What Tim Cook Built | TechCrunch

After 15 years as Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook will step down in September.

In the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosik, Sean O’Kane, and I discuss Apple’s big announcement. We thought about how Apple has changed since Cook took over from Steve Jobs in 2011, and what challenges incoming CEO John Ternos will face.

“If you look at a certain camp, it’s very much like, ‘John Ternos is a product guy and this is going to be great,’ which is very nostalgic and goes back to Steve Jobs,” Kirsten said. “But I think what people forget is that Tim Cook made another product, which was all about operations.”

Likewise, Sean noted that Cook gave Ternus a “strong start” because “the company’s numbers continue to go up.” But a running start does not guarantee victory: “How much volatility is on the horizon? Are we really looking at a situation?” [with] The disintegration of the global economy, coupled with the rise of artificial intelligence, is changing how business is done?

Keep reading for a preview — edited for length and clarity — of our full conversation.

Anthony: The decisions that Apple makes also trickle down to a host of other companies, because there are all kinds of startups that may not build their entire business on the iOS platform, but certainly a significant portion of their business comes on the iPhone.

Kirsten: I think it’s been really interesting to see different pockets of the tech world respond to whether this is a good or bad move [asking] What are Tim Cook’s successes and what does Apple need now?

If you look at a certain camp, it’s very much like, “John Ternos is a product guy and this is going to be great” and it’s very nostalgic and goes back to Steve Jobs. But I think what people forget is that Tim Cook had made another product, which was all about operations. And there’s been some really interesting coverage, even in books that delve into this. Its operations strategy is an Apple product. It changed entire economies.

The question for me is: What happens when the strategist and the operations person leave? Who fills this void? Because you can make great products, and that’s very important in the Apple world for sure. But you must have an operations strategy. And the world is changing, and it’s not the same as it was when Tim Cook first built this.

Shawn: Not so, but it’s hard to imagine a better start as a new CEO than the company built by Tim Cook.

As much as people complain about the stagnation of some Apple products, the iPhone hasn’t really changed the design in generations, whatever new products you get are kind of specialized and overthinking, like the Vision Pro – for all that, the company’s numbers just kind of keep going up. They bring in a ton of revenue. They earn an incredible amount of money from the service business created by Tim Cook.

They’re, in some ways, building a better brand than they’ve been in a while, even by going out and making content, like winning an Oscar for a movie, there’s a lot going on. And this business seems to be solid, even in turbulent times, so that Ternus doesn’t have to worry about what the first year will look like.

We must say: Tim Cook will resign from his position as CEO in September of this year. He will also be CEO. So I think the idea here is that Tim Cook is not going away and will continue to be your shield against the Trump administration, but also a partner to it. Because he’s certainly proven that he can do that – I think he’s sacrificing what a lot of people would argue are some of Apple’s values ​​in the process, in order to make sure that those relationships are solid enough. Donald Trump even made a post on Truth Social about how Tim Cook kisses his ass all the time, in response to the news.

So the question, with all that said, is: While this is a comfortable start for Ternus, how much volatility is imminent? Are we really looking at the situation? [with] Will the disintegration of the global economy, coupled with the rise of artificial intelligence, change how business is done? Is this something that would really be easy for him to deal with? Who will he put by his side to make sure he can handle it?

Anthony: I think that is the question [is,] Apple seems to have a very sustainable business at the moment, both on the hardware side and increasingly on the service side, but to what extent can it continue to make that business just playing old hits? At what point do you actually need to create a new product category?

I don’t know the exact answer to that. And maybe an iPhone [and] The creation of the smartphone category, in particular, is a once-in-a-generation thing, and you can’t expect it to happen every 10 years or so.

I think there’s also this interesting question about artificial intelligence. This doesn’t seem to be a category where Apple has had much success, and maybe that’s okay. Maybe whatever products are being hacked out there, it’s just software on your iPhone, on your MacBook, and it’s nice that Apple doesn’t have to create all that. [and] Instead of doing these partnerships like you do.

But I don’t think this is guaranteed. I think there’s probably going to be a lot of stress and anxiety about what that future is going to look like.

Kirsten: Very quickly, I would say that Apple also could have the cash available to make some big bets and acquisitions. I’d be really curious to see how John does [Ternus] implements it.

I mean, one of the places where I covered Apple was the special projects team, Project Titan, Apple’s supposed vehicle, and that seems to have died down and a lot of money was spent on that. Will he make any big bets?

You guys were talking about cash on hand, I think it’s going to exceed $45 billion at the end of 2025. So, they have a lot of money to play with. Will he do anything with him in the near term?

Shawn: The other thing I think we should point out is that while we’re talking about Apple being a perpetual business, the App Store has also been crushing it lately. Sarah Perez wrote a really good story this week for us about all the different ways that numbers go up in the App Store – installs, new releases in the App Store, and it’s just a really great look for anyone who wants to dig into some data on one of the biggest kind of software markets in the world.

In a world where everyone talks about how being able to program anything will eliminate the need for distributed software, [the App Store] This is clearly proven wrong.