According to the Financial Times , Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO as early as next year. And the board has started to seriously work out a succession plan. FT says that John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice-president of hardware engineering, is considered the frontrunner for the position. Cook, who turned 65 recently, has been CEO for 14 years and overseen both incredible growth and his fair share of controversies . He’s also largely seen as responsible for Apple’s shift to outsourcing