Apple’s New CEO John Ternus Has Plans to Rewire the Company
Key Takeaways
New Apple CEO John Ternus is moving quickly to put his mark on the company.
His central goal is to make Apple faster at developing and releasing products.
Ternus wants Apple to expand its device lineup and become a leaner organization.
John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO, has been leading the $4.8 trillion company for about a month. In that short span of time, the 51-year-old CEO introduced the iPhone Duo, Apple’s groundbreaking new foldable. The phone positions Apple to better compete with Samsung, which has been in the foldable market for seven years.
There are other areas where Apple is playing catch-up. For instance, the company is reportedly eyeing the smart glasses market, where Meta is the undisputed leader and companies like Snap are introducing competitors. According to a new Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources, Ternus has communicated a strategy to colleagues: To move forward, Apple must develop products more quickly and venture into experimental markets fearlessly.
Ternus is setting out to remake Apple’s inner workings. For one, the former hardware engineering chief is pushing to expand the company’s device lineup. His proposals, shared internally with employees, provide the clearest early view of how he plans to put his stamp on Apple after succeeding Tim Cook, who led the company for 15 years.
Ternus is weighing major changes, including breaking from Apple’s familiar spring and fall launch calendar and introducing products more frequently. Changing Apple’s usual cadence of announcements could take years, according to employees who spoke with Bloomberg.
Ternus also wants to cut management layers that can distance engineers from the company’s top decision-makers.
Bloomberg’s sources said that cost-cutting efforts are also underway as Ternus looks for room to fund Apple’s next wave of products. The work is part of a broader push to make the business more efficient, ranging from its internal structure to the way executives manage its hardware and software.
Ternus’ reported goals
At the same time, Ternus is looking for additional growth engines and ways to generate more revenue from Apple’s vast array of devices, per Bloomberg.
The urgency is particularly acute in services, a division that has long been one of Apple’s most profitable businesses. The segment includes the App Store, subscriptions, advertising, payments and cloud offerings. Services revenue still climbed 12% year over year to a record $30.74 billion in Apple’s June quarter, but it fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Apple is reportedly preparing to introduce a packed lineup of devices next year, including AirPods with built-in cameras, smart glasses and a special-edition iPhone to mark the product’s 20th anniversary.
The ambitious pipeline gives Ternus a reason to move quickly. It also intensifies the pressure to deliver more products without adding more people and ramping up spending.
That philosophy has long shaped Ternus’s view of Apple’s organization. As head of hardware engineering, he urged employees at an all-hands meeting to keep hiring in check, per Bloomberg. In one presentation, he showed Apple’s annual headcount growth and made the case that the company needed to increase output without continuing to expand its headcount at the same pace.
That background fuels anxiety within Apple that there could be a round of job cuts later this year or early next year, even as the company prepares to release highly anticipated products.
Key Takeaways
New Apple CEO John Ternus is moving quickly to put his mark on the company.
His central goal is to make Apple faster at developing and releasing products.
Ternus wants Apple to expand its device lineup and become a leaner organization.
John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO, has been leading the $4.8 trillion company for about a month. In that short span of time, the 51-year-old CEO introduced the iPhone Duo, Apple’s groundbreaking new foldable. The phone positions Apple to better compete with Samsung, which has been in the foldable market for seven years.
There are other areas where Apple is playing catch-up. For instance, the company is reportedly eyeing the smart glasses market, where Meta is the undisputed leader and companies like Snap are introducing competitors. According to a new Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources, Ternus has communicated a strategy to colleagues: To move forward, Apple must develop products more quickly and venture into experimental markets fearlessly.
Ternus is setting out to remake Apple’s inner workings. For one, the former hardware engineering chief is pushing to expand the company’s device lineup. His proposals, shared internally with employees, provide the clearest early view of how he plans to put his stamp on Apple after succeeding Tim Cook, who led the company for 15 years.
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