apple has been licensing from others but is being pressed difficult to create its own.
As scary for Apple investors, Jony Ive, nan company’s longtime main creation officer, has group up shop astatine OpenAI.
Wedbush’s Ives is upbeat connected Services. He thinks Apple’s AI strategy rests there. “That’s nan measurement they are going to monetize nan billions of users they person astir nan world. And moreover though [Ternus] is simply a hardware-centric CEO,” occurrence mostly will require occurrence successful services arsenic overmuch arsenic hardware.”
A tech-industry executive (not astatine Apple) Deadline said pinch said Ternus gets bully reviews from colleagues personally. They opportunity he pays attention, is consenting to return successful caller ideas, is innovative, and technically very beardown arsenic Apple focuses connected nan adjacent activity of products to return it into nan future.
He feels nan assignment signified a desire to break things unfastened pinch caller products, “the truth that they are a instrumentality institution astatine nan extremity of nan day.”
Delivering Penn Engineering’s 2024 commencement address, Ternus made clear sweats nan details.
“The attraction that you put into your work, it really matters,” he said.
“My first task astatine Apple was The Cinema Display. It was a ample desktop monitor. It had a beautiful, clear integrative enclosure that was held together pinch immoderate screws coming from nan back. These screws were made of stainless alloy and nan caput of each screw [had] a shape of concentric grooves.
“At immoderate constituent successful my first year, I recovered myself successful a supplier facility. I was acold distant from home. It was good past midnight. I was utilizing my magnifying solid to count nan number of grooves connected nan caput of nan screws, which, remember, unrecorded connected nan backmost of nan display. And I was arguing pinch nan supplier because these heads had 35 grooves and they were expected to person 25.
“And I distinctly retrieve stepping backmost for a infinitesimal and reasoning to myself, ‘What americium I doing? Is this normal?’ I thought astir it, and I said, ‘No. It’s not normal. But it is right.’ Because I already spent months moving connected that product. And if you’re going to walk that overmuch clip connected something, you should put successful your very champion effort. Maybe a customer notices, possibly they don’t. But whenever I saw 1 of those displays connected someone’s desk, it mattered to me.”
Dade Hayes contributed to this post
