Apple faces unprecedented competition in the AI era, according to former CEO John Sculley, who led the tech giant from 1983 to 1993. Speaking at the Zeta Live conference in New York City, Sculley declared that OpenAI represents “the first real competitor” Apple has encountered “in many decades,” marking a significant shift in the competitive landscape for the iPhone maker.
Sculley’s assessment comes as Apple appears to be struggling to keep pace in the rapidly evolving AI race. Unlike competitors such as OpenAI, Google, Amazon, and Meta, Apple has lacked the consistent product updates and innovations that have become standard in the industry. The company has experienced notable setbacks, including the delay of a planned overhaul of its AI-powered assistant Siri earlier this year. “AI has not been a particular strength for them,” Sculley candidly stated about his former company.
The former CEO, who brought marketing expertise from his decade at Pepsi-Cola (where he launched the famous “Pepsi Challenge” campaign) to help popularize the Mac brand, also addressed the future leadership of Apple. With speculation mounting that current CEO Tim Cook might be considering retirement, Sculley emphasized that Cook’s successor will face a critical challenge: transitioning Apple from the apps era to the agentic era.
Agentic AI, which refers to technology capable of autonomously accomplishing complex tasks on behalf of users, represents the next frontier in artificial intelligence. “In the agentic era, we don’t need a lot of apps, it can all be done with smart agents,” Sculley explained. This shift will fundamentally transform business models, moving technology companies toward subscription-based services rather than product sales.
Adding intrigue to the competitive dynamic, former Apple design chief Jony Ive has joined forces with OpenAI. OpenAI acquired Ive’s device startup earlier this year for more than $6 billion. Ive, the legendary designer behind the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, stated at OpenAI’s DevDay conference that his team aims to address issues caused by smartphones and tablets since their launch.
Sculley, now 86 and recently retired from his role as cofounder and vice chairman of marketing tech company Zeta Global, believes this partnership could be transformative. “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,” he said, suggesting that the combination of Ive’s design genius and OpenAI’s AI capabilities could create formidable competition for Apple.
Key Quotes
AI has not been a particular strength for them
John Sculley, Apple’s former CEO from 1983 to 1993, made this frank assessment of his former company’s AI capabilities at the Zeta Live conference, highlighting Apple’s struggles to compete in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence landscape.
In the agentic era, we don’t need a lot of apps, it can all be done with smart agents
Sculley explained how the technology industry is transitioning from app-based ecosystems to AI-powered autonomous agents, suggesting a fundamental shift in how consumers will interact with technology and potentially disrupting Apple’s app-centric business model.
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
Sculley praised the partnership between legendary Apple designer Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, suggesting that Ive’s design expertise combined with OpenAI’s AI technology could create powerful competition for Apple in the consumer device market.
Our Take
Sculley’s comments reveal a remarkable reversal of fortune in the technology industry. For decades, Apple has been the disruptor, the company that others feared and tried to emulate. Now, a company founded in 2015 is being described as Apple’s first real competitor in decades by someone who led Apple during its formative years. This isn’t just about OpenAI’s technical capabilities—it’s about Apple’s apparent complacency in AI development. While competitors rapidly iterated and released AI products, Apple’s cautious approach may have cost it crucial momentum. The Jony Ive factor adds another dimension: his move to OpenAI isn’t just a talent acquisition, it’s a symbolic passing of the innovation torch. If OpenAI can combine Ive’s legendary design sensibility with cutting-edge AI, they could create products that challenge Apple’s dominance in ways that Android and Windows never could. The shift to agentic AI and subscription models that Sculley describes could fundamentally undermine Apple’s hardware-centric business model.
Why This Matters
This assessment from a former Apple CEO carries significant weight for the AI industry and technology sector at large. Sculley’s perspective highlights how dramatically the competitive landscape has shifted, with a relatively young company like OpenAI now positioned to challenge one of the world’s most valuable corporations. This signals that AI capabilities have become the defining competitive advantage in technology, potentially displacing traditional strengths like hardware design and ecosystem lock-in.
The transition from the “apps era” to the “agentic era” that Sculley describes represents a fundamental shift in how consumers will interact with technology. If AI agents can autonomously handle complex tasks without requiring multiple specialized apps, this could disrupt the entire app economy that has generated trillions in value. For businesses, this means adapting to subscription models and focusing on AI capabilities rather than standalone products.
Most significantly, the recruitment of Jony Ive by OpenAI demonstrates how AI companies are attracting top talent from traditional tech giants, potentially accelerating their ability to create consumer-facing products that could directly compete with Apple’s core offerings. This brain drain, combined with Apple’s acknowledged struggles in AI development, suggests a pivotal moment in tech industry dynamics.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/former-apple-ceo-john-sculley-says-openai-rivals-apple-2025-10