Mark Gurman takes Bloomberg Businessweek Daily through his Big Take on Apple's leadership change, on the day before John Ternus formally takes over as chief executive. Tim Stenovec and Kristine Aquino ask him what Tim Cook will still be doing inside the company, what is in the product pipeline, and how a hardware engineer runs a company whose hardest problem is software.
👤 Guest: Mark Gurman, managing editor for global consumer tech at Bloomberg News and the author of the day's Big Take on the Apple handover
🎙️ Hosts: Tim Stenovec and Kristine Aquino, anchors on Bloomberg Radio
📰 Published: 31 August 2026
🔴 YouTube | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Episode page | ⏱️ 41 min
Key Takeaways
The handover is Jassy and Bezos, not Chapek and Iger — the predecessor stays
"I think it'll be more of an Andy Jassy, Jeff Bezos type of situation, right?"
Gurman expects Cook in executive meetings and on a standing one-on-one with Ternus
Cook's exit horizon is political rather than corporate
"And I expect Tim Cook to be there in a really intimate way likely through 2029 or through 2028 into 2029 when Trump's tenure ends."
Cook's advantage was that nobody could ask what Steve Jobs would do; Ternus loses it
"John Ternus is not going to get that because Tim Cook is going to still be around."
The offsetting benefit is that Ternus has a predecessor to lean on and Cook did not
Apple's services line alone is now bigger than the whole company Cook inherited
"That business was bigger, that business now is bigger than Apple was in its entirety when Tim Cook took over at the end of 2011."
The visual message to investors is continuity, down to the clothes
At the Ted Lasso season four premiere the two men wore the same outfit — "I mean, the message to investors is really like, okay, perhaps this is Tim Cook 2.0."
The product wave is wearables and the home, and it runs eighteen months to two years
A foldable iPhone, a smart home hub with facial recognition, a display on a robotic arm, AirPods with cameras, smart glasses, and a pendant worn as a necklace or clipped to a shirt
Apple has no standalone AI product anyone will pay for, so AI goes inside the hardware
"They have not shown an ability to roll out AI products that you're going to be willing to pay for on a standalone basis, like people pay for Claude or ChatGPT."
Siri is the eventual paid product, partly through a cut of third-party apps
Advanced plans, plus a cut of "third-party app integrations"
Cook keeps the governments, the board, and a bodyguard who has to be able to hike
The job ad asks for someone able to hike "several miles at a time in austere environments"
Cook Is Staying, Which Is the Whole Difference Between This Handover and the Last One
Stenovec opened on whether the new chief executive will be an extension of the old one, and offered two precedents: Bob Chapek and Bob Iger, or Andy Jassy and Jeff Bezos.
Gurman took the second one. "I think it'll be more of an Andy Jassy, Jeff Bezos type of situation, right?"
"He's there to do the so-called dirty work on the government relations side while Ternus is running and setting the agenda for the company on a day-to-day basis."
Cook will sit in executive meetings, go through Apple's numbers and work on "trying to fix the memory shortage", Gurman said, and act as an adviser to Ternus, the executive team and the wider company
He expects the relationship to be formalized on the calendar — a standing one-on-one, "maybe something, once a month, once a week" — with the transition running for several months
The end date he gave is a political one. "And I expect Tim Cook to be there in a really intimate way likely through 2029 or through 2028 into 2029 when Trump's tenure ends."
The Blessing Cook Had Was That Nobody Could Ask What Jobs Would Do
Aquino put it to Gurman that this is not the Jobs-to-Cook handover: there was continuity in the executive ranks then and much less now, and Ternus will have to fill a number of senior roles over the next three years. She asked what Cook's continued presence does for that.
Gurman agreed, and said Cook's position in 2011 was a blessing and a curse at once.
The blessing was the absence of the founder. "The blessing was that he was able to chart his own path and set his own agenda without anyone being able to really question what would Steve Jobs do?"
"John Ternus is not going to get that because Tim Cook is going to still be around."
The curse was the same fact. Apple lost the person who set its agenda "in almost a singular way", and Cook had nobody of that stature to lean on. Ternus does
The measure he used for what Cook built is the services line — Apple Music, Apple Pay, Apple TV and the growing App Store
"That business was bigger, that business now is bigger than Apple was in its entirety when Tim Cook took over at the end of 2011."
What is still unknown, he said, is how quickly Ternus reshapes the company in his own image, the way Cook eventually did
Stenovec Put the Cook-Era Numbers on Screen, Then Pointed at the Matching Outfits
The show read the share performance since August 2011 off its own graphic. "The return on shares have been, under Tim Cook, over 2,200%." — Stenovec's figure, not Gurman's
Stenovec said the story framed the same period differently: "You put it a different way in your story. You've said 15x."
On revenue he read out: "This is a company that, under Tim Cook, quadrupled in global revenue. I mean, up to more than $400 billion per year. Just over half of that is the iPhone."
The photograph in the piece carried the succession argument on its own. Stenovec pointed to a photograph Gurman put in the piece: "At the Ted Lasso season four premiere or whatever a few weeks ago, these two guys are wearing the exact same thing."
"I mean, the message to investors is really like, okay, perhaps this is Tim Cook 2.0."
The Pipeline: a Foldable iPhone, a Screen on a Robotic Arm, and a Pendant You Clip to Your Shirt
Stenovec asked what is on the docket for new products, given that his piece argues there is room for serious improvement in Apple's devices.
Gurman answered with a list rather than a theme. "Well, you'll see the foldable iPhone. You'll see the smart home device, that smart home hub, facial recognition. You walk up to it, it can load up your content."
A tabletop robot is part of it. "You'll see a tabletop robotic version of that. So a version of that, the display can move over your space with a robotic arm."
The rest of the list ran: "You'll see a new Apple TV, a new HomePod mini, a new big HomePod, a touchscreen MacBook Pro, AirPods with cameras, smart glasses with cameras, potentially a pendant that you could wear as a necklace or on your person, on your shirt, as a clip-on"
He put the whole wave inside two years — "So you're going to see a ton over the next year and a half, two years" — and said it is a lot of new AI-related product, in the home and on the body
He ended on his own expenses: "And it's also going to be a very expensive time for me." Stenovec offered a solution — "I feel like you can expense some of these things."
Apple Can't Sell AI on Its Own, So It Will Sell Hardware With AI Inside
Aquino noted that the pipeline is squarely in Ternus's wheelhouse because he is a hardware engineer, while Apple's biggest challenge is AI, which is software. She asked how the one plays into the other.
Gurman's answer was that the business model settles it: Apple is a company that makes money off the hardware.
The comparison he drew is with the AI subscriptions people already buy. "They have not shown an ability to roll out AI products that you're going to be willing to pay for on a standalone basis, like people pay for Claude or ChatGPT."
On how those companies pay for themselves: "Those guys are making the bulk of their money, I believe, on enterprise and bulk purchases and working with businesses on AI distribution." Apple, he said, is not going to do that
So the AI has to be inside the thing customers already pay for. "By making AI at the very core of the hardware and software and services features that people are willing to pay for."
Siri is the exception he expects to be charged for directly. "And I think on top of that, you are going to see them try to monetize Siri AI eventually, whether that's paying for more advanced versions of those plans, also paying for third-party app integrations, taking a slice of revenue from there."
Cook Keeps the Governments and the Board, and Apple Is Hiring a Bodyguard Who Can Hike
Stenovec asked what Cook actually does now — "Is he going to Palm Springs and just hiking with his new bodyguard?"
Gurman said the plate is still full. Cook is itching to fill it with responsibilities and will stay quite involved for at least the next several years
The government work stays with him: meetings at the White House and in Washington with Trump and other officials, the recent Texas event at the Mac Mini facility with Lutnick there, and continued appearances in China and Europe, including dealing with the European Union
A new head of government affairs and a new general counsel are arriving at Apple, and Cook will work closely with them, on top of running the board — "That's not an easy task either."
The kicker in the piece is a job posting. Apple said it was seeking an executive bodyguard who must be able to hike "several miles at a time in austere environments"
Gurman's bottom line is that the Ternus era begins with the previous chief executive still in the building, holding the governments and the board, while the new one tries to make a hardware company into one people will pay for AI.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Apple (The subject of the segment: a handover to John Ternus with a hardware pipeline ready and no standalone AI business)
Claude and ChatGPT (The paid AI products Gurman says Apple has shown no ability to match — "like people pay for Claude or ChatGPT")
Siri (The one AI product he expects Apple to charge for, through advanced plans and a slice of third-party app integrations)
Apple Music, Apple Pay, Apple TV and the App Store (The services expansions behind his stat that services alone are now bigger than all of Apple was at the end of 2011)
HomePod mini, MacBook Pro and AirPods (Named in the pipeline alongside a foldable iPhone, a smart home hub, a robotic-arm display, smart glasses and a clip-on pendant)
Ted Lasso (Its season four premiere is where the photograph of Cook and Ternus in identical outfits was taken)
Books & Resources Mentioned
Mark Gurman's Big Take on the Apple handover (The day's story on the Bloomberg Terminal and Bloomberg.com — Cook's fifteen years, the products Ternus inherits, and the bodyguard job ad at the end)
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