THE MACSPARKY DISPATCH

Hi Friend,

Apple announced this week that Tim Cook is stepping down as CEO. John Ternus takes over September 1. I want to tell you why I'm happy about it, and why I'm trying to keep my expectations honest.

A few weeks ago I wrote a newsletter called "The Paint at 7 AM." The point was that companies look like the people running them. When Walt Disney showed up at Disneyland on Saturdays to drive the trains, Disneyland got the attention it deserved. When Steve Jobs read his team the riot act over MobileMe, Apple learned what online services were supposed to feel like. The CEO is either a person who loves the product or a person who loves the business, and you can usually tell which one within five minutes of any keynote.

Tim Cook loved the business. That isn't a slight. He built the supply chain that made the iPhone possible at the scale it reached. He brought us AirPods, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. He grew Services into a real business and ran the company with a steady hand for fifteen years. Apple is in better shape because he ran it.

But Cook was also sometimes invisible on stage. You could tell which products lit him up and which ones he was reading off the cue card. The HomePod got the cue-card treatment for years. Big chunks of the iPad lineup got it too. The product half of the keynote always felt like it belonged to somebody else.

John Ternus is somebody else. He has been at Apple since 2001, running hardware engineering for the iPad and the Mac through the entire Apple silicon transition. When he steps on stage and talks about how an enclosure comes together, he sounds like a person who made the thing. He probably had a hand in it. Naming Johny Srouji as Chief Hardware Officer at the same time tells you the rest. This is a hardware-first transition from a hardware-first company.

That's the part I'm happy about. My interest in Apple has always been as a customer, not a shareholder. I buy the things and use them. That's my stake in all of this. A CEO who thinks about products the way I think about products seems like good news for people like me.

The cautious part is that Apple is too big to turn quickly. Ternus is going to spend his first year learning levers Cook has had his hands on for decades. Services is now a big part of Apple's profit.

A hardware engineer running a hundred-billion-dollar services business is going to be tested in ways nobody can predict. The Siri saga is a reminder that Apple has problems that won't get solved by a CEO who happens to like making iPads.

Even so, the things I'll be watching are product things. Which Macs get greenlit and which ones quietly get killed. Whether the keynotes start sounding like the early years again, where you got the sense the people on stage actually used the things they were holding.

My bet is that the keynotes get more product-forward. The quiet pruning of half-committed products picks up speed. And a few years in, we find out whether a hardware engineer can also run a services business.

I could be completely wrong about this. Tim Cook had skeptics in 2011 too, and he ran circles around all of them. But the CEO who actually cares about what the company makes is the CEO who builds great products. Ternus feels like that pick.

Your pal,
David
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SoundSource 6: Your Mac's Audio Command Center

This week's newsletter is sponsored by SoundSource 6, from Rogue Amoeba.

My friends at Rogue Amoeba have been making exceptional audio software for the Mac for over 20 years. If audio is any part of how you work — streaming music, taking calls, managing multiple devices — there's a good bet they have a tool to help you.

Their app SoundSource puts insanely useful audio controls right in your menu bar. Get instant per-app volume control, route audio to any output device, and even apply effects to any app's audio — all without digging into System Settings.

The new SoundSource 6 adds supercharged AirPlay support for HomePods and Apple TVs, Output Groups to send audio to multiple devices at once, and Quick Configs to save and switch your entire audio setup with a single click.

All of Rogue Amoeba's apps offer fully functional free trials, so you can take them for a spin before spending anything. And as a MacSparky reader, use coupon code SPARKYNEWS0426 at their online store to save 20% on any purchase through the month of May.

My thanks to Rogue Amoeba for supporting MacSparky.