Abstract:
John Ternus, who just took over as CEO of Apple, opened a Weibo account on his first day in office (North American time) and posted his first social post, writing "Hello" and "Hello" in both Chinese and English. Eighteen hours after the account went online and published his first blog post, John Ternus quickly gained a lot of attention. So far, the number of fans has reached 66,000, and he has received 3.2 retweets, more than 7,000 comments, and more than 25,000 likes. A large number of domestic users have left messages to express their welcome to the new Apple CEO.
Yesterday, Apple's official website announced major personnel changes in management. John Ternus officially became Apple's CEO and joined the company's board of directors; Tim Cook stepped down as CEO and became Apple's executive chairman, completing the management handover.
According to Apple’s official introduction, John Ternus is a veteran Apple employee with more than 20 years of experience. He joined Apple’s product design team in 2001. In 2013, he was promoted to vice president of hardware engineering department. In 2021, he joined Apple's core executive circle and became senior vice president of hardware engineering. During his tenure, he deeply led the hardware research and development of many blockbuster products, participated in the launch of iPad and AirPods product lines, and managed multiple generations of hardware iterations of iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch. He was the core figure of Apple's hardware system. In addition to consumer product iterations, Ternus has long led technology projects related to product reliability and durability to improve Apple's overall machine loss resistance.
This launch of Weibo is also Ternus’ first public social statement for the Chinese market. Prior to this, Apple’s former CEO Tim Cook had already opened a personal Weibo account and had been active on the Weibo platform for a long time.
In the opinion of industry insiders, John Ternus opened a Weibo account on the first day he took office, which also shows that he attaches great importance to the Chinese market and hopes to open a dialogue window with Chinese users as soon as possible.
The Greater China market has always been the core of Apple's global revenue. According to Apple's third quarter financial report for fiscal year 2026, the company achieved operating income of US$109.417 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16%; net profit was US$29.789 billion, a year-on-year increase of 27%. From the perspective of regional markets, revenue in Greater China increased from US$15.369 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year to US$18.816 billion. Revenue in the Americas and Europe increased to US$45.781 billion and US$29.395 billion respectively. China is Apple's third largest market in the world.
On the one hand, China is an important source of revenue for Apple, has a large number of device users, and is also a key supply chain base. On the other hand, competition in the domestic high-end mobile phone market has intensified, and fluctuations in performance in this region will directly affect the capital market's judgment of Apple as a whole. This time Ternus opened Weibo, sending a signal that it is actively getting closer to Chinese users and safeguarding this key market.
Yesterday, Ternus sent his first internal memo to all employees on his first day in office, saying it was his "first day" as CEO and thanked employees for their "warm wishes." He emphasized in the letter that Cook shared a lot of knowledge and experience during the transition, and more importantly, his many years of contribution to Apple.
Turnus's first memo was brief, only four paragraphs. He called Apple "the greatest company in the world" and expressed "equal excitement" about its future product pipeline. The letter clearly mentioned: "We will have a huge release next week, which will definitely be phenomenal."
According to data, Apple will hold a new product launch conference on September 9 and is expected to launch its first folding screen iPhone Ultra, iPhone 18 Pro series and other products. The industry expects that this conference may be Ternus' first important public appearance as the company's CEO.
It is reported that Apple held a farewell party for Cook on August 23, attended by about 200 company employees and guests. Cook joined Apple in 1998 and took over as CEO in 2011.
Comments