Tim Cook is stepping down as CEO of Apple. During his almost 15 years in charge, Apple has become one of the world’s largest technology forces. Steve Jobs laid the foundation for Tim Cook’s incredible success as CEO of Apple.
On Monday, Apple announced that Tim Cook will take over as Apple’s executive chairman on September 1. Hardware specialist John Ternus is taking over as CEO in his place.
John Ternus now serves as Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. His name was mentioned as a potential successor to Tim Cook from the beginning.
During Tim Cook’s tenure, successful products such as the Apple Watch and AirPods entered the market.
In a statement, outgoing CEO Tim Cook said, ‘Being the CEO of Apple is the best achievement of my life. It is an honor to be trusted to lead such an extraordinary company.’
Apple is currently one of the most expensive companies in the world at this market price. Apple’s market cap has grown from around $350 billion in 2011 to nearly $4 trillion during Tim Cook’s tenure.
During this time the company’s annual revenue nearly quadrupled to over $400 billion. Apple has more than 250 million active hardware devices worldwide.
John Ternus is taking the helm of the company at a very important juncture. The pressure is on to prove how much new direction Apple can take in the future, especially in the field of AI technology.
“Tim Cook is leaving Cupertino with a lasting legacy,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a research paper on Monday. As a result, there will be huge pressure on John Ternus to meet expectations early on in his tenure, especially in AI.’
He also wrote, ‘Tim Cook’s resignation was already there. But why did he suddenly become simple at this time and what effect will it have on Apple’s future strategyInvestors now have more questions than answers about it.”
