A Letter to John Ternus
I urge you, on behalf of everyone who loves computers as much as we do, to protect and cultivate this spirit of Apple’s founders as the company’s top priority:
- We love computers. We don’t hide that — we celebrate it!
- We use computers to enhance our minds, lives, and abilities — not to be controlled, restricted, tricked, placated, angered, or surveilled.
- Our computers work for us, with the utmost respect for our time, attention, money, data, and privacy.
- We are customers and owners — not resources to be harvested, annoyed, or badgered into ever more services and upsells.
[…]
Making great computers must remain Apple’s top responsibility, because if you don’t do it, nobody will.
Previously:
- Small Ways the App Store Could Be Improved for Developers
- Apple’s 50th Anniversary
- 2025 Six Colors Apple Report Card
- Apple Succession Planning
- Nowhere Else to Go
3 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
Apple's not that company anymore.
I'm awaiting the day macOS Admin user accounts become a $12.99 / month subscription.
The last line is what I say every time I see a mention of Apple TV. It's a great example. Huge, pointless distraction that isn't even a big moneymaker and doesn't drive device sales. Clearly they see it as advertising since every show set in the modern era is absolutely stuffed to the gills with prominent Apple devices to the point of breaking suspension of disbelief.
And as far as computers go, I don't think they even use them at Apple anymore. They claim to design their other devices on them and that's probably true. But when they aren't actually coding or doing something that requires a computer it's hard for me to believe the executives especially use them or think about them.
Thanks to the iPhone and Services we absolutely are seen as resources to be harvested and manipulated into ever increasing upsells. I haven't heard any actual words from Apple to contradict that (their weird cult-like marketing speak doesn't count) and their actions certainly speak loud and clear.
