John Ternus has taken over as Apple CEO, concluding a transition process that has run for several months and handing leadership from Tim Cook to the long-serving hardware chief. The change marks the most significant moment of an unusually eventful September for the company, driven less by new products than by the people responsible for making them.
The handover involves considerable behind-the-scenes logistics. Cook is moving out of his office and into a new one to take up the position of executive chairman of the board. Ternus, meanwhile, relocates from his old office near his hardware teams to sit among his fellow executives, a symbolic as well as a practical shift as he assumes the top role.
Further changes across the leadership team
The arrival of a new chief executive has coincided with other movements at the top of the company. Phil Schiller, an Apple Fellow, has decided to reduce his workload, stepping away from running the App Store for a more relaxed remit within the business. That decision came in the final days of Cook’s management.
Separately, Luca Maestri, the former chief financial officer who had continued to manage Corporate Services, is no longer overseeing that area. Current CFO Kevan Parekh has taken on those duties in addition to his existing responsibilities. Maestri’s decision was made a few weeks ago, well before the change of chief executive.
Neither change is regarded as especially consequential for Apple. Schiller’s withdrawal from the App Store forms only part of a wider Services division, while Maestri’s post-CFO role was not central to the company’s performance in the way that managing a major segment would be.
A steady hand at the helm
Despite the significance of a leadership handover, there was no serious expectation of a mass departure of senior staff as Ternus took his seat, and that expectation still holds. Because the transition has been under way for months, anyone likely to object strongly to Ternus taking control has had ample time to leave. The executives still leading Apple are expected to remain in place for some time yet.
The opening weeks and months of the new leadership may bring further managerial adjustments, but these are not expected to stem from radical decisions by the chief executive. Ternus is anticipated to make relatively small changes to how the company functions, mindful that Apple operates at the scale of a technology giant.
Any alterations are likened to a captain steering a cruise ship, where slowing down and adjusting course takes time and sudden movements are avoided. Ternus is now formally in charge, with Cook serving as executive chairman of the board.
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Image: appleinsider.com
