The first time I interviewed John Ternus was a decade ago to discuss the new MacBook. Like the MacBook Neo before it, this tiny, 12-inch, 2-lb laptop was a departure for Apple. It was packed with unusual and innovative design decisions, and John Ternus, who will step in as Apple's CEO in September, was anxious to talk about it.
By then, Ternus had already been at Apple for 15 years and was heading up Mac and iPad hardware. He struck me as smart, affable, and, with some quick wit.
Thinking back to that meeting, and subsequent chats, including our most recent sit-down shortly after Apple unveiled another hardware design stretch — the iPhone Air — I realize that in my quest to understand the kind of Apple CEO Ternus will be, I may already have all the information I need.
There were a handful of exchanges in which Ternus' way of thinking and working, and his view of the company he'll soon helm, were on full display.
The reveals started with that MacBook chat, in which Ternus explained the laptop's then-unique speaker and antenna design. The challenge was to somehow fit excellent speakers and antennas into a really small space.
"We realized we could not create a great antenna and a great speaker because we'd be compromising," Ternus told me in 2015. "Both of those elements need space. Antenna elements are small, but they need cavity; they need space to resonate."
I don't know if this was Ternus's idea, but he fully supported bringing Apple's antenna and speaker teams together to create a new solution.
"We absolutely married them together to make this happen," Ternus explained.
I recall Ternus then somewhat gleefully showing me the unusual configuration as he told me, "We ended up with a group of antenna engineers who know more about speakers than any other antenna engineers and a group of speaker engineers who knew more about antenna design than just about anyone else in the world."
A decade later, Ternus told me and Tom's Guide Global Editor in Chief Mark Spoonauer this: "As we develop new technologies and pieces, we often take inspiration for things across other product lines."
It's clear that the collaborative spirit, one that occasionally throws open the doors between departments and allows the best ideas to flourish and generate new concepts, will continue under Ternus' leadership.
A steady hand
Perhaps Ternus appreciates that collaboration so much because it provides a level of stability he may crave.
"One of the amazing things for me is how stable things stay from first models that we make to the products that we ship,” he told me in 2015.
It's clear from these exchanges that Ternus is probably not prone to wild flights of fancy and does not enjoy harsh left and right turns along the product development path.
The sentiment is echoed somewhat in what Ternus shared with Spoonauer and me last year after the iPhone Air launch: "I think the reality is that the best invention in engineering comes from constraints."
Now, I get that Ternus was referring to the physical constraints present in the ultra-thin iPhone Air, but there is also a hint there that Ternus might like to set up product development frameworks and then work within them to achieve the best results from the design and engineering teams.
What "no" means at Apple
There is, however, evidence of flexibility. In 2015, Ternus explained a particular ethos at Apple revolving around the word "No."
“There’s ‘No’s’ in some way. There’s ‘No’s’ about what we do, but in terms of how we do it — going and making the best product, there really aren’t a lot of ‘No’s.’ That’s one of the great joys of working here. [For] something really compelling, we can afford to make it happen.”
The other thing I picked up from that comment is just how much Ternus loves Apple. According to his LinkedIn profile, it's really only the second place he's ever worked. Maybe even more so than Tim Cook when he took over as CEO in 2011 (after about 14 years with the company), Ternus is a product of Apple.
Discipline, Collaboration, long-term integration, saying no at the right times so you can say yes, all elements that should make John Ternus a particularly product-focused CEO who knows the Apple way and how to get things done.
He may have a blind spot or two when it comes to pure-play business, the supply chain, and geopolitical pressures, but when it comes to the gadgets consumers care about most, they probably couldn't ask for a better replacement for Tim Cook.
