Apple names new chief executive to replace Tim Cook

"He is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future," Cook added.Ternus emerged as a favourite to replace Cook last year, after another long-time executive, chief operating officer Jeff Williams, left the company.During his quarter century at Apple, Ternus has worked on essentially every major product the company has released, including every generation of the iPad, many generations of the iPhone, and the launch of AirPods and the Apple Watch.He also oversaw the transition of Mac computer processors to Apple's own silicon.Ternus also worked under Jobs. In a statement on Monday, he referred to Cook as his "mentor.""I am filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come," Ternus said.'Differentiation'Naming a leader who comes from a product and hardware background may allow Apple to emerge from a constant criticism of Cook's tenure, that it was no longer innovative enough.While Cook oversaw a four-fold increase in Apple's yearly profit, with a massive expansion in products sold around the globe, its product line has remained largely static.Dipanjan Chatterjee, a principle analyst at Forrester, praised the financial stability Cook brought to Apple, but noted he had not given the company a product like the iPhone which would give Ternus another 20 years of success.He said Apple "remains structurally dependent on the phone" as it "searches for its next growth engine".The appointment of Ternus shows Apple is looking for "differentiation" in its products, said Chatterjee, adding that the new leader "must resist the temptation of incrementalism that has plagued Apple of late and escape the iPhone's gravitational pull".Gil Luria, managing director at DA Davidson & Co, said having someone so hardware-focused at the helm now shows Apple is going to put more energy into new products, like foldable phones and wearable devices like eye glasses.The tech giant has also faced criticism for being slow to jump on the soaring demand for artificial intelligence (AI), and has ended up integrating OpenAI's ChatGPT technology in its operating systems.Following Monday's announcement, OpenAI's Sam Altman wrote on X: "Tim Cook is a legend."I am very thankful for everything he has done and I am very thankful for Apple." Getty ImagesTim Cook has led Apple since 2011 when he took over from the late Steve Jobs Cook did not come from a hardware or product background when he joined Apple.Instead, he had spent many years as a business operator at companies like IBM and Compaq. He was a tech executive focused on operations and fulfillment, logistics and sales figures, less so thinking up and launching new technological products.That was what Jobs was best-known and lauded for.One of the most significant product launches during Cook's leadership was the Apple Vision Pro, a virtual and augmented reality headset that did not catch on with buyers.Nevertheless, his skill as an operational executive will see him widely remembered as one of the most successful business leaders.Timothy Hubbard, a professor at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business, said Cook's era of Apple turned it into a company that was "the best at refining, scaling and defending an extraordinarily powerful system"."The real question now is whether that same organisation can pivot toward exploration, where success depends on speed, uncertainty and a greater willingness to experiment," he said.