“Two weeks ago, we reported that Apple was in the throes of a designer hiring spree at its new Apple Park Santa Clara Valley operation,” Joshua Fruhlinger writes for Thinknum.
“Beginning in October, design openings jumped from 40 to 70 on January 12, 2018, a sharp increase for the company that was hiring an average of around 20-30 designers at any one time. The openings included such telling specialties as motion scientists, product managers, optical engineers, touch ASIC digital architect, iPhone System Engineer, Siri engineers, iPhone product managers, plastic tooling engineers, and prototype iOS Engineers,” Fruhlinger writes. “This jump in design openings led us – and many others who covered our story – to believe that Apple is up to something special, likely a new product design that – to this date – no one has thought of.”
“But there’s One More Thing. We discovered what appears to be an absolutely massive jump in hardware engineering positions at Apple’s headquarters,” Fruhlinger writes. “Starting in September with 665 hardware engineering openings, a swift upslope in positions this fall peaked just last week at 1,198 – a rise of 80%. In short, it’s possible that whatever all those new designers are con[j]uring, Apple needs thousands of engineers to make it happen.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple smart glasses, perhaps?
Imagine what could be done with AirPods coupled with a pair of Apple Specs. The sky’s the limit! — MacDailyNews, November 17, 2016
SEE ALSO:
Apple smart glasses are inevitable – July 28, 2017
Gene Munster: Apple Glasses will soon outshine the iPhone – June 28, 2017
Gene Munster: Expect Apple smart glasses in mid-2020 – June 27, 2017
UBS: Apple may eventually launch ‘iGlass’ smart glasses – June 20, 2017
Apple granted U.S. patent for hybrid VR head-mounted display – February 18, 2015
Apple is working on VR user interfaces and gaming; looking for Oculus and Leap experts – February 10, 2015
Apple granted patent for display-based speakers for iOS devices – January 13, 2015
Apple granted a patent for devices with a transparent display – November 18, 2014
Apple’s new iPhones, iPads could feature haptic displays – June 30, 2014
Apple patent application reveals personal display headset invention – May 8, 2014
Google Glass-wearing woman claims attack at San Francisco bar – February 26, 2014
One year wearing Google Glass: ‘Look at that asshole’ – December 31, 2013
Apple patent application reveals wildly intelligent multi-tiered haptics system – May 3, 2012
Apple continues to tweak Apple TV video headset accessory – April 10, 2014
Apple patent application reveals sapphire flexible transparent display devices created with Liquidmetal – December 19, 2013
Apple granted knockout patent for head-mounted personal display – December 10, 2013
iGlasses: Apple granted patent for head-mounted augmented reality displays – July 5, 2012
Finally the PowerBook G5
Classic..
Feel bad for the people who don’t get this joke.
heh
Or it could be that they’ve decided to not outsource as much of their engineering to China…
That was my first thought too. Getting a team of touch sensor engineers would be one of the steps you’d need on the long path to Samsung independence.
HR found the misplaced memo to hire more engineers for that Mac Pro project.
First the G5 joke. Now the Mac Pro joke. You folks are nailing the humor today!
AirPods with Apple smart glasses?
Nah, let’s all jump directly to using Borg implants!
/s
Nah. Black airpods
You all have it wrong. It is time to fire Tim Cook! Those engineers are only hired for media attention, they are really just twiddling their thumbs doing nothing. Apple can’t innovate, they don’t invent any products, they only copy now. Nothing is being built and it will never happen without Steve Jobs there. Apple has fallen behind the competition in every current product category. /s
you must work for goldman-sucks
While not up the the standards of the humor posted above, you have to realize that this is sarcasm.
Hundreds of engineers just to design and build a better iPhone and the tech critics will still say Apple doesn’t have any innovation left. For so many years it was said that Apple didn’t have anything worthwhile in the pipeline. What’s odd is how Samsung can turn out hundreds of products every year without breaking a sweat, yet it takes Apple six years to update their Mac Pro computer and nearly 4 years to upgrade the Mac Mini. Totally puzzling. Why is it so hard for Apple to do what other companies do routinely? It makes no sense to me.
And, it’s one of the reasons the stock fluctuates as it does. Apple basically has one product the iPhone without it they wouldn’t need that spaceship.
other companies do *not* routinely do what Apple does. Samsung launched its copied smartphones on Android many years ago with the plan to shift over to Tizen. Apple shipped the *original* smartphone complete with its own iOS in 2007, and *without* the advantage of copying someone else’s design or utilizing someone else’s OS. See the difference?
Now let me be clear – I am not defending Apple’s tardiness in updating its Macs – especially the Mac Pro and Mac mini. Apple can and should do much better. But, when you start making bogus comparisons to other companies just to make Apple look bad and bolster your argument, then I am going to call you on it.
Apple has screwed up a few things in recent years. But it has also done a lot of things right – very right. And Apple is subject to less reasonable expectations nowadays. Apple spent years developing the iPhone, yet it was released without third party apps or App Store or lots of other things that we now consider essential and take for granted. Now people are complaining because Apple took six or seven years on the HomePod and it doesn’t do everything out of the box from the start. Two different things at two different times, I realize, yet there are similarities.
I an convinced of this – Apple will continue to progress and improve and advance its products, software, and ecosystem. As long as Apple focuses on providing a superior customer experience and protecting consumer privacy, then I will maintain my loyalty to the company. That doesn’t mean that I won’t criticize Apple – I expect them to pursue perfection and the special Apple magic of simplicity through complexity. But I will support the company, even as I criticize its failings.
Wait, what’s “conuring”, some new technology?
I think he meant ‘conjuring,’ maybe he smoked the ‘J’ ? 🖖😀⌚️
My hopes evaporated long ago. Apple is all about big brother services now. I don’t see any effort going into PERSONAL computing at all. Less than zero effort into scientific or engineering software or hardware. I expect Apple is chasing after GM and Tesla for consumer transport… and Sony studios for entertainment, unfortunately. Money pits all.
Getting rid of the notch, and a brain for Cook.
They forgot to put the word ‘social’ in front of ‘engineer’.
And they certainly neglected any Engineers specializing in “Heat Transfer” for the Mac Pro (and iMac Pro), although that’s really a misnomer.
What Apple needs is a manager over the Thermal Management group who tells Johnny Ive … “HELL NO!”.
… and gets backed up by Cook.
Working a new port to replace the current USB-C.
It’s already been out for over a year. Time to replace it.
A Martian car park, for Teslas
Dear Apple,
1 – MacPro
Update the MacPro every year with any updates that exist – more ram, faster graphics, MORE I/O ( not less ), more storage, expandability and upgradability. THIS is what a PRO user wants and needs. No reason not to update this yearly. In the Q1 timeframe, a time when companies allocate funds towards equipment and the consumer market slows down. It’s not a fluke why the consumer electronics show, NAMM, auto show, etc.. all pimp new products in Jan/Feb.. now sell to them.
2 – Displays
No reason to blow this market off. You proudly advertise how great your retina display is, yet you ignore making a desktop one? Confusing. Make displays to compliment your MacPro and MacMini. Not to mention having a Apple logo in front of millions of users doesn’t help sustain the brand in people’s minds.
3 – Mac Mini
I still think this product is used and should still be made, just update it.
4 – iMac
WHY is this not a priority to Apple? Make NEW iMacs every year. Announce AND release it in Q3 for the Holiday season; and make sure you manufacturer enough to meet the demand.
5 – iPhone
Increase battery life. More innovation. Don’t neglect the 4″ size, just because Samsung made you think the world wants huge phones… not everyone does. Loose the “s”, it makes no sense on the marketing side to the consumer. And if you are going to do a whole keynote and release a new model, make sure it has more than “look how thin it is”
6 – iWatch
Utilize the board of directors you built on this device to help recognize heart attack and stroke symptoms before they happen. Having the watch excel in the medical and health field will reap dividends for years to come… making it a must-have product.
7 – AppleTV
The i/o again is lacking for systems that run like Control4 that needs better options for i/o.
Get the deals done with the networks to help consumers rid the stranglehold on cable companies that over-charge for a million channels.
8 – MacBook Pro
Bring back i/o!!!!
If you want to be respected as a PRO machine, allow there PROS to USE it without 1,000 cables coming out of it. Pro users do not want to deal with dongles.
9 – MacBook / MacBook Air
just give them a refresh more often than 3 years
I really don’t understand the difficulty to update these yearly, without the need for a re-design…
10 – Stock
Keep buying back diluted shares so it’s harder to be manipulated. AAPL is one of the most manipulated stocks on the market.
11- Aquisitions
Make sure what you are looking to acquire is not something Apple can achieve on it’s own with the talent within. (See Beats). And whoever is negotiating these deals needs to grow a pair and learn how to get better deals and not waste so much money on some of these companies. When I see what Apple pays for these acquisitions, I shake my head. Paying $3B for beats was a terrible decision.
Tim didn’t get the memo that Apple CREATES ecosystems and doesn’t just buy them.
If you’re gonna acquire a company, acquire Adobe; for the assets.
12 – Diversify Manufacturing
Apple needs to diversify manufacturing to more than one resource to meet the demand. Be the leader in bringing back manufacturing on a large scale back to America. Utilize China, Mexico and India to meet demand for products so the consumer can purchase the products you are advertising.
13 – Advertising
More money needs to be spent on Advertising and aggressive advertising. Apple has gotten a little weak on ads. Marketing is everything.
14 – iTunes
Fix iTunes. It’s such a pain and over-bloated. iTunes 2010 runs better than iTunes 2017… that is messed up.
15 – Software
Fix Mail. Fix spotlight. Bring back Aperture.
Allocate staff to interact with users of your software and aggressively update them based on the users input. It’s not that difficult.. the users will give you the answers to the quiz. Listen to them and your software will shine.
16 – iCloud
This is kind of embarrassing. Other companies offer better services for less money. it almost makes more sense to roll $5 – $10 more into each product and offer iCloud for free with a generous space to sustain the
user base, offering tons of services with all that content. 1TB free is what I would offer.
17 – Retail
Allocate more employees to help people at the help desk. Every store I go in has 10-20 sales people, mostly talking to one another, meanwhile 2-3 tech people are backlogged with pissed off customers. This is mis-managed and can be better handled.
18 – Keynotes
Tim, step aside and let someone with passion, excitement and a great stage excitement do the keynotes. Make them count. Don’t assemble the press and your fan base to come to one of these events to tell them the new iPhone is thinner. Don’t waste everyone’s time and understand when you have the stage.. perform… sell… and if you lack things to talk about, then it should be telling to your allocation of the talent around you and how you utilized them.
19 – Apple Pay
WHY is this not being advertised like crazy? No excuse for the lazy approach to this. Advertise this everywhere. Co-Brand with world brands. Do a co-brand commercial with subway showing people buying a sandwich and paying with their phone in seconds. Show how easy and secure it is. Almost every person I tell about Apple Pay has no clue about how much more secure it is than the other choices. Even the retail staff doesn’t know. Who’s job is that to tell them? Apple! Run ads showcasing that strength.
20 – HomeKit
See how users use products like Control4 and start building the ecosystem for that. I feel this, along with CarPlay, can be a game-changer if done right. You create great things like HomeKit, yet trying to educate the consumer about it is lacking. There should a fun section on the website all about these technologies you have. Consumers should not have to dig for that info. The website and marketing should be promoting them more aggressively. This is a under utilized sector for Apple.
21 – iPad
iPad should be updated every year and announced and released Q3 for holiday quarter sales.
22 – R&D
Make sure the products are tested enough so you don’t have issues after the release (see maps, EarPods, macbook pro 2016 battery, etc.. )
23 – Fix your Christmas failures
2017 – missed releasing HomePod release for Christmas
2016 – missed AirPod inventory to sell
2015 – missed inventory on iPhone to meet demand
2014 – missed iMac inventory to sell thru Christmas
This is a ongoing problem. The date for Christmas has not changed in 2017 years.
Take around 1% of your revenue $200 – $250B and hire 50,000 workers averaging $50,000 each
and diversify them into manufacturing plants: 20,000 in the U.S., 10,000 in China, 10,000 in Mexico and
10,000 in India to meet your product demand so the cycles of the products are announced, released and
exercised in ONE financial quarter so your analytic data points are more accurate sand consumers are better served.
24 – Better communication
Way too many PR nightmare from one CEO for such a small sku product line. Throttling the iOS without
letting people know was one of the worst executions this company has ever done.. again under Tim Cook.
Those are some of my ideas.
Richard Hofherr