Apple CEO John Ternus saw something Steve Jobs didn’t, and that makes me optimistic for the iPhone

When Steve Jobs was at Apple, he was reportedly dead set on dominating three industries. Later, Tim Cook had the company working on the relevant products. However, back then, now-CEO John Ternus was against one of these projects, which ultimately got scrapped.

To me, that signals that the new CEO might be even more capable of running Apple than previously expected.

John Ternus was against the Apple Car

Apple spent a decade working on a self-driving car, ultimately canceling the project in 2024. According to industry insider Mark Gurman in his newsletter Power On, John Ternus had been one of the most senior-ranking critics of the project.

Steve Jobs wanted Apple to own three areas of life

Co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs was convinced that Apple needed to own the three areas of life that people spent most of their time in. This was at home, outside home when traveling, and in the car.

The iPhone, obviously, serves as the mobile companion for wherever a person goes and whenever a user is traveling. Apple is still working on its smart home hub, which might come out as early as next month.

The Apple Car, however, was supposed to cover Apple’s absence in the third area which Steve Jobs wanted the company to own. That never came to pass, and Ternus seemed to have seen it coming.

A farsighted CEO like Ternus could do wonders for Apple.

Thinking ahead for the iPhone

If Ternus saw the Apple Car failing, he might be able to make decisions that will propel the iPhone even further in the smartphone world. As a reminder, Ternus was also skeptical about the Apple Vision Pro, which has been a commercial failure.

Given his track record, is it any wonder that he was chosen to replace Tim Cook?

I’m on the fence, personally

Personally, I think that both the Apple Car and the Vision Pro had a future had they been done better. As a strong proponent of XR (Extended Reality), I think that Apple should drastically reduce the price of its headset — by removing unnecessary features like EyeSight — and market it much more heavily for it to sell better.

I would have also loved to see Apple keep going with the car. It’s difficult to tell if both of these products were doomed to fail because of what they are, and that Ternus was able to see it happening, or whether Apple took the wrong approach for both.

More on Apple's new CEO, John Ternus:

• John Ternus is already climbing the popularity ladder
• Apple's first layoffs under John Ternus are here

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