A new era is on the way for Apple as Tim Cook plans to step down from his CEO role in September, handing the reins to hardware chief John Ternus.
Ternus may be inheriting one of the most durable businesses in tech, but heās also stepping into a very different ecosystem than the one Cook spent decades shaping. The App Storeās 30% cut is under pressure, the behind-the-scenes power Apple once held over developers is being challenged, and vibe-coded apps are changing what it means to build on Appleās platform.
On this episode of TechCrunchās Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean OāKane dig into what this transition means for startups and a closer look at some of the weekās biggest deals ā including SpaceX’s $60B option on Cursor.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:26 Anthropic’s Mythos accessed by āunauthorized groupsā
04:28 Is Amazon’s $5B Anthropic investment just another circular deal?
09:53 SpaceX and Cursorās $60B option
18:25 Is this finally the year of the IPO?
21:38 SpaceX, Revolut, and Cerebras: the IPOs to watch
26:41 Tim Cook’s retirement plans
29:15 What a new Apple CEO means for startups and the App Store
35:59 Outro
