This is Technology Bytes, episode 164 for April 26, 2026.
Technology Bytes is a microcast where I share brief bites on interesting technology.
Enjoy, and here we go.
This week I’m not really sharing anything about technology, but about my favorite technology company, weighing in on something I know absolutely nothing about, but it’s never stopped me before, and that is talking about Apple’s CEO position, because there’s a big announcement this week where Tim Cook, who has been the CEO of Apple for some time, has decided to step down, and John Ternus is stepping in.
Now, I follow Apple pretty closely, but I am in no way a pundit.
I don’t actually follow the news all that much.
I listen to podcasts, I do those kind of things, but I don’t read a lot about the CEOs or the other positions there, but I do see that in the news now because that is big news in Apple, and of course I follow that news, and I have listened to a number of podcasts as well, so I thought I’d just weigh in with my own personal thoughts.
Tim Cook could have left Apple any time in the last number of years and been one of the most successful CEOs of a company ever.
The fact is that he spent 15 years as Apple’s CEO, and that is longer than anybody else has spent in that position, and the company has experienced exponential growth, almost exponential growth, in the time that he has been at the helm, going from, you know, that’s the problem, I don’t read enough, but they’re going from a million-dollar company, not a million, but maybe in the hundreds of million, to a four-trillion-dollar company.
That just is a number that’s mind-boggling.
I don’t even know how to understand that.
But Tim was chosen by Steve when Steve stepped down as CEO as to be the guiding hand to take Apple through the next however many number of years he chose to do that.
And I say he chose to do that because he was successful.
I guess if he had not been successful, his years would have been chosen by the board of directors.
But he was given the free reign to do as he would seem, as what would seem best to him for Apple because of his successes.
And, you know, you could roll through all the number of products that he’s done, and, you know, I don’t know that much about Tim Cook, only the things that I’ve read.
Obviously, I don’t know him personally, but he seems like a very steady person, someone at the helm after the volatile nature of Steve Jobs, I think is probably the right person to guide him through those months and years of people saying, well, that’s not what Steve would do if he was still alive, and all of those types of things that he had to face.
And then he seems to have done a pretty good job politically at positioning Apple in a place where they can still thrive in different political environments.
Some disagree with his approach and whether it’s, you know, kowtowing and whatever, kissing up or whatever you want to call it.
The other thing is that he came from the supply chain, which I like that part of it because in my career I’ve been involved in that just a little bit, and I know how hard that job is.
And, you know, the things that he’s done to place Apple in a position where they can get products, they can get things made, they can, you know, be able to produce new things for the customers that they have, it’s just something.
And, you know, people point back to Steve Jobs saying, a product guy needs to be in charge of this company.
That’s just the way Apple is.
But as the CEO for the last 15 years, I believe that Tim Cook has done as well as anyone could expect and maybe better than most people expected.
I don’t know about anyone else, but this really took me by surprise as I was listening to different pundits and podcasts.
Many people had thought that Steve was stepping down and then had kind of backed away from that stance because it didn’t seem like it was happening, what he was saying, didn’t seem like it was happening, and then all of a sudden here it is.
There’s a press release, he’s written a letter to the employees at Apple, he’s written a letter to the Apple customers publicly, and he has chosen to step aside, become the executive chairman of the board, and turning the reins over to John Ternus.
Now, I’ve seen John on events that Apple has held, announcing devices, those kind of things.
You know, I don’t know if I know less about him than I do about Tim Cook, but some because I don’t really know his career at Apple as much, but he’s been there for half his life.
He’s 50 years old, so good age, I think, because he could lead for 15 years and then be really the same age that Tim Cook is as he’s stepping down.
He’s only had, I think I heard, like one other job before his job at Apple, and the other thing is that he’s a product guy, so he’s been in charge of products, so he understands how products get made.
He may not understand the supply chain as well as Tim, but he does understand that it’s necessary for him to get the products out that he would like to build for Apple and that the company has decided to build, so I think it’s probably a good time.
We’re 15 years on from the passing of Steve Jobs.
We have a product guy back in charge of Apple, someone who has successfully managed the product that has come out in the last 15 years under Tim Cook, and someone who seems to be conservative, level-headed.
He’s not trying to make news for himself.
I think they’ve made a good choice.
Now, Tim’s going to handle the political side of things, and I also think that’s probably a pretty good idea because he’s kind of learned how to do that on the fly, and he’s got no sense in weighing John Ternus down with that and let him lead the company, and it is kind of interesting because there are obviously a number of other high-ranking official positions in Apple who were overlooked for this position, but somehow I think they’re all going to stick around.
I don’t think anyone’s going to go off and say, well, it should have been me, and they’re leaving the company.
It didn’t happen when Tim came on board, and I think everyone has talked about this in the executive suites and in the board meetings, and I think everyone is probably aligned with this.
There have been some other promotions that maybe smooth the transition a little bit, but I’m looking forward to see what John Ternus does.
Now, he takes over in September, so that means his first big thing that will happen in his CEO-dom, CEO kingdom, I don’t know, whatever, is the iPhone event, obviously the biggest event that Apple holds every year because that is their bread and butter.
Still over 50% of their revenue.
So he’s jumping right into the fire, and it will be interesting to see how that goes.
He will have had a great deal of control and responsibility for the iPhone that gets released, including the iPhone Fold, if that comes out in that same time frame.
So overall, I was surprised.
I think it’s a good choice.
Who am I to say?
I don’t know either one of those gentlemen, but it feels like a good choice, and I am an Apple fan.
It doesn’t feel like they’ve tried to reach and do something silly.
It feels like they’re placing themselves in a position of continued steady growth, and it will be interesting to see change from supply chain to product focused and what that does to Apple.
Obviously, John Ternus has challenges.
We’re in the AI mode that Apple has not done well.
We have their smart assistant, SIRA.
If I say it, I think it’s going to do something goofy to my recording, but that function has not been doing well at all.
So he definitely has challenges, and they’re going to start right away, but it will be interesting, as always, to see how Apple navigates these waters with John Ternus at the helm.
Well, that is all I have for today.
If you have comments, suggestions, or questions, you can send them to technologybytes at merrickfamily.com.
As always, I want to thank you for listening to the Technology Bytes microcast, and I look forward to the next time we are together, taking another bite of technology.
