During Apple’s latest earnings call, outgoing CEO Tim Cook shared the key advice he gave to John Ternus, who will step into the role of Apple CEO on September 1st. The message is simple yet powerful: stay laser-focused on the company’s users and never lose sight of what truly matters.
When an ailing Steve Jobs handed the reins to Cook, he offered this liberating guidance: “Don’t ask what I would do. Just do the right thing.” Cook has often credited that advice with removing a massive burden and guiding him through 15 years at the helm.
Now, it’s Cook’s turn to impart wisdom. When asked what he told his successor, Cook emphasized strategic focus and unwavering principles.
Cook’s Core Advice to Ternus
“What I told him is that one of the most important decisions he’ll make is where to spend his time, and I would spend it where the greatest benefit to the company and the users are,” Cook explained.
In his opening remarks on Thursday’s conference call, Cook said, “As always, we remain in relentless pursuit of even more powerful innovations guided by our North Star, our users. As we celebrated 50 years of Apple, we are even more excited and more optimistic about the next 50 years and beyond.”
He went on to stress the importance of Apple’s guiding “North Star” — its customers: “Never forget the North Star for the company… We’re about making the best products in the world that really enrich other people’s lives. And if you keep focusing on that and make your decisions around that, it will produce a great business, and we’ll be able to build more products and do it all over again.”
This customer-centric philosophy has defined Cook’s tenure and delivered extraordinary results, including Apple’s most recent record-breaking quarterly earnings. It’s advice that resonates deeply with anyone who relies on Macs, iPhones, iPads, and the broader Apple ecosystem — reassurance that the company’s future leadership will prioritize products that genuinely improve lives over short-term gains.
Ternus, who joined the call, expressed excitement about Apple’s pipeline, describing upcoming products as “incredible” while maintaining the company’s signature discretion on details. His commitment to fiscal discipline alongside innovation suggests a smooth continuation of Apple’s winning formula.
MacDailyNews Take: As Apple enters this new chapter, Cook’s advice, taken straight from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, serves as a reminder that Apple’s enduring success stems not from chasing trends, but from obsessing over the people who use its devices every day.
Jobs’ philosophy: The customer isn’t just important, they are the starting point.
“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to sell it.” – Steve Jobs
“Our DNA is as a consumer company — for that individual customer who’s voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That’s who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it’s not up to par, it’s our fault, plain and simply.” – Steve Jobs
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Nevertheless, Steve Jobs also (famously) said, “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
Steve Jobs built the strongest possible vision.
Tim Cook built the strongest possible foundation.
My advice to John Ternus:
Drive it like you stole it.
“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to sell it.” – Steve Jobs…
Looks like Tim bricked on this regarding Vision Pro. Looks like Tim bricked on this with no clue what to do about cars, and why they wanted to do that in the first place?… Wow…
Vision Pro, was skunkworks level “what can we do to push the envelope” tech, but what problem was it solving? What was it delivering? What was its purpose. They threw it out there enamored with the tech, no killer app or apps, and nary a brush for bid devs to get onboard. Rather, it was tossed out there like the Apple Watch to see where it would go…
But for $3,499 it would go nowhere of course. It was a complete reveal at how out-of-touch the entire management structure in Apple had become with the average person, with an average salary, average jobs, and average disposable income abilities. Completely so.
I believe the only reason iPhones exist in the price points they do, is due to the competitive landscape, thank goodness. If not, I don’t think Apple would have any clue how to price iPhones being clueless of how expensive they are right now as it is, and how costly it is for the average person to purchase or even monthly plan it.
This leads me to wonder if Apple is going to again screw the pooch on the foldable iPhone “Ultra” as it’s rumored. Likely so.
Steve Jobs wanted iPads for the world. So he did the volumes and bet the farm on the price at $499, and it would all work. It was risk. But it was thinking big.
With the iPhone Ultra, does anyone think Apple’s Ternus or anyone else in the upper echelon’s at Apple will think big like Jobs and shock the market with a $1,499 entry price point, leaving competition in a total scramble, and putting Apple in a position where it’s selling up to 20m it’s first year, scrambling to keep up with demand?
Nothing new about a foldable phone, but Apple could purple cow the industry and be a massive disruptor much like the iPad. Even today, as a result of Jobs’ move the iPad is the mass market dominator of tablets. Apple could do the same with a foldable phone but will likely no longer follow the idea to be THE dominant player and own market spaces, but just be another me-too, but with an Apple logo on it…
My guess is it will start at least at $1,999 – $2,299 and it will be a very rare rich person toy sale.
Too bad… too bad.
I don’t think that’s fair.
The original Mac was $7000 in today’s money.
A top-of-the-line iPhone is $1500 today.
$3500 for an entirely new platform — plucked from the future, with practical uses today and as a dev kit for the killer app, seemed reasonable.
MDN is right: they should have launched it as a dev kit and for ultra early adopter prosumers only. The product only “under performed” (perception) because it looked like it was positioned for a more mainstream market that doesn’t exist yet.
This tech will change the world. It just needs lots of smart tech people playing with it, and teams of creative professionals investing in it.
We will all be using this tech in 5-10 years.
Except when those minions don’t like one of your political positions and then just exclaim;
“Go find another stock.”
Also, remember; “China is above all.”
For others, friction is about counting money.
For Apple it is about when devices’ use does not come to the best way imagined.
I WAS SHOCKED THAT IPHONE 17 HAS A USER SATISFACTION RATING OF 99%. he was right that such eatings are unheard of.