Apple Bets CEO Ternus Will Bring Back Jobs-Era Decisiveness (2)

When Apple Inc. announced Monday that longtime leader Tim Cook would be replaced by John Ternus, it published an image of the two executives walking side by side at the company’s campus in Cupertino, California.

Both men are wearing Apple Watches, dark button-up shirts and blue jeans as they smile at each other — a near mirror image. The implication: Ternus, Apple’s hardware head, will bring continuity as chief executive officer and help preserve Cook’s legacy.

But Ternus will have a challenge when he officially takes the job in September. Even as he maintains Apple’s device empire — and ...