The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, has sent a farewell letter to the entire staff on his last day at the helm of the tech company, in which he thanks the commitment of the employees and expresses his "enormous confidence" in John Ternus, who will take over the position starting September 1.
"I will miss leading you and accompanying you every step of the way, although I am greatly comforted to hand over the reins to someone as brilliant, wonderful, and capable as John. Few people understand what it takes to create world-changing products like John does, and I am extremely excited about his leadership," the statement reads, as reported by 'Bloomberg'.
Cook took the reins of Apple as CEO on August 24, 2011, succeeding founder Steve Jobs and consolidating the expansion of the iPhone, the flagship product of the company, until it reached the pockets of millions of users around the globe.
During his tenure, Apple's market capitalization has skyrocketed more than 13 times, rising from about $348 billion (€320 billion) to nearly $4.54 trillion (€4.17 trillion).
"The truth is that, whatever can be said about my success, I know it is all thanks to you. You have brought out the best in me. In my entire life, I have never seen or worked with such an extraordinary team, and every day I have the opportunity to witness more examples of that," Cook referred to the Apple staff.
The company has established itself as one of the major tech firms of the 21st century, integrated into the group of 'the magnificent 7' and ranked as the second most valuable publicly traded company on the planet, with a market capitalization close to $4.5 trillion (about €3.91 trillion at current exchange rates).
On April 20, Apple officially announced the end of Cook's term, who will leave the executive direction this Tuesday, September 1, to serve as executive chairman. Ternus, chosen as his successor, will face a period marked by the rise of artificial intelligence and increasing geopolitical tensions, including tariffs and trade wars.
"Together we have created something much bigger than any of us could have imagined or achieved alone. And that is the secret of our success. We bring out the best in each other. We support each other. We have made it possible to leave our mark on the universe, as Steve Jobs once described it, thanks to who we are, what we believe, our values, and our vision of the world," Cook has highlighted.
The legacy of Tim Cook at the helm of Apple
Cook's strategy has focused on consolidating the smartphone as the main interface between users and the digital environment. The iPhone has been constantly refined and marketed on a global scale, so Cook's era has been marked by the improvement of products conceived in the era of Steve Jobs —such as the Macs, the iPhone, the iPad, and the App Store— more than by the launch of devices as disruptive as the iPhone itself.
Among the developments that have emerged under his leadership are the Apple Watch and the AirPods, which have strengthened the brand's ecosystem, although without becoming the core of the business, as they are primarily marketed as accessories for the iPhone.
At the same time, Cook has pushed for a strong commitment to globalization, concentrating a large part of production in China and then distributing the devices worldwide. This model has allowed Apple to reduce manufacturing costs and accelerate its international expansion.
This combination of factors has contributed to Apple’s shares being around 310 dollars (285 euros), well above the 11.25 dollars (10.35 euros) they marked in 2011.
In the third fiscal quarter, corresponding to the months of April to June, the tech giant recorded a record net profit of 29.789 billion dollars (26.112 billion euros), 27% more than in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
The challenges facing John Ternus
The new CEO of Apple, until now senior vice president of Hardware Engineering and with 25 years of experience in the company, will have to maintain focus on artificial intelligence, which is transforming the sector at an unprecedented pace.
Since the beginning of the current wave of AI, following the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, Apple's reaction "has been lukewarm" and now "depends on Google's Gemini family," according to The Economist.
In this context, Apple has been perceived as slower than competitors like Microsoft, Google, or Meta in the AI race. Its assistant Siri, which incorporates technology from Google, has not managed to establish itself as a benchmark among artificial intelligence assistants.
In its latest moves, the company has integrated OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT, and the Visual Intelligence tool into Siri, as part of the Apple Intelligence news package, although these functions have raised concerns about data protection and privacy.
With the advancement of AI, Ternus will have to define whether to maintain the current model, in which Apple devices are the main access route to this technology, or if it opts to shake up the market with new products designed to interact differently with artificial intelligence. Meta, for example, has already launched smart glasses with AI, and Apple could explore a similar path that would represent a shift in its product strategy.