苹果CEO交接：Tim Cook卸任，John Ternus接任硬件负责人

It's a historic changing of the guard at Apple. 15 years Tim Cook has been the CEO. He's handing the reins over to John Ternus. I'm Mackenzie Sigalos here with my colleague Kif Leswing who's been covering Apple for more than ten years. I think we have to start with who is John Ternus? Well, John Ternus is currently Apple's hardware chief and he's a product guy. He's been developing and shipping Apple products since 1991.

So I think there's a lot for Apple investors and customers and fans to be excited about with this switch. Obviously, Tim Cook was a huge figure for Apple and transformed the company, but Ternus product focus gives Apple the opportunity to really break a mold that it's been stuck in for the last decade, I think. And he's an Apple lifer. He's been there for 25 years. How is he going to kind of change the direction here?

Because there were a few internal candidates. There was Craig Federighi, head of software. There was a question of whether Eddy Cue has been heading up the services business might get this, but John Ternus is the product guy. So does that mean they're kind of throwing in the towel? On being more competitive in terms of an in-house AI stack, or is this more of a bet that product is how you win hardware is how you win in a new AI era?

I think Turnus leading Apple will will be huge for AI. I think the main thing is Apple is a product company. Every year people have to decide whether to buy the new iPhone, whether to upgrade their Mac, whether to upgrade their Apple Watch. It's not software. It's a different thing. And, and that's really what makes Apple unique in the Valley, especially compared to Google and Amazon. They do hardware, but it's not the same.

Everyone has an iPhone. You know, not everyone has a pixel. Very few people have a Google Pixel. So in it, in a way, Apple is leaning into what made it special. Now, him being a lifer means he does not have a major public footprint. Um, Apple likes to speak with one voice. It does not Typically send its senior executives to speak at conferences or that kind of thing. It likes to it likes to have its senior executives basically speak at Apple launch events.

So. So there is an opportunity here for Ternus to introduce himself to the world and tell us, tell investors, tell customers, tell employees what his plan is. Yeah. High level. I'm not saying Apple's going to start pre-announcing products because I don't think they're going to do. I think they're going to stay a secretive company that's not talking about the next iPhone before it comes out. But I think people want to hear from him how he's thinking about hardware, AI and, and new product categories, for sure.

And I mean, to that point, right? Like he's got a couple of audiences he wants to impress. And I am very curious about internally how this handover is being viewed. Like, what do people say about John Ternus internally? But then there's also the Wall Street audience, and then we've got the public, and he's about to make a very splashy debut. September 9th is a big hardware September launch event. Tell me about what to expect.

I mean, this is when he really gets a chance to to introduce himself to the public. Well, speaking to investors and longtime Apple watchers, there is an expectation that he will be on stage at the Steve Jobs Theater on Wednesday, September 9th. I think if he were to choose not to do it. Uh, that would raise a lot of eyebrows and really bring questions that he doesn't want in his first month on the job. So I think we will see Ternus walking across that stage.

You know, Tim Cook had a famous he had a southern accent. Good morning. I don't know, I don't know what Ternus line is going to be yet. Uh, but he will be able to address Apple fans and, and millions of people watch Apple launch events. That's the other thing. So this is. That's what I was going to ask you. I mean, I guess like, in a sense, he has been doing some of the public facing launch events like GMA had a spot with him when the MacBook neo launched earlier this year, a hugely successful product that he is credited with bringing to fruition.

But to your point, like this is almost a bigger audience. The September hardware launch event. There are all eyes are on Apple when these iPhones launch. You know, they stream it on their website. You know, Steve Jobs theater only holds about 1000. So the in-person audience is not going to be massive. But on YouTube, tens of thousands of people, tens of millions of people watch. Not tens of thousands. And then there are people who watch on Apple's own site, and then the stuff gets clicked and lives on social media for weeks, and it's covered by international news everywhere.

So this is a big moment for him. It's the first time a lot of people who consider themselves dedicated Apple fans and customers will get to see the leader making the decision on their on, you know, what their next iPhone is going to have in it. And what I'm curious about is because historically, John has been seen as someone who's perhaps a little bit more reserved or conservative in some of his product decisions. There's reporting out there to indicate that.

And so are we going to I mean, I guess a couple questions here. One, in September, are we going to get a foldable phone? That's one. But then two with turn us Down the CEO role, does that mean that he is unencumbered by having to answer to someone else and can suddenly roll out new products because people want a form factor change. They want more than just like a phone that kind of looks the same, and a watch, like we want something different.

I mean, I think the most exciting thing here is, is hardware is at a moment where it's less settled than it's been for a long time. Prices are rising because of this global memory shortage. Ai in these large language models have have created assistants and and virtual companions almost. And you see a wide range of new products coming out. We don't know what OpenAI is going to come out with, but meta has their glasses.

I saw these very cool earbuds today announced today that have a wireless connection and can talk to an LM at all times and take notes and do that kind of thing. There's a lot of green space here. Robots are heating up. I was at CES this year and there were little robots everywhere. And you know, what everyone really wants is they want an apple robot. They want that polish and fit and ease of use that apple. So, so the fact that Turnus is now being involved with these roadmaps that that he is being looped in at an early.

And, you know, as the hardware chief, it's not like he didn't know what Apple was doing before, but. Did he have more of a leash on him because he wasn't the top dog? He wasn't the top boss. And I guess that also leads me into a larger conversation around Tim Cook isn't going anywhere. He's becoming executive chairman. The company has signaled that he will be more of a chief diplomat type of position, so ostensibly working hand in hand, potentially handling relations with the white House or with China, is that something that's going to make John Turner's life easier, or does it mean that he still has somebody who's not a chaperon, but he still has like somebody there where he has to co decide certain things.

I'm just trying to understand like how much autonomy he has as he comes into the CEO role. Well, the crazy thing about understanding the Tim Cook John Ternus handoff is you kind of have to flash back to 2011 in the Steve Jobs, Tim Cook handoff and, and Tim Cook for years after that. And Steve Jobs tragically passed away from died from cancer after the transition. So he wasn't around anymore. But Tim Cook would say things like, Steve would tell me to never ask what Steve would do.

And so you have to assume that that's kind of the leash that that Tim Cook is giving John Ternus here, that it's you should do what's right. You should not ask yourself, what would Tim Cook do if he was