Apple CEO John Ternus criticized for ‘scripted’ approach during first earnings conference call.

Investors didn’t seem too happy with Apple’s earnings announcement yesterday, despite record results. This likely reflects the company’s cautious approach to margins in the current quarter, but some have also criticized what they describe as a very “scripted” approach from new CEO John Ternus.

Bloomberg ” was the biggest critic, describing it as a “timid” performance that left analysts “deeply disappointed”…

Bloomberg Dave Lee didn’t hold back.

Investors and Apple fans who were hoping to get a glimpse Monday into new CEO John Ternus’ philosophy were sorely disappointed. The 51-year-old’s first results announcement was a tepid affair, with Ternus hiding behind a carefully written script as analysts bombarded him with questions.

Lee acknowledged that the drop in premarket trading will have been largely due to Apple’s caution about increasing spending in the current quarter. The company said memory costs continue to rise and the construction of Siri AI data centers will add to the RAM bill. But he argued that Ternus had missed an opportunity to talk about the company.

Monday night, in front of Ternus, was an opportunity to counter the gloom by instilling on Wall Street the fundamentals of the Ternus Doctrine – what he sees Apple becoming under his tenure, the “product guy” taking the company into a new era of innovation. Instead, he spoke like a man who looks at the clock and wishes the minutes to pass.

Fortune Sebastian Herrera was less vocal but echoed some of the criticism.

Ternus answered some questions, but also delegated answers to CFO Kevan Parekh and COO Sabih Khan, who Apple said would participate in earnings calls in the future, something the company hasn’t done in years. Ternus projected confidence during the call, but he seemed to stick mostly to scripted marketing points.

Take from 9to5Mac

It will of course take some time for Ternus to develop his own style when it comes to all the varied aspects of his role, including speaking to analysts during earnings calls, but I thought he took a measured but optimistic approach. Given the notoriously reticent style of its predecessor, the criticism strikes me as rather strange.

What do you think? Please share in the comments.