John Ternus to become Apple CEO • Hacker News Board

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#111

Post by FireBeyond » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

thereitgoes456 wrote: post #70

Tyrubias wrote: post #23

Tim Cook’s experience in logistics built Apple into the global hegemon it is today. I hope John Ternus’s experience with hardware can kick off a renaissance in both Apple hardware and software design. Mind you, Apple hardware is already amazing, but hopefully it can be even better with Ternus at the helm. Apple software is terrible, and hopefully Ternus can turn that around. I’m also hoping, without any evidence, tha…

I admire how Tim Cook participates in US politics. He is doing the most while giving the least. I would do the same in his position, he is making the best of a difficult situation, and it is his duty to protect his company and employees. Giving a golden statue of Trump has no effect on you and me, and a very large effect on Trump. He is gaining significant political capital while giving up nothing that matters (feel…

> Giving a golden statue of Trump has no effect on you and me, and a very large effect on Trump. He is gaining significant political capital while giving up nothing that matters (feel free to correct if I am wrong).

He personally donated at least a million dollars to Trump's inauguration, plus whatever to the campaign.

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#112

Post by Austin_Conlon » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

Wonder to what extent Craig Federighi was considered and what the decision-making factors were there.

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#113

Post by nicoburns » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

legitster wrote: post #78

Fr0styMatt88 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious as an outsider what you mean with US politics? Seems like Apple has a pretty strong stance when it comes to things like privacy that pushes back on some things (that could be smoke and mirrors though I guess).

The privacy is more of a market position thing than it is a political thing. Apple has led the industry on hardware but is woefully behind on the software and services front. Focusing on device-level privacy controls turns what would be a gap into a moat, and it helps deprive Google and other services from monetizing their customer base. Not to say that it's not something the company is passionate about - but it's al…

> The privacy is more of a market position thing than it is a political thing.

It is a market position, but companies do have some choice in which market positions they choose to take. And I wouldn't underestimate the effect of the personal views of the CEO in that.

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#114

Post by toephu2 » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

hei-lima wrote: post #77

Tyrubias wrote: post #23

Tim Cook’s experience in logistics built Apple into the global hegemon it is today. I hope John Ternus’s experience with hardware can kick off a renaissance in both Apple hardware and software design. Mind you, Apple hardware is already amazing, but hopefully it can be even better with Ternus at the helm. Apple software is terrible, and hopefully Ternus can turn that around. I’m also hoping, without any evidence, tha…

Apple’s software is the best in the non-free software world compared to Google's or Microsoft's, IMO. But that doesn't mean it can't be better.

Google is much better at software than Apple...most in the Valley would agree with this.

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#115

Post by owenwil » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

doctoboggan wrote: post #51

I know the rumors were swirling for the past few months, but just 4 more months of Cook seems like pretty short notice, no?

4 months in his _current_ role, but he’s not going anywhere—he’s remaining on as Chairman, which is still very much involved day-to-day.

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#116

Post by this_user » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

hei-lima wrote: post #77

Tyrubias wrote: post #23

Tim Cook’s experience in logistics built Apple into the global hegemon it is today. I hope John Ternus’s experience with hardware can kick off a renaissance in both Apple hardware and software design. Mind you, Apple hardware is already amazing, but hopefully it can be even better with Ternus at the helm. Apple software is terrible, and hopefully Ternus can turn that around. I’m also hoping, without any evidence, tha…

Apple’s software is the best in the non-free software world compared to Google's or Microsoft's, IMO. But that doesn't mean it can't be better.

Their legendary "goto fail" debacle as well as the ease with which ios has repeatedly been jailbroken would disagree. I think geohot once quipped: "My lawyer could write a better malloc."

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#117

Post by pier25 » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

John Ternus really did turn the Mac around. The last 5 or so years of the Intel era were a disaster. Hopefully he will be able to turn things around with software too.

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#118

Post by nottorp » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

Tyrubias wrote: post #23

Tim Cook’s experience in logistics built Apple into the global hegemon it is today. I hope John Ternus’s experience with hardware can kick off a renaissance in both Apple hardware and software design. Mind you, Apple hardware is already amazing, but hopefully it can be even better with Ternus at the helm. Apple software is terrible, and hopefully Ternus can turn that around. I’m also hoping, without any evidence, tha…

> Apple software is terrible

I killed a Finder process that was at 1.2 G ram consumed today...

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#119

Post by shrubble » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

smeeth wrote: post #22

I'm quite curious what Tim Cook's legacy will end up being. There is no question many of Apple's business experienced significant, impressive growth during his tenure. Amazing capital efficiency. There is also no question Apple lost product velocity. Few new products were launched, and those that were had mixed success. Tim was, at the end of the day, an elite financial operator. Apple shareholders were lucky to have…

What did they shut down? Aperture comes to mind, anything else?

Re: John Ternus to become Apple CEO

#120

Post by cogman10 » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

foobiekr wrote: post #16

oofbaroomf wrote: post #6

Wow. Hopefully, Ternus will bring what he brought to Apple's hardware to their software. The hardware is leaps and bounds ahead of anything else, but their software gets worse and worse every generation. I'm glad to hear this.

Hardware people, in my very direct experience, are terrible at software. But we can hope.

Well, and aspect of hardware dev that lacks in software dev is testing. A mistake in hardware is much harder to correct once it leaves the factory vs a mistake in software. A large portion of hardware budget is ultimately spent on QA.

I have to think some of that attitude would be good for apple's software division.

It's not as if ternus will be writing code directly, he's managing managers. Hopefully that means he'll demand and budget more for QA.