Tim Cook Steps Down — With Joanna Stern
4/21/202615 min
Joanna Stern is the ex-WSJ senior personal technology columnist and author of I Am Not a Robot. News of Tim Cook stepping down as CEO of Apple broke as Stern and I were recording a forthcoming episode of Big Technology Podcast. In this episode, we discuss Cook's exit, his successor, John Ternus, and his legacy. Tune in for a quick but substantial look at what's next for Apple after Cook's exit. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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First 90 secondsAlex Kantrowitz· Host0:00
Hey, everyone. Uh, well, big breaking news. We're here with Joanna Stern of The New Things and the author of I'm New-- I Am Not a Robot, and I'm gonna break this news to her right here on camera.
Joanna Stern· Guest0:09
Yeah.
Alex Kantrowitz· Host0:10
Joanna, Tim Cook has stepped down as the CEO of Apple, and John Ternus is going to replace him as of September first.
Joanna Stern· Guest0:18
Wow.
Alex Kantrowitz· Host0:19
So- Wow. Joanna had no idea this... This happened as we were recording an episode. That episode will come on Big Technology Podcast pretty soon, but we're just gonna get this out here now, and this will be a bit of an emergency show. So we have- Definitely ... fifteen minutes. Um, what do you think about the significance of the news?
Joanna Stern· Guest0:34
Wow, wow, wow. I'm, like, scared to go look at my phone right now. Um, not s-- I mean, shocking in terms of timing, not shocking in terms of the choice and that it's happening. I think we just kinda thought this was gonna be pushed down the road a little bit. What do you think?
Alex Kantrowitz· Host0:50
Um, the timing I thought was gonna happen this year.
Joanna Stern· Guest0:54
Yeah.
Alex Kantrowitz· Host0:55
Um, it, it obviously puts Apple into this sort of uncharted territory.
Joanna Stern· Guest1:01
Yeah.
Alex Kantrowitz· Host1:01
Um, you could have seen Tim Cook as an extension of Steve Jobs. Uh, Ternus is pretty young, so it's definitely gonna be a brand-new era for Apple. And I also am curious what you think about this. He's the senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.
Joanna Stern· Guest1:15
Yeah.
Alex Kantrowitz· Host1:15
Um, in an age where AI is gonna really factor a lot, um, I'm curious if someone running hardware engineering is the right choice for Apple. What do you think?
Joanna Stern· Guest1:26
[sighs] I mean, it's...