Amid ongoing speculation that Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus is the frontrunner to succeed CEO Tim Cook when the longtime leader eventually steps aside, the executive offered a grounded response during a recent interview following the company’s MacBook Neo announcement.
Kelly McCarthy for ABC News:
John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, sat down with ABC News’ Elizabeth Schulze for an exclusive interview after the new product reveal to discuss the tech specs, including built-in AI features, as well the future of the company.
“We saw an opportunity here to really just reach a lot more people than we ever have before,” Ternus said. “[The MacBook Neo is] solid, it’s reliable, it’s durable, it’s all the things you want a Mac to be. And yeah, that’s an amazing price point.”
While some consumers have wondered what took Apple so long to bring a less expensive product to the market, Ternus said the company “didn’t want to do it until we could do it really, really well and build a Mac that we were proud of.”
“That’s why the bar is high,” he added.
Thinking ahead about his future with the company, Ternus addressed speculation about Apple CEO Tim Cook choosing him as his successor when he eventually decides to step aside.
“Well, the good news is, I love the job I have,” Ternus started. “I get to work with the most amazing people in the world, and on days like today when we’ve announced all these products, it is the best place to be.”
MacDailyNews Take: It’s a graceful non-answer, textbook corporate/executive communication: Stay positive, stay on-brand, avoid fueling speculation, but never close the door nor create expectations. Ternus’ artfully sidestep keeps the door cracked open for future possibilities while politely refusing to walk through it today.
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Why not Lisa Jackson? She is perfect, though better stock up the canteen.
Tier 1:
Tim Cook
Craig Federighi
Tier 2:
Scott Forestall
Tier 3:
Greg Joswiak
Phill Schiller
Tier 4:
Lisa Jackson
Elon Musk
Sabih Khan
John Ternus
Eddy Cue
Tier 5:
Jony Ive
Agreed. Graceful, non-answer. Do we all think he’s the best guy for the gig?
I’ll be curious to see how the Neo compares in performance to its nearest sibling,* the MBAir, which I love so much. And not just “in a lab,” but in the wild, with real-world, ordinary tasks. There’ll be RAM constraints, of course, but it’s not a terrible idea to put a light-weight chip in and see if the lower end of the market that Apple has mostly avoided gets interested.
Overall, I don’t really think they had enough for a 3-day event.
Buy the rumor, sell the news, I guess.
*Well, I guess I shoulda said iPhone 16pro…