“I love Apple, and I consider it a lifetime privilege to work here for almost 14 years, and I’m very excited about this new role.” That’s right Tim Cook opened the iPhone 4S event in October 2011, his first product was launched as Apple CEO.
Fifteen years later, we’re on the verge of another historic Apple event for one of the world’s most prominent and important corporate executives. The Global Engineers Conference will be Cook’s last before he hands over the reins to incoming CEO John Ternus in September, likely earlier that month. iPhone event.
There isn’t really a playbook for changing leadership at the company, as Cook took over from Steve Jobs as his battle with pancreatic cancer took a turn for the worse. That makes this time an uncharted territory.
WWDC, Apple’s annual software developer conference, has hosted many exciting product launches over the years, from the first iOS to Apple Silicon to Apple Intelligence. It’s time to say hello, rather than goodbye — but this one will be different. As Cook takes the stage, he will cap one of the most successful periods in Apple’s history — one that saw it become a multibillion-dollar company, several times over.
“WWDC 2026 is more important than a typical engineering conference,” said Paolo Pescatore, PP Foresight analyst. “Since this is Tim Cook’s last WWDC as CEO of Apple, it is a symbolic time to give as a software show.”
It is not clear whether Ternus will take the stage WWDC or delay his public appearance as CEO until the rumored iPhone event in September. Ternus has a background in hardware rather than software, so WWDC is not his natural place, although he presented Apple Silicon at a virtual event during the COVID-19 pandemic. That doesn’t mean he won’t appear on stage with Cook for a public baton pass.
New Apple CEO John Ternus has appeared at WWDC before, though his expertise is in hardware.
Ternus comes at an important time for the company, said Ben Wood, senior analyst at CCS Insight. “If rumors are to be believed, there are a number of new products that will be announced in the next 12 months, which will give him the opportunity to start his position with a bang.
As for what references Cook will make in his departure, he may downplay their importance rather than seek to draw his final bow. “My expectation is that he will seek as little controversy as possible, but he will focus on some of the major initiatives that Apple has achieved under his administration,” Wood said.
He also wouldn’t want to focus too much on WWDC announcements, which will include updates to Apple’s operating systems, including iOS, macOS, WatchOS and iPadOS, but will also include expectations. Siri development.
Getting Siri on the phone
In many ways, Siri is the driving force behind Cook’s leadership.
Apple introduced the voice assistant in October 2011, just a few months into Cook’s tenure as CEO. Its arrival created skepticism, and the technology has failed in people’s imaginations with a sci-fi-informed digital personal assistant. Despite the initial hype, Siri didn’t work that well. That was three years before Amazon released Alexa, and Apple didn’t participate.
In part, this was due to Apple prioritizing the privacy and security of Siri, which limits the assistant’s features compared to Alexa. But what was also missing from Siri then, and since then, is the kind of thinking and language skills that only artificial intelligence and the development of big language models a decade later can provide.
Therefore, it was seen, when Apple announced Apple Intelligence and its integration with Siri at WWDC 2024, that the voice assistant was about to fulfill its true promise. But nearly two years later, following delay after delay, the revamped Siri still hasn’t seen the light of day. Last month, Apple agreed to pay $250 million to settle multiple lawsuits alleging it misled people about the iPhone’s capabilities.
Improved Siri suffers from lag.
All signs point to this WWDC as the Siri moment we’ve been waiting for all these years. If anything, Cook’s retirement almost guarantees it.
Siri is his baby (even if it was Jobs who got the technology in the first place), and Cook doesn’t seem like the type to leave a project in the final moments before its completion. It would be a total surprise if he didn’t see it right. It will be an important part of many upcoming products that the company is rumored to have, such as AirPods with cameras or an iPad that is a robot for your home.
Instead, it looks like he’ll send an improved Siri out into the world to live a better life as a fully conscious AI assistant and then quietly retire to live his best outdoor life, full of books and very little phone time.
It will be interesting to see how the closing of this chapter will play out on stage. The CNET staff will be in person at the event live from Apple Park, so be sure to follow all of our WWDC news on Monday.