Hardware chief John Ternus is set to take over on September 1 Tim Cook will step down as Apple’s chief executive on September 1, ending a nearly 15-year run at the helm of the iPhone maker and handing over to senior hardware executive John Ternus. Cook took over as CEO in August 2011 after Steve Jobs resigned just six weeks before his death, and he presided over a period of huge commercial expansion that saw Apple’s market value rise from roughly $350 billion to around $4 trillion. During his