“There’s less internal conflict inside Apple — and that’s not necessarily a good thing, according to one former employee,” Anita Balakrishnan reports for CNBC. “Bob Burrough, a former Apple engineer, told CNBC that the invention of the iPhone came, in part, out of the chaos of Apple under co-founder Steve Jobs. ”
“‘At Apple in 2007, organizationally it was the wild west,’ Burrough said. ‘I was hired under a particular manager, but for the first two years worked on projects that had virtually nothing to do with that manager’s core responsibility. That’s because the organization wasn’t the priority, the projects were the priority. It was the exact opposite of ‘not my job.’ It was ‘I’m here to solve whatever problems I can, irrespective of my role, my title, or to whom I report.’ It was wild. But it was also very rewarding, because everything you did had maximal impact on the product,'” Balakrishnan reports. “But today, the ‘dynamic has clearly and distinctly changed,’ and Apple is much closer to his job at Palm, said Burrough, who most recently founded a 3D printing company called Bilt It.”
“But not all former Apple employees agree. Tony Fadell, a top-tier Apple engineer who later founded home-automation company Nest and sold it to Google, has said that ‘there was never a competition’ at Apple,” Balakrishnan reports. “‘We, together, were searching for the best solution. Steve asked us to test all the possibilities,’ Fadell tweeted.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wait, CNBC* published a hit piece about Apple?
Shocker.
*Conveyor of Nonsensical Bullshit Concoctions
An operations company, focused first and foremost on predictability and maintaining margins. All else appears secondary at this point. That’s a recipe for rewarding shareholders but not necessarily very rewarding to customers over the long term.
You know what Apple needs to do to satisfy people like you?
They need to talk about ‘moonshot’ projects to seem innovative.
They need to talk about drones like Google and Amazon. Wifi balloons, robots and crap like sending people to Mars like Elon Musk. They need to show off AR prototypes that barely work and demo useless contrived applications such as building a quadcopter out of basic 3D shapes like Microsoft.
They need to release VR head gear that makes you feel sick. Add gimmicky features that no-one uses, to their cellphones like pulse readers and navigation by hovering your finger over the screen like Samsung. They need to copy everyone else with complete disregard for patents.
If Apple did half the stuff these ‘innovative’ companies get away with, they would get crucified.
Everyone assumes that because Apple hasn’t showed us a new product lately, then they nothing in the works.
When the legendary Steve jobs came back, what did we get from 1997 to 2001? A bunch of translucent CRT Macs with minor updates every year. Apple started to get boring.
Then boom! We get iPods. 2001 – 2007 we get evolutionary updates, where the main innovation was making them smaller. Apple started to get boring.
2007 we get the iPhone which was truly revolutionary. That was 10 years after Steve came back. The iPod touch came a year later. The Powerbooks stagnated for years with Motorola processors until Apple switched to Intel.
From 1997 – 2011 the iMacs only had 3-4 redesigns. The PowerMac/Mac Pro only had 2 – 3 redesigns. The iPad came in 2010, 3 years after the iPhone.
From the pattern above, innovative products follow a boring period a Apple. Desktop Macs, iPhones, iPads, AppleTV are currently going through the periods.
Apple has made many acquisitions in recent years with technologies that haven’t seen the light of day yet. AR, indoor mapping, machine learning just to name a few
Apple is a secretive company, they only show off products when they are ready to ship. Not like the other so called ‘innovative’ companies.
The problem with your narrative and the current outputs from Apple is that Apple WAS evolutionary for years between those big hits. Apple DID move those products (*AND* the legacy products) forward even while we were all waiting for the next big thing. The iPod did evolve very nicely in the period between its introduction and the introduction of the iPhone. The iPhone did evolve nicely between the introduction of the iPhone and the introduction of the iPad. And, during both those periods the Mac evolved very nicely.
The current Apple is not even doing that! It is dropping products that people (both consumers and businesses) have come to trust, Airport Extreme being just one example. It is letting things lag for years and years without updates.
Apple cannot move forward in the manner we all want it to (well, maybe not the true Apple haters) if it won’t even evolve products — and just going to thinner and lighter is NOT evolution, it’s a sad form of sickness and decay.
As I said in another recent post on this site, I can live with 5 – 10 year gaps between those next big things. What I can’t live with is 3+ year gaps and very late to market introductions in products on which I depend.
Lastly, I agree with the tone of Bob Burrough’s statements if not the specific details. Tim Cook is focused on making Apple a great company with the greatest financial returns (return on sales, return on assets, return on investments, etc.). He is NOT focused on creating great products. Tim Cook’s assumption is that a great Apple will inherently create products that people will want to buy. Unfortunately in the information technologies world there are way too many cases that have shown this is just not the way this business segment works.
Um, no. To satisfy people like me, Apple needs to just have “it just works” be true again.
Safari sucks balls and can no longer open multiple pages simultaneously w/o fouling up. Apple TV should have been 4K ready or enabled on rollout and the remote is hypersensitive and cannot be used accurately without great frustration. They spent generations of iOS replacing skumorphism with a “flat” design which changed the look people loved with a new look that does nothing better – very Microsoftian. For iPhone, drop “thin is in” and add some battery life for a change. We got a new connection by dropping the 30 pin but data transfer rates didn’t improve. Computers processors not being upgraded for anywhere from 2-3 years. Seriously? Dropping, rather than improving, products which help Apple fans remain fully within the ecosystem like Airport routers. Limited product availability at launch, ad nauseam.
How many of these “innovations” sound like moonshots? That’s right, none of them.
I would like to see the iMac become a wireless power hub for my many iPads and iPhone, keyboard and mouse. I’d replace every one of them to have that enabled.
Can’t believe I didn’t mention my biggest gripe of all – this is one area where a moonshot by Apple would be highly beneficial in perpetuity – Apple Pay. I’d like to see every single point of sale in the country ready and enabled to use Apple Pay. If that requires Apple spend a few of their newly minted billions helping to purchase or push hardware to vendors, so be it. Totally un-Apple-like (hence, moonshot), but they ought to have an all out push to implement Apple Pay that is undeniable. Long term, it’s the single most important thing they could do to ensure the stickiness of their iPhone and Apple Watch sales by becoming a core financial middleman of all electronic transactions. Grocery stores and McDonalds are a mere start (and a pittance overall)….but everywhere else is still lacking greatly. This is Apple’s biggest missed opportunity to data IMHO.
If Apple were to initiate a moonshot worth losing money on initially, providing Apple Pay enabled hardware for cheap or free (buy from other vendors or make it themselves, who cares) seems like the most important thing they can do for their overall business long term.
Could not agree more. Excellent listing of what many have been saying for months and also years now. No “moonshots” required … 💥🚀🌛
Well, in today’s fast paced society, nothing for years just doesn’t cut it. Hell, people get bored after 15 minutes in a meeting or webinar. Apple needs to move faster or be left behind. That is just the reality today, like it or not.
That’s a recipe for rewarding shareholders but not necessarily very rewarding to customers over the long term.
Exactly Robc! This may well be the sad result of ‘activist shareholders’ such as the exceedingly infamous Mr. Icahn, who’d have happily gutted the company for maximum stockholder value and zero customer value.
It’s a tug of war, obviously, between customers and stockholders. Unfortunately, in the current age of scouring the world economy for every last penny of value, the ongoing mantra continues to be:
Screw Thy Customer
This is of course entirely self-destructive of capitalism and bodes poorly for its future if the idiots who perpetrate this corrosive garbage aren’t stopped.
Apple is to my mind the ONE company that has fought against this self-destructive trend. I hope Apple regains its footing and returns to its core manifesto of making “Insanely-Great Products”. That’s how Apple became #1 in the world. That’s how they would maintain being #1 in the world as well as their customer’s darling.
Obviously, ‘Screw Thy Customer’ while feeding the stockholders is the usual Short-Term Thinking; Long-Term Disaster that a core dysfunction of our modern human world. It’s a great way to ruin anything, especially business and government. Thus our world economy FAILs. It was the specific cause of our recent 2007-2008 world economic crash.
But I rant. Hopefully, Apple gets the idea and will survive this crap.
Correction: Short-Term Thinking; Long-Term Disaster that’s a core dysfunction…
It’s interesting that Short-Term Thinking; Long-Term Disaster is characteristic of Desperation Behavior. But it’s also characteristic of children, the spoiled rotten, the lazy, the stupid, the decadent, the addicted…
Operative word: Former.
It is true. The best and the brightest leave companies that are mired in office politics and unworkable processes. Which accurately describes Apple today.
If Tim Cook has turned Apple into a “boring operations company” then it is actually an “incompetent boring operations company. This weekend I went to the Apple Store to buy AirPods and a Stainless Steel 42 mm Apple 2 Watch w brown leather band. No AirPods there. No AppleWatch there. So, I went home and tried to order both online. The AirPods showed a ship date no sooner than March 6 and no availability at any store within 200 miles. This is for a product that was to be generally available in October 2016. So I tried to order the Apple Watch, which is a model that Apple’s own configurator helped me choose. When I pushed the BUY button, Apple’s website told me “This product is not available”. Apple did not take my order and advise it would be filled when stock was available. Apple simply refused to let me order the product that is advertised on their own site. So I was stuck and unable to order almost $1000 worth of merchandise and not even told when I could order the Watch. A “chat room person” told me I should just keep coming back and trying every day until Apple decides to accept my order. In 25 years of ordering Apple products this was the absolute worst experience ever. And it was not an indication that anyone in Apple understands operations or even the first thing about how to satisfy a customer or how to maximize revenue and shareholder returns. Apple is right now a very pathetic company in terms of delivering the products it designs.
Wish Tim Cook would read that comment above.
Well, the board reduced Cook’s salary/bonus, so the Board understands some things about performance.
That’s better than some Boards that just let the CEO go on without oversight.
I remain hopeful.
I also remain overly aware of how difficult it is to change the course of the Titanic. Put me in charge of the Titanic and I turn the wheel and it takes a lo—–ong time to just start turning.
Cook has not kept control of shipping dates. Failure.
Cook has not kept control of on going product watch inventory. Failure.
Cook has not kept control of reliable supply of new products he has announced as being ‘great.’
Apple had better pull in on the efforts that are outside the development and manufacturing and let other social groups handle societal problems.
Email it to apple feedback
Your dreadful experience proves Clueless Cook lost the crown of supply side genius. iMacs for Christmas couple years ago, SEs, Airpods and now watches in short supply or no supply at all. Apple denying an order?!? ☹️
Well, what it will take is another couple quarters of declining sales and pray to the maker, Tim will forced to clean out his desk. I mean take the two things in your office home with you — the fern plant and iPad.
Harsh, I know. But this ship is not sailing smoothly. Bring Scott back to kick some ass! 💪🏻
Reminds me of the recent issue of Nintendo completely underestimating demand of the Nintendo NES Classic Edition box (with 30 classic games built-in).
OK, Problem #1 – the perfect Xmas gift and not enough to sell right off the bat – right before Christmas. (Sound familiar?)
Problem #2 – Can’t even put your name on a waiting list or queue to get one at some point on Amazon or anywhere. It becomes the Wild Wild West of checking stores getting stock in and beating some other poor schlub out who also wants one like on a Black Friday Wal-Mart sale. Not good. Me no likey buying stuff under these conditions. But then who does?
That one anecdote proves nothing.
Remember we had product shortages under Steve. Shortages sometimes happen when products are in demand.
As to Scott Forstall, we know nothing about him, his leadership capabilities, etc…it’s foolish to pine for him like he’s some savior.
And yet I pine for him, wade … I know he will return jauntiness to the stage, outbluff the competition, and rewrite his subordinates’ code as a lesson to them. His grin in the face of adverse negotiations, like Steve’s, will grow only wider as the stress increases. He and the great Sir Jony Ive competed on a level playing field! Scott is gone only because Tim felt he needed to play Solomon to the baby claimed by both men. It seems Forstall was the real mother after all.
There’s too much mythology surrounding Forstall, imagining him to be some second coming of Steve Jobs. If he were, he would have done something meaningful outside of Apple. He has not.
When Steve left Apple he founded Next, which laid the foundations for OS X, and of course acquired Pixar and made it the finest animation studio in the world. Scott after Apple..what has he really done? Nuff said.
As Herself and myself pointed out — Scott is the man to lead Apple. Second coming, hmmm, yeah that’s about right.
He may be under contract to “not.”
Your carpet bomb defense of Apple (apologist, really) trying to minimize damage from a great article proves everything wrong with Apple.
The author scenario passes the common sense test of the importance of distractions Cook has evolved Apple into BEFORE the creative process and the products.
No passionate friction lest you end up in HR diversity corrective training, green safe spaces for the snowflakes, fresh veggie burgers and rallying the troops to be social justice warriors. In and of themselves not saying these are not good things.
But to the exclusion of what is REALLY more important is what the author clearly stated. I believe it even if you don’t.
As to Scott, speak for YOURSELF. Plenty of us have followed his career for many years and some of us know him personally.
Sounds like you don’t care to learn something you don’t agree with or are defensive about. That would be PipeDream Tim.
As I have posted before and here again: Steve hand picked most of these talented executive people and any of them probably could enjoy the same caretaker status watching Apple grow profits. Tim without Jony, now that is another story.
What’s missing is the Apple leader of the future. Creativity and vision to take the company higher. Resting on your laurels or marching in pride parades does not get it done.
So Wade, enjoy your relentless defense of clueless Cook and politically correct Apple offices. Some of us see through it, even if you don’t … cheers. 🍸
So harsh, GoeB! Remember, Tim Cook was anointed by Steve Jobs. We all know the story of Steve’s advising Tim to be himself. Some of us are still carrying the torch for Steve and his passing of the torch to Tim has emotional weight. It isn’t very easily discarded after so many years of loyalty. Some of us—not you apparently—have a bit more trouble letting go, but that does not convert us into “apologists.” What is so wrong about holding out hope? Has the word hope become so beclotted with contempt that is is now unfashionable?
Yes. And Steve also resisted actual medical care for a while, believing instead in a Fruitarian diet to cure him. Maybe the weight of what he was going through was too much and Steve wasn’t making the best decisions during this period….
(This’ll be unpopular and probably get me flamed. Sorry for the butthurt this will cause some….)
Really? Truth hurts is what you are not saying. Wade is a serial congenital Apple Apologist, so I give him credit for the softball approach, but not your defense.
I did not use profanity or childish name calling. Apple Apologist is a reality on this forum. And the only time an apologist is wrong, is well, when they are wrong.
Nuff said. ✌️
No matter who says what…. at the end of the day someting is not right with Apple at the moment and last 2 years or so…
Its obvious…
What the true reason is speculation on our end… we all have our theories.. …
My hope is that Tim is aware of the degradation and is doubling down on addressing all issues…(rather than ignoring it?)
P.s. Hope the move to new campus goes smoothly and quickly… we dont need more distraction..
Very well said, Jimbo. 👍🏻
I too wish Apple the best in the new digs. They have a lot of work to do …
I have to say that you are the epitome of tough love. I admire that, And I hope you don’t think less of me for being sentimental. I assure you, I can swing a bat and field a ground ball, and elbow you if you crowd me at second base. But when the game is over I tip my cap to the winners, and don’t razz them. I expect the same in return.
Don’t forget to sharpen your spikes!
Also, a little lubricant goes a long way.
(when you’re pitching, of course)
I was certainly raised on TL with overflow amounts of love mixed in. Sentimental is a good thing and I have to work overtime not to display it online. Tough talk is the antidote.
So, you can crowd me out on second base, eh? Well, not surprised. You can also kick butt in equestrian pursuits, as well. Just remember to ease the Levi pressure on the iPhone.
Used to love Raspberry “Razzles” as a kid … oops! ❤️⚾️🐎
I agree and have said many times ditching Scott Forstall was a huge mistake. He was most Steve-like and the closest to what Steve would have done. I know Steve said not to think about what he would have done, but this new way isn’t working as well as expected. I’m ready for some Steveliness again. Steve returned, let Forstall return. The feel of the OS hasn’t been the same since he left and not for the better.
It seems like apple is Axing leather bands too.. i checked and most everything that is not leather is available … everything that is leather not availble with no availbilty date….and no explanation..
Real sloppy …
Well if they plan to “axe” leather bands they might tell the customer. As it is, the website just says “Sold Out”. A real website that is focused on satisfying customers would take my order, advise me the product is in backlog, and tell me I will be getting an email advising me when the product is ready to ship. That way Apple “has my order” and can count the sale this quarter and they can count the revenue if they can ship the product. But these idiots leave me hanging in the wind, and building anger against them for advertising a product that they won’t accept an order for. Since I know Apple makes the Stainless Steel Watch still I guess it is the leather, which I got excited about because they showed it to me with their amazing web simulator. But now I am left to write pissed off emails about how Apple won’t sell me the Apple Watch 2 or AirPods.
I guarantee Steve Jobs would have fired someone by now. The watch is not a new product. And there are not lines waiting for the leather band. Apple simply is too distracted with politics and gay pride and stock options to care about me and the $1000 I intended to give them last week which is still burning a hole in my pocket. F*cking Amazing!!!
I agree.. that is why i finished my post with “Very Sloppy”.
It’s bewildering .
I hope u send your thoughts to Apple and Tim Cook… !!!….
Leaving money on the table… complacent at best . Wake up .. wake up Apple !
Now on a positive note…. there are a lot of aftermarket leather bands for AppleWatch … Nomad. Waloo, Monowear.. to name a few.. there are a lot more…
That may solve your issue .. but unfortunately it wont solve any of stockholders concerns .
This is a prime example of why anybody but hardcore Apple fans are frustrated and jumping ship. Getting screwed and having to wait an eternity is pathetic, and quite frankly, business unfriendly. The new Apple. Enjoy waiting…..
Make insanely great again…Dump Pipeline Timmy.™
Under Tim the company has performed great…earnings, stock prices, products, etc. Of course Tim and Apple are not perfect but never were under Steve either.
Dumb to dump someone without a better replacement in mind.
you didn’t ask….Scott Forstall.
Why Scott? We know nothing about him aside from anecdotes, we know nothing about his leadership style, his capabilities of leading a huge corporation.
Since he left Apple he hasn’t done much…not that he has to, he has the money.
But people glom onto Forstall like he’s some savior…why?
He’s the one high-profile manager who left Apple that hasn’t failed spectacularly. He has a proven track record with Apple—outsiders don’t. He and Steve had similar personalities, traded insights and jokes. We like prickly pear cactuses more than Kumbaya sessions. His design of the iPhone GUI won out. His presence on stage is not wooden and gee-whiz like that of certain others. And judging from his designs he likes leather—hardly a disqualifying predilection, in my humble opinion…
Most excellent synoptic resume of Scott. ⭐️
As you and others have noted — do we have a problem with leather bands?
Wait, since Apple is a uber conservative company and Cook spends long weekends at his hunting lodge chasing mule deer and snowshoe rabbits in the Sierra Nevada mountains, possibly, they are satellite field testing new and improved animal skins for watch bands made in America?
Forget that leather stitching was removed in iOS7. It just didn’t look real enough. And that ungodly green felt was worn on the edges after years of neglect. Wait until the new and improved replacement. The pistol emoji was scorned and for good reason because it was not the corporate favorite concealed carry weapon of choice in posh circles of Silicon Valley. The Pink Pistol movement was way out in front on that one and simply made them look bad and behind the curve. /s
Seriously, by Apple being SILENT on the leather bands issue is more disconcerting than supply shortages beyond their control.
Caving to political correctness? Caving to the animal rights whack jobs that are claiming victory for putting Ringly Bros. out of business after over 140 years?
The silence is insulting and certainly not mature and IMHO deliberately designed to minimize business fallout from Apple traveling the politically correct road … 😡🔫😡🔫😡🔫😡
I hadn’t realised that the leather was pulled from the app store because of animal rights issues. If true, that is appalling. My forebears made a living sewing animal hides, and kept my tribe alive. We didn’t disrespect less clever beasts than ourselves; to the contrary, we revered them, and their hides kept us alive through the biting winds of the ice ages.
As for emoji, I have less occasion to reference my personal armoury through conspicuous symbology, but the revolver is an anachronism and the water pistol is a dumb-ass substitute for a gun.
I don’t have hard evidence Apple discontinued leather because of animal rights protestors. Apple keeps those decisions and reasons off the grid for many obvious reasons.
But an example of intrepid reporter Carl Berstein (Dustin Hoffman) said in “All the Presidents Men” may shed some light.
Something like you go to bed at night and there is no snow on the ground. You wake up and there is snow on the ground. Even though you did not see it snowing, you can say accurately it snowed during the night. Best I can do and because of a secretive company like Apple we will never know.
Political correctness, like everything else, proves to be not so correct when abused/misused…. when it becomes political bulshit and a dogmatic blind tool…. causing more harm than good through the dogmas shortsightedness and/or manipulative intentions .
Hence ….the breath of fresh air in WH in 2 days.
Yup. Political Correctness is indeed, dogma poop.
The scariest part of PC mind programming is the death of critical thinking skills, common sense and honesty.
Yes indeed, a new breeze blowing on the Potomac Friday … 💥🇺🇸👏🏻
‘PC mind programming ……..the death of critical thinking skills, common sense and honesty.” …..
Beautifuly expressed.👊
Ps.. if i may add “independent’ after ‘critical’
Yes indeed, by all means. That’s an important addition, particularly today. Reminds me of my favorite double superlative — “more better.” 👍🏻
.
Since leaving Apple, Forstall hasn’t failed spectacularly…because he hasn’t done much of anything, certainly not anything big. He hasn’t succeeded huge either.
The part about his personality being similar to Steve…first, it’s more of an anecdote…and even if true to a certain extent, that doesn’t make him the second coming of Steve Jobs. It’s very naive to think so. I’m sure there are people out there with personalities similar to Steve that in no way have his particular genius.
Scott at Apple had his successes and his failures. He was no god. It’s foolish to imagine that he even has the skills or desire to run a company the size of Apple, much less that he would be this savior figure and end up being a second Steve Jobs.
I’m sure your analysis is correct, but I wanted to put in a vote for Scott because he has charisma, and I like to think that counts for something.
At this point, we tried this direction, I’m willing to give Scott a chance. Somebody needs to return and kick some butt and make some changes and it isn’t going to be Steve this time. Scott is the closest thing. They need some friction like Steve had there, some in your face opinions and charisma to the public. The current circus doesn’t feel at all like the soul of the Apple we knew.
Yourself, herself, Shadowself and myself — ALL agree — Scott is certainly the closest to Steve godliness.
He has gravitas, unyielding drive and the tech background to rewrite/direct the OS wrongs, supply chain shortages, update neglected products and most of all — retain focus on both legacy core users and newly minted fashionistas. 🙏🏻
Make botvinnik insanely grating. Oh Eugene, you already are. Just go finish your dump in the sewer.
Hey Toots! Ever figure out who the lad’s Papi is?
The product people are not in charge.
“…it was very rewarding because everything you did had maximum impact on the product.”
THE PRODUCT.
Bullseye again … i was hoping you would repost this ! 👍👍✌️
Watching those old video’s makes me really miss Steve even more.
I don’t know about CNBC but what Bob Burrough talks about Apple under Jobs makes sense.
A creative process is very dynamic and it could be wild and very inefficient if your top priority is to come up with the best result you can produce. Obviously consistency and quality cannot be a second option so all key variables have to be considered at the same time.
What do we always complain about a real American company run by an American-born American???
No one is complaining about Apple and it’s legions of dedicated engineers, designers and programmers…the complaint is about the incompetent leadership.
Cook is a cartoon.
Mostly we’re complaining the delivery of WOW is GONE.
“… A boring operations company.”…
… that cannot deliver on time, or with appropriate inventory.
Tim Cook was supposed to be the GOD of all supply chain managers.
Time to cut back on the LGBT work.
It’s fine to be critical of Tim Cook. Not fine to take cheap shots at his sexual orientation that have nothing to do with his CEO performance. Though maybe you should cut back on your own philandering and sexuality, it obviously is interfering negatively with your adult reasoning & comprehension abilities. (Of course using your own logic.)
Disagree, it’s a quite valid argument. Cook isn’t paid to be “Hooray For Homos” cheerleader and “John Podesta West” for The Clot. He is being paid, handsomely I might add, to lead Apple. In that position, he is a failure, The Mac Book Pro Baldwin Fun Machine, Airpods you can’t buy, no more Apple monitors, no more Apple routers, horrid customer service, etc etc ad nauseam.
I submit your support for his inept myopia is precisely because he is homosexual.
There is no evidence that Tim’s relatively minor political involvements interfere with his running of the company. Steve was quite the progressive as well.
It is wrong to criticize Cook for his sexuality or his speaking out in favor of equal rights. Companies have huge influence in our society and need to stand up for equal rights and justice.
Minor? He coerced voters of Arizona to comply with homosexual marriage or he’d pull Apple’s new plant there.
Well, at least there was an informed vote. As to coercion, I can’t think of a single person who acquired clout and failed to try it out. Civil disobedience qualifies as coercion, yet it is protected under the Constitution. But all that aside, I understand that your point is that Cook’s social activism constitutes a distraction to his effectively running Apple. I must ask you, before Cook was outed, and before he made speeches about social justice, did you denounce his leadership? I don’t remember that. But we do have the MDN archives if anyone cares to check.
the question wasn’t the desire “to try it out,” it was whether it was “relatively minor.” I submit it was hardly minor.
The only pro-Cook position I’ve taken has been his support of the Fourth Amendment and privacy rights…you mean that?
I do, and thank you for going to the heart of the matter ❤️
Cook’s decision re Arizona was the right one…good to see business take a stand on such an issue. Same as Apple and many other businesses did in Indiana, same as many companies and sports leagues did in NC.
Companies are people too…didn’t you get the Supreme Court memo? They exercise great influence…great that they use it wisely.
I don’t care what Cook does “at home”, or anyone here on MDN.
But when Apple gives people time off for the LGBT day parade and similar things, he is not keeping the company eye on the ball.
True. Companies also have undue influence in our society.
For the first time I can remember, there is not even a beta of macOS Server in the pipeline. What gives?
I used to be a customer that would ALWAYS update to the latest & greatest that Apple had to offer. Nowadays, no need. My 2012 POS 27″ iMac was so bad, I didn’t even want to turn it on. It was one with the faulty drives, that took years to admit & now it sits in the corner (fixed), but no need to upgrade, nothing new excites me. Same with the phone, a 6, no need to upgrade yet, for those little upgrades & new emojis. With Apple getting so dull, I’m saving a bunch.
This is the reality. Cook’s short term play for iOS app sales and luxury fashion has left us former big spenders waiting for Apple to offer something of substance. Apple has chosen to boost its margins by being thin and exclusive, with no advantage in consumer value, so the wise consumer will turn its back on Apple and get the competitor product that does offer the value he desires. Usability. Battery life. Ability to select GUI font and colors. Intuitive operation. Guarantee of security. Cutting edge hardware, rock solid stable software. Apple no longer has commanding leads in any of these areas, and when you factor in price, many of Apple’s Macs are just not even in the running.
Apple used to be great under Jobs.
Cook is doing a fantastic job, driving what Steve created into the ground. Bottom line, the guy is clueless.
Under Cook Apple is thriving…most companies would love to have Apple’s bottom lines and their problems.
People also forget that under Steve Apple made mistakes, there were product shortages, problems with some products, etc. It’s just that forget that in our nostalgia for Steve.
It’s like the “good ol’ days”…as Billy Joel once sang, the good ol’ days weren’t as good as they seemed.
Apple’s fantastic success the last 5+ years is based, pretty much wholly on Jobs’ successes.
Can someone point out an actual success of Cook’s? Without some sort of failure, be it supply chain failure (2012 iMac, ‘new’ Mac Pro, watch, phone launches, ear pods, etc), a software glitch killing battery life, battery issues warranting replacements, etc, etc etc….. I can’t.
“Apple’s fantastic success the last 5+ years is based, pretty much wholly on Jobs’ successes.”
Exactly! That pipeline has now run dry and clueless Cook is on his own killing product lines, software, neglecting computer upgrades, buggy software, missing ship dates and more.
He seems to be more concerned with bowing to radical leftist hate groups than managing common sense. For example: Were you able to order a leather band today?
You don’t need to be a radical leftist to hate the KKK and there deplorable people.
“Apple is much closer to his job at Palm, said Burrough”
Well, anyone that used to work for Palm must know what he’s talking about.
Interesting. At one time Palm owned the handheld data device market.
But they took it easy and a Mac truck ran right over the top of them and they turned to dust.
Is Apple taking it easy.
Dumb story…just one guy’s opinion, means very little.
Would need to get other observations from people at the time to understand…and we have Fadell contradicting this guy already.
Also, it’s stupid to assume that a chaotic work environment will produce creativity. There are plenty of companies that fail due to a chaotic work environment.
Some creative environments are chaotic, but that doesn’t mean an atmosphere of chaos, tension, etc always makes for creativity.
Funny that this article appears a bit above an earlier one about how Google was ending so many “moon shot” projects because they lost so much money.
Maybe this guy should have worked for Google before they ended all of these far out projects…sounds like the kind of company he would want.
Google is one example where trying to be interesting for the sake of being interesting doesn’t always pay off. Ironically it’s Google’s core businesses….the boring stuff…that make them the money.
Gawd — what an incessant bunch of first-world whining!!! Piss off to Windows land, if things are so bad.
That is what is so fascinating. Men become self-absorbed, lose perspective, and are easily lured off course and into the shoals. Later we can pick through their remains. — the Sirens
We see the same central issue debated over and over again on this website, and it comes down to this: some people just won’t let Steve go, they want to cling to the idea that another Steve will come along for Apple.
To these people I say: get over it. Steve is gone. There will never be another quite like Steve.
There will come other visionary business leaders, but like Steve they will not work for anyone else, they will have their own companies, and follow their own star. People like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, et al.
I know Forstall isn’t like Steve, because if he were he would never have worked for Apple, he would have done his own thing his own way and we’d see his own company today doing amazing stuff totally different from anyone else.
The key mission for Tim Cook and his VP’s today is not to try to recreate Steve…that’s a fool’s errand. Steve said as much before he died.
The key is current Apple leadership is to build the sort of work environment where mere mortals working in collaboration can do great things, can be as creative, productive and profitable as possible, and to keep it going. That is what Tim is doing and judging from financial performance, doing it quite well. He’s building a sustainable juggernaut of a company.
Apple will not be what is was under Steve, no more than Disney Corp. is what it was under Walt Disney. So let those expectations go.
And just like Disney, Apple will soar to even great heights and do amazing things.
Your posts are sometimes amusing.
Not only pretending to know everything about Apple, then pretending you know nothing about Scott. Several posts later you know everything about Scott and how he won’t be Steve or a good fit for Apple. So let’s put that to rest once and for all, shall we?
No one will be Steve is Common Sense 101. No one I know is asking for someone to be Steve. Conflate much?
IMHO Scott on his worst day would be better than clueless Cook on his best day. Certainly can go into detail — but in your case, won’t amount to a hill of beans so I won’t bother.
“And just like Disney, Apple will soar to even great heights and do amazing things.”
Ahhhh, how nice … Well Apple apologist grande, guess you missed the news. Apple sales fell in 2016 for the first time since 2001. Mac sales were leading PC sales for several years before falling behind last year. Market share worldwide was growing, now tanking. Tim had his pay publicly cut.
I’ll stop there even though many more examples are affecting Apple progress.
Dream on Tim will get it done …
How about Angela Ahrendts as CEO? There were signs that Tim Cook was grooming her for the position all along, but held off when he saw her success running retail after the failure of John Browett at that position. She had previously excelled as CEO (at Burberry), something no other Apple executive can claim. The only downsides I can come up with are these: she is a woman; and she exemplifies fashion. Some observers might regard these as upsides. I prefer not to take sides, but keep an open mind — a thing that seems to have gone out of fashion lately.
We already have a woman running Apple.
Can you name a single thing Angela Ahrents has done that has added material new value to the company? She has received several hundred million dollars in pay and stock in her brief and very quiet time at Apple. Maybe she helped Jony Ive create the strategy for the original Apple Watch Edition in gold that could only be seen and purchased at about 3 stores around the world. I interact with Apple Stores all the time and see no big improvement or change from the original concept that Steve Jobs developed.
Totally agree! What has she done?
My local Apple Store I can see no discernible difference except they are selling less and less third-party products. As well as discontinuing more and more Apple products. Angela is the epitome of a connected empty paycheck.
Bottom line: This smacks of a diversity hire more than anything. So after the Dr. Beats hire, what’s next? Maybe Tim will hire Caitlyn Jenner in time for the Olympics.
Just kidding. This will twist some noodles — Caitlyn is a staunch conservative. So at Tim’s Apple, persona non grata. 😡
Ahrents is worse than Cook. What has she accomplished? Airheaded and totally out of her league in the tech world.
Please see my response to Kent.
In addition to Cook’s awful incumbent-sytle, numbers-focused, we-only-do-sustaining-improvements lazy management style, he uses what energy he has to waste time supporting loser leftist candidates, push his boutique gay elitist political agendas, focus on phony social movements and congregate with the real ‘deplorables’. Jobs didn’t have time for jack assery. He was far to focussed on making great products and changing things.
Cook is STILL living off of Jobs’ innovations and greatness. He is an errand boy, a logistics shine that is in over his head.
Apple’s #1 problem is Tim Cook!
Bad leadership trickles down.
The results are in and Tim is a useless CEO
Remove Him Now!
Sign This
https://www.change.org/p/apple-board-of-directors-remove-tim-cook-as-ceo-of-apple