Tim Cook不当苹果CEO了：十五年的时代结束

Tim Cook is resigning from the CEO position.

This news shocked the whole world.

Because Tim Cook has been Apple's CEO for fifteen years.

From 2011 until now.

He took over from Steve Jobs.

Jobs was Apple's founder.

He passed away in 2011.

At that time many people were worried.

Without Jobs, could Apple still do well?

Tim Cook proved the answer is yes.

Under his leadership Apple became a four trillion dollar company.

Revenue quadrupled.

But yesterday he said he's leaving.

Not leaving immediately.

Officially stepping down September first this year.

He will become Apple's executive chairman.

Executive chairman means still at the company.

But not responsible for daily operations.

No longer the top manager.

So who will be the new CEO?

A person called John Ternus.

He is fifty-one years old this year.

He joined Apple in 2001.

Has been at Apple for twenty-five years already.

He is the head of Apple's hardware engineering.

What is hardware?

It's products you can touch.

iPhone is hardware.

iPad is hardware.

Mac is hardware.

AirPods are hardware.

Apple Watch is hardware.

All of these things were made by Ternus's team.

He is the person behind all of Apple's physical products.

Apple's board of directors unanimously approved this decision.

Unanimous means everyone agreed.

They said this was "a thoughtful long-term succession plan."

Tim Cook wrote a farewell letter.

In the letter he said something very touching.

He said for fifteen years he read user emails every morning.

Someone wrote that Apple Watch detected a heart irregularity.

Saved his life.

Someone wrote that iPhone helped him take the most beautiful photo on a mountain top.

These emails made him feel his work was meaningful.

What big things did Tim Cook do in his fifteen years?

First he let Apple design its own chips.

Before, Apple used other people's chips.

Now Apple uses its own M-series and A-series chips.

This made Apple products faster and more energy efficient.

Second he built Apple's services business.

Apple Pay, Apple TV, Apple News, iCloud.

These services earn Apple tens of billions each year.

Third he maintained Apple's global supply chain.

Especially working with factories in China.

Making sure billions of devices get to consumers on time each year.

Fourth he was the first openly gay Fortune 500 CEO.

In 2014 he publicly said he was gay.

This was very brave at the time.

Now new CEO John Ternus is a hardware engineer.

Some analysts say this means Apple will focus more on hardware next.

There might be more new products.

Maybe new types of devices.

Maybe the next generation of Vision Pro.

Maybe things we can't even imagine yet.

But some analysts also point out challenges.

Apple's dependence on Chinese manufacturing is a long-term problem.

This can't be solved in one or two years.

It needs decades to gradually shift.

Ternus as new CEO has to face this challenge.

Regardless.

One era has ended.

Tim Cook's Apple era.

A new era has begun.

John Ternus's Apple era.

From Jobs to Cook to Ternus.

Apple has now gone through three generations of leaders.

Each generation is different.

Each generation made Apple bigger.

What will Apple look like in the next fifteen years?

We'll wait and see.

No matter what happens.

Apple is already a company that changed the world.

And Tim Cook is the person who made it as big as it is today.

Thank you Tim Cook.

Wishing you all the best in your new role.