Longtime Apple Executive Dan Riccio Retiring Later This Month

Longtime Apple employee Dan Riccio is set to retire from the company later this month, reports Bloomberg. Riccio has worked at Apple for 26 years, most recently overseeing Vision Pro development as an engineering VP reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

apple dan riccio
Riccio joined Apple in June 1998 as a product design director, and in August 2012, he was promoted to senior vice president of hardware engineering, a role he held for more than eight years before transitioning to an unspecified project in 2021. The unspecified project turned out to be the Vision Pro headset.

John Ternus succeeded Riccio as Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, and Ternus will also now take over Vision Pro development and the couple thousand engineers in the Vision Products Group. Mike Rockwell, who has been working under Riccio, will continue to oversee the day-to-day work on the Vision Pro and similar headsets.

In addition to working on the Vision Pro, Riccio also was a key proponent for Apple's work on a self-driving car, a project that the company ultimately scrapped earlier this year. Over his time at Apple, he also oversaw development of the AirPods, iPad Pro, and the initial larger-screened iPhones.

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Top Rated Comments

coffeemilktea Avatar
18 weeks ago

John Ternus succeeded Riccio as Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, and Ternus will also now take over Vision Pro development and the couple thousand engineers in the Vision Products Group.
The year is 2034. The iPhone 27 is being introduced by John Ternus. He turns it over to the Apple Silicon team to explain the A28 Bionic Pro and the speaker is... John Ternus? The camera pans to the Apple Watch team. John Ternus. The macOS 25 team comes out: it's John Ternus. Apple Vision Pro 5, Ted Lasso season 14, the iPad Pro Ultra Mini Air ("isn't that just a regular iPad?" you think) all come out, presented by John Ternus.

You sigh, and close the lid on your 2033 M13 MacBook Air, and stare out the window. You see your tired reflection.

John Ternus stares back at you.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AndiG Avatar
18 weeks ago
I have the strong feeling that the longer the people work for Apple the more they start looking kind of Apple-ish. But maybe this is just a terrible photo.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CWallace Avatar
18 weeks ago
Considering he got the Vision Pro out the door and it is (currently) the most advanced consumer VR and AR product on sale, why fire him?

It is not like he personally decided it should sell for $3500 nor was he in charge of the (lack of) marketing and promotion for it. That falls on Cook and Joswiak as CEO and SVP of Worldwide Marketing, respectively.

Clearly, he either is looking for new challenges or he is ready to retire and enjoy his money.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jaw04005 Avatar
18 weeks ago

And AirPower

"Riccio led the Mac ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh'), iPhone ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone'), iPad ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad'), iPod ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod'), Apple TV ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_TV'), HomePod ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomePod'), AirPods ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPods'), and Apple Watch ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Watch') engineering teams, which have produced numerous products."

He also was the in charge of the hardware team that made the original iPad under Steve Jobs.

I think his track record speaks for itself. Well deserved retirement.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrkevinfinnerty Avatar
18 weeks ago

What would you define as the “Apple” look.
Open neck shirt, slightly greying, outstanding eyebrows
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrENGLISH Avatar
18 weeks ago

r u sure it isn’t FORCED retirement considering the $Billions Apple sunk into the AVP money pit?
He was also involved with the cancelled Apple Car project.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)