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John Ternus could borrow from Microsoft's playbook to reinvigorate Apple
Microsoft recently announced something rather interesting – a voluntary employee buyout. In short, if your age and tenure at the company add up to 70 or greater, you’re able to voluntarily leave the company, retire early, and receive a (likely) hefty payout. It’s a less hostile form of layoffs, and while I don’t think Apple would implement it for the same reasons as Microsoft, I think it could serve a unique purpose for transforming the company. Why Apple should do it In all likelihood, Microsoft’s buyout is purely a means for reducing headcount without having to look too bad. During covid, essentially every tech company rushed to hire loads of people because of the growth in the tech sector. Then, that growth slowed down, and we’ve now been in this post layoff environment for the past 3-4 years. Apple largely avoided over-hiring, and they’ve for the most part avoided mass layoffs. Now, the flip side of that equation is the fact that Apple has been hiring extremely slowly – because they don’t want to over-hire. This means that in recent years, Apple has been slow to bring on fresh talent, while having tons of senior talent who aren’t always enthusiastic per se. Those employees aren’t leaving because they aren’t at retirement age – and they’re still reliant on their Apple stock compensation grants, so they stay at the company doing the bare minimum. This is known as resting and vesting. The ‘rest and vest’ problem Big tech employees do get paid hefty salaries, but they also receive stock grants that vest over a period of time, typically 4 years. You’ll also get additional grants over time depending on performance, which makes it a continual cycle of having to stay at the company to receive your full compensation. It’s a great system for aligning employees with the growth of the company, and also making sure you retain your talent. The issue with this is that once you’re senior enough, you often get to a point where you can coast and get away with it. You could argue that people don’t have to work as hard once they’ve been at the company for 5-10+ years, but when you’re not hiring as much new talent, it creates a problem where things don’t necessarily get done in the manner that they should. That’s incredibly visible in Apple’s software quality. You could also argue that Apple should just open up its wallet more and hire more people without having to think about its current senior talent. That’s definitely a very valid argument, but given the CEO ch...
John Ternus' challenges as new Apple boss - AI, Trump and product ... - BBC
How will Apple change under 'product guy' John Ternus?5 days agoZoe KleinmanTechnology editorGetty ImagesApple will have been planning this succession for a long time.Rumours were circulating for a while that 65-year-old Tim Cook was thinking about stepping down, and while a few potential replacements popped up, the name which stuck was the firm's vice president of hardware, 51-year-old John Ternus.I had an informal meeting with him in the UK recently and I asked him then whether he really was heir apparent to the Apple throne.He laughed and very smoothly gave me what's known in the newsroom as a "politician's answer" - that is, he didn't actually answer the question at all. Instead, he enthused about Tim Cook's leadership. But there was no other obvious reason why I was suddenly invited to have coffee with him at that moment, some 25 years after he joined the firm.I found Ternus polite, friendly, and everything he told me was perfectly delivered, if a bit bland. I wish I could tell you I got some good gossip, but there wasn't a single unguarded moment. Apple is frustratingly good at curating to the letter what it chooses to say, even in private.He may have been able to bat off my questions, but Apple - despite its colossal success - faces some serious challenges.How Ternus responds to them will go a long way to deciding the tech giant's future.Hardware focusYou could say Apple has chosen a replacement for Cook in his own mould: calm, steady, reliable. While co-founder Steve Jobs was legendary for being brilliant, but also difficult to work with and prone to tantrums, it's hard to imagine either Tim Cook or John Ternus really kicking off. Neither are the kind of fiery characters which currently dominate US public life.Between them, Cook and Jobs ran the show for around 30 of Apple's 50-year history.And, despite telling me a few years ago that there was "no good excuse" for the lack of women in the tech sector, Apple - like many big tech firms - is yet to appoint a woman in charge. Tim Cook with BBC Technology Editor Zoe Kleinman in 2022John Ternus is affectionately described as "a product guy". He told me he likes to be hands-on with the development teams.Tim Cook was originally known as "the operations guy" but he also has a very keen interest in hardware.The first time I met him, he was fascinated by my rather vintage BBC-issued audio recorder, turning it over and over in his hands and admiring the buttons and dials (which I was rather hoping he wouldn't...
Apple under Ternus: what comes next for the tech giant's hardware strategy
John Ternus, Apple's incoming CEO, is a hardware guy, signaling Apple may be putting devices back at the center of its strategy.
The Tech Download: How Apple's new chief could shake things up - CNBC
I would be surprised if Ternus comes in and changes international strategy, because the supply chain is both one of Apple's core strengths and one of the most difficult things for the company to ...
