In this week’s Sunday Reboot, the sudden top-table rule changes and how John Ternus will be a good Apple CEO, whether he likes it or not.
Sunday Reboot is a weekly column covering some of the lighter stories within the Apple reality distortion field from the past seven days. All to get next week underway with a good first step.
More than one job change
September is always a big month for Apple, but this one is bigger than ever. Not because of the inbound hardware, but because of the people making it.
The key change is at the top of the Apple executive food chain, as the multi-month transition process has almost concluded. John Ternus is now the CEO, taking over from Tim Cook, but that doesn’t mean the process has ended.
Of course, there’s some behind-the-scenes logistics happening, such as Cook moving out of his office and into a new one for the leadership-adjacent position of executive chairman of the board.
Ternus, meanwhile, will be watching some hardware lackeys shifting cardboard boxes full of circuit boards and unused tech from his old office to his new one. It’s a big move too, as he will be among his fellow executives instead of near his beloved hardware teams.
It’s a thing that has to happen, as Ternus takes the mantle. Though inevitably other unintended changes are also underway too.
Apple Fellow Phil Schiller has decided to reduce his workload. He’s switched out of running the App Store for a more relaxed existence within Apple, presumably taking another step to retirement.
Then there’s Luca Maestri, who was the previous CFO but continued managing Corporate Services. Except he’s not doing that anymore and current CFO Kevan Parekh has picked up those duties too.
We know that seismic change can prompt other employment updates, and a new CEO would certainly count as one. But there was no serious expectation of a mass exodus as Ternus took his seat.
There still isn’t that expectation, but it doesn’t stop things like this from happening. We do know that the Schiller change was in the last days of Cook’s management, but Maestri’s decision took place a few weeks ago, long before the CEO switch.
It’s probably safe to say that the two changes are not massively consequential to Apple.
At least, Schiller’s App Store withdrawal could be a bit worrying, until you consider it’s only part of a larger Services division. Maestri’s post-CFO role was also not what you would call critical to Apple’s success, or at least wasn’t as critical as managing a massive segment of the company.
Besides, this CEO transition has been going on for months. Anyone who would’ve seriously objected to Ternus being in control has had ample time to get out of Dodge.
The people who are still leading Apple are going to hang around for quite a while longer.
Ocean liner management
As the opening weeks and months of Ternus control continue, there may be the threat of more managerial shake-ups. But it certainly won’t be from radical moves by the CEO.
You can expect him to make small changes to how the company functions. I say small in a relative fashion, because Apple is a tech giant.
His changes need to be like a captain steering a cruise ship. It takes time to slow down and to adjust course, as rocking the boat of that size would be dangerous.
That is to say, anything he decrees will take a long time to become an actual problem for someone. If a problem does indeed manifest down the road.
Then there’s the corporate culture, since any decision Ternus makes will affect thousands of people. Even though the CEO’s word is effectively gospel, if there are enough people who disagree, there’s always the risk of a mutiny.
Apple CEO John Ternus [left] and previous CEO Tim Cook [right]
There is one more safety barrier in place to prevent Ternus from creating a Titanic-like situation. Cook is still hanging around.
Sure, he’s not going to have much of a say on what products Apple will develop. Nor should you expect him to appear during an Apple event video in the future.
But it’s hard to get away from the thought that Ternus won’t have free rein without Cook’s oversight or advice.
Cook has a wealth of experience as captain of the SS Cupertino, and it would be foolish for Ternus not to listen to anything Cook says.
You’re not going to get any insane company-destroying proclamations coming from Ternus. Anything that he does say will have been discussed and debated to an exhaustive degree to keep it sane and safe.
Ternus is a safe pair of hands. But even if he wasn’t and was hell-bent on hitting an iceberg, Cook would still be a sanity safety net.
Last week’s Sunday Reboot discussed Apple’s early Mac upgrades and John Ternus meeting Pikachu.
This story originally appeared on Appleinsider
