The Verge and ITHome report that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook will retire on August 31st local time, and John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, will become the new CEO from September 1st. On the morning of his final day, Mr. Cook sent a final message of gratitude to his employees. This is a historic turning point, marking the end of the 15-year Cook Era that made the iPhone a global presence, and the change in the system that has led investments in the Japanese market, such as Suica support for Apple Pay, has great meaning for Japanese users as well.
Mr. Cook will become executive chairman, and Mr. Ternus will take over the role from today.
According to ITHome, Cook’s last day as CEO will be August 31st, and Ternus will take over from September 1st. After leaving his position, Cook will reportedly become executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors and continue to be responsible for communications with policymakers around the world.
The Verge also reported that “Today is Mr. Cook’s last day as CEO.” In the 15 years since he succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011, he has built Apple into a company deeply rooted in the daily lives of billions of people.
In his final message, he thanked everyone and said, “It’s all thanks to you.”
Here are the key parts of Mr. Cook’s message to employees on the morning of August 31st (translated from the full text posted on ITHome):
“Today is my last day as Apple’s CEO. I knew this day would come someday, but as I sit down to write this letter, I still can’t believe it all happened. I really wanted to write this letter today to express my gratitude for your compassion and for your daily efforts and support. Most of all, I want to thank you for giving me the most precious opportunity of my life: to be your leader.”
“Honestly, no matter how people judge my success, I know that all of it is because of you. You have made me a better person. Before coming to Apple, I had never met or worked with more extraordinary people, and I continue to see examples of that every day.”
“There’s definitely something special about Apple. What I’m most proud of is something that never shows up in an annual report: the strength of our culture here.”
Mr. Cook has long talked about his thoughts on taking over the business, and in this message, he touched on his expectations for his successor, Mr. Ternus, and reportedly wrote, “I feel extremely relieved to be able to entrust the company to John Ternus.”
The Cook era, when the market capitalization increased approximately 10 times in 15 years and invested deeply in the Japanese market.
When Cook took over as CEO in August 2011, Apple’s market capitalization was approximately $350 billion. Subsequently, in 2018, it became the first listed company in the United States to exceed $1 trillion, and has now grown approximately 10 times to over $3 trillion. During his tenure, he successfully launched new categories of products such as the Apple Watch and AirPods, and developed service businesses such as the App Store and iCloud into second pillars.
Japanese users are also familiar with the benefits of the Cook era. For the 2016 iPhone 7, we decided to support FeliCa for the Japanese market, and Suica can now be used with Apple Pay. Over the past 15 years, Apple has continued to treat Japan as an important market, with the company expanding its directly managed stores in places like Kyoto and Marunouchi, and Mr. Cook himself frequently visiting Japan.
New CEO Mr. Ternus grew up in the hardware field, and iPhone announcement will be his first big stage
Ternus is a native engineer who joined Apple in 2001, overseeing the development of hardware such as iPads, Macs, and AirPods, and has been serving as senior vice president of hardware engineering since 2021. He is also known as one of the key players in transitioning the Mac to Apple Silicon (M series chips), and has been reported for some time as the most likely candidate to succeed him.
The impact of the system change on products and services has not been announced at this time, and it is expected that there will be no immediate changes to product deployment or prices in Japan. The announcement event for the new iPhone, which is usually held in September, is expected to be the first big stage for the new Ternus system, and the world will be watching to see how the new CEO, who knows everything about hardware, will lead Apple.
Source: The Verge
Source: iPhone Mania
