Former Apple CEO John Sculley considers OpenAI as Apple’s first significant competitor in many years, highlighting that AI has not been a particular strength for Apple. He emphasizes that the next Apple CEO must steer the company from its current app-focused strategy toward the emerging era of smart agents. This transition will automate workflows and promote subscription-based business models. At the recent Zeta Live conference in New York City, Sculley, who led Apple from 1983 to 1993, stated that Apple is now confronting strong competition from OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. He remarked, “AI has not been a particular strength for them. ” During the event, Sculley also hinted at the eventual departure of current CEO Tim Cook, suggesting that his successor will need to guide Apple through the shift from the “apps era” to the “agentic era. ” He explained, “In the agentic era, we don't need a lot of apps, it can all be done with smart agents. ” This agentic AI will assist knowledge workers by automating the more demanding aspects of their workflows, which, in turn, will encourage more technology companies to adopt subscription-based models. Sculley pointed out the contrast between past and future business strategies: “When we had apps at the center of everything, it was selling tools, selling products.

When you think of subscription, it's about people paying for something as long as they need it. ” Sculley also spoke about former Apple design chief Jony Ive joining OpenAI. He praised Ive’s contributions, stating, “He's the one who actually designed and built the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. ” Sculley expressed confidence that Ive would bring his design expertise to OpenAI’s large language models, adding, “If there's anyone who is probably going to be able to bring that dimension to the LLM, in this case OpenAI, it's probably going to be Jony Ive, working with Sam Altman. ” On May 21, 2025, OpenAI officially announced its acquisition of io, a relatively new AI devices company founded by Jony Ive. The $6. 4 billion deal was paid entirely in equity. As part of the agreement, Ive has assumed “deep creative and design responsibilities” for both OpenAI and io, as stated in a joint statement by Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. End of Article