John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice chairman of {Hardware} Engineering, is reportedly on the prime of the record to step into Tim Cook dinner’s sneakers when the present Apple CEO steps down.
However the true query is, does he have what it takes to fill a job that Steve Jobs as soon as did so brilliantly?
Apple CEO is an epic job
Ever since Steve Jobs’ spectacular run on the helm of Apple, the position of CEO has taken on an nearly legendary significance on the firm.
It is smart: Jobs managed the groups that got here up with breakthrough merchandise like Macintosh, iPod and iPhone. And when the mercurial Apple cofounder died in 2011, many feared that Apple would too.
Nonetheless, Tim Cook dinner, Jobs’s proper hand man, discovered a approach to develop Apple’s success by pushing incremental enhancements in merchandise whereas ramping up income from companies like iCloud and Apple Music. His tenure has introduced a 1200% enhance in Apple’s worth.
Cook dinner has much less success on the world-changing new system entrance, nonetheless. Apple Watch is a success, and AirPods in all their kinds made wi-fi earbuds a scorching commodity. However the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional headset looks like an unsure guess on the way forward for computing, and the “secret” Apple automotive undertaking is formally lifeless.
Tim Cook dinner’s clock as CEO is ticking down
Love him or hate him, Tim Cook dinner absolutely gained’t be Apple CEO for an additional decade. He’s is 63 years previous, and whereas Cook dinner is just not anticipated to step down quickly, that day is coming.
Who will succeed Tim Cook dinner to turn into Apple’s subsequent CEO? Apple reportedly has a plan… two of them, really. Plan A kicks in if Cook dinner steps off the unsuitable curb (his words not mine) within the close to future. Plan B goes into impact if Cook dinner hangs round for a couple of extra years, enabling a well-managed handoff to his successor.
Apple operations chief Jeff Williams is Plan A. He seems to be the logical choice to be the next CEO besides that he’s 61 years previous. That’s means he could be unlikely to take the highest spot for various years. However he might take over as CEO if Apple wanted one tomorrow.
That makes John Ternus Plan B. He’s the one most likely to take over for Cook for the lengthy haul, in accordance with Bloomberg. For one factor, he’s over a decade youthful than the present chief govt and Williams.
Plus, Ternus has the help of the present head honcho.
“Tim likes him so much, as a result of he can provide a very good presentation, he’s very mild-mannered, by no means places something into an electronic mail that’s controversial and is a really reticent decision-maker,” a supply inside Apple instructed Bloomberg.
Meet John Ternus
Fortunately, Ternus has extra going for him than good deportment. He’s already in change of a big proportion of Apple merchandise. His official company bio says:
“John joined Apple’s Product Design crew in 2001 and has been a vice chairman of {Hardware} Engineering since 2013. All through his tenure at Apple, John has overseen {hardware} engineering work on a wide range of groundbreaking merchandise together with each technology and mannequin of iPad, the most recent iPhone lineup, and AirPods. He has been a key chief within the ongoing transition of the Mac to Apple silicon.”
That makes him the equal and reverse of Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of Software program Engineering.
Anybody needing to place a face to the identify want solely watch the video for the recent “Let Loose” event. Cook dinner opened and closed the occasion, however Ternus acted as grasp of ceremonies.
Large questions stay. If Turnus turns into the following Apple CEO, can he proceed Cook dinner’s profitable method? Much more importantly, does he have Steve Jobs’s imaginative and prescient to create the following huge undertaking that Apple followers want — even when they don’t comprehend it but? Time will inform.
Lewis Wallace contributed considerably to this text.