Apple’s new chief executive, John Ternus, has made his first comments as the boss of perhaps the world’s most powerful company.
Mr Ternus took over control from Tim Cook on 1 September, following a long and carefully managed transition. But despite Mr Ternus’s key role at the company, and months of preparation, his personal life and professional views about Apple still remain largely mysterious.
In his first comments as head of the company, made in a memo sent to Apple staff, he largely maintained that mystery. But they hint further at what appears to be his priority in the top role: returning the focus of Apple to its products.
Numerous reports have suggested that the appointment of Mr Ternus – who most recently led Apple’s hardware team, taking responsibility for the design and production of the iPhone as well as its other physical products – is intended to focus the company on the devices that it makes and sells. Mr Cook will stay on as Apple’s executive chairman, and is expected to continue to take responsibility for the more controversial parts of its business, such as its relationships with politicians in US and China.
Mr Ternus’s statement appears to further confirm that direction. What few specific comments he made focused primarily on a “huge launch next week”, referencing the upcoming iPhone event, as well as “the incredible products already in the works and the ones we haven’t even imagined yet that we’ll dream up and create together”.
Mr Ternus began his first memo by thanking “everyone for the warm wishes” and expressing “deep appreciation to Tim for sharing so much of his knowledge and experience during this transition, and more importantly, for everything he contributed to Apple over the years”. He also pointed to the fact that Mr Cook had “led with his values and with such decency and humanity”.
But all of his comments about Apple focused on the products that the company has coming up.
“I’m honored to be stepping into this role at what is truly the greatest company in the world, and I am so excited about everything we have in store,” he told staff, in the widely reported memo. “We have a huge launch next week that’s going to be phenomenal.
“Thanks for everything you’ve all done to make it possible. I’m just as excited about what lies beyond that, including the incredible products already in the works and the ones we haven’t even imagined yet that we’ll dream up and create together. There’s no team in the world I’d rather build the future with.”
Around the same time, Mr Ternus launched an official account X, formerly Twitter. He posted a simple tweet that remains the only one on the newly created account.
Apple has sometimes had a contentious relationship with X, especially since it was bought by Elon Musk and renamed Twitter. Apple has pulled some advertising from the site after controversies around Mr Musk, for instance, and he has publicly criticised the company.
In recent times, however, Apple has more openly embraced the site, with both official marketing posts and statements from its executives. Mr Cook regularly used it to post ahead of Apple’s public events, for instance.