“One of the reasons Apple stopped attending Macworld [Expo] in an official capacity was because it grew weary of having to announce a grand new product on an artificial schedule set by conference organizers,” Yoni Heisler writes for TUAW. “Ironically, Apple with the success of the iPhone is now somewhat tied to announcing a next-gen device every 12 months or so.”
“Nonetheless, Apple certainly has no problem in pushing back a product launch until things are just right. Recall that the iPhone 4s didn’t launch until October of 2011, a good 16 months after the iPhone 4. Rumors at the time suggested that the delay was caused by issues with Siri, the device’s flagship feature. You might also remember that the white iPhone 4 was delayed for 9 months,” Heisler writes. “In that instance, rumor has it that the white paint on the device was too thin and subsequently allowed too much light to reach the camera sensor, resulting in less than stellar photos.”
“Applying this framework to Apple’s mythical iWatch, for example, one would be well advised to ignore the myriad of reports claiming to know when such a device might be announced and/or released. One day we stumble upon a report which claims that the iWatch will be announced in September and the next we see a report claiming that everything has been pushed back until 2015,” Heisler writes. “Suffice it to say, Apple will launch this mythical wearable device when it’s ready to ship and works as intended.”
Much more in the full article here.
Sometimes, it’s just as important to have the wisdom to say no to some products and not release anything.
sometimes it’s just as important to shake the milk as it is to have the milk shake you
Ummm, ?
When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.
So, are you saying that seagulls are like pundits?
Or vice versa?
Pushing back product deadlines from what? When was ANYTHING announced and any deadline set?
Exactly.
Ha ha ha ha !!! Apple registers a trade name for “iWatch” and everyone goes off in a panic making smartwatch announcements !!!!
Samsung even rushed their stupid-watch only revise it a few months later so it runs Tizen and make it worse !
There are suspiciously no leaked bullshit photos from the supply chain.
It would be awesome if this whole thing is bluff to distract thieves while blindsiding them with whatever Apple has planned.
Yeah, it would be really ironic if after all this frantic hoopla, if Apple released a personal 3D wearable widescreen TV called iWatch 3D, or a smart Baby monitor called iWatch, or a whole house security system built around the Mac mini with Blutooth minicams and sensors, that can recognize acceptable family members, guests, pets, etc., and normal activities, but warn authorities or take appropriate action when something is amiss, called iWatch.
Nothing was announced to the public, obviously. But don’t you think that in their development process, they have some internal deadlines for certain development milestones? Wouldn’t a logical deadline for a release of iPhone 4s be about the same as for the previous there models (3G, 3GS, 4), about one year after the previous model? It is all guessing, but it is way too much of a common sense to just be a wild guess.
I’d rather see the products complete on release than buggy! I hate when things get released and buggy as heck, then its up to the end users to troubleshoot the issues.
Reading the whole article I was impressed. A tech writer showing alarming amounts of common sense.
Yoni Heisler 👏
The problem with the white iPhone 4 wasn’t with the camera, it was with the proximity sensor that detects whether it’s against your face or not. It consists of an IR LED and sensor, and the sensor looks for a modulated IR signal reflecting from the user’s face. It has to work in hot or cold weather, for people with and without beards, etc..
It turned out that surrounding an IR sensor with white paint makes for significantly different characteristics than surrounding it with black paint. The failure rate for white iPhones in testing was too high for Apple. Any other company would have gone ahead and shipped them.
The very worst thing about gadgets is when they don’t work. Or, worse still, when the pop culture buyer is distracted by something else that looks even more gadgetry than the others sitting side by side on the shelf. In either case, Tim’s gadgets have quite a challenge to meet. So, whether it’s now or later doesn’t really matter. Does it?
Just go away.
If you must post here, although I can’t wait until you stop, then at least have a point.
Uh, the iPhone4 was still Steve Jobs’ gadget.
There is no challenge. There never was challenge. For decades, Apple’s products were always way above others as aspirational items. People coveted Apple hardware, and settled for competitors (if they couldn’t afford or justify Apple). Year after year, customer satisfaction data confirms this, as Apple sits on top of list after list of user satisfaction.
Meanwhile, in other news, Elvis is still dead.
Apple announced nothing.
Apple released a ship date? No
Apple revised a ship date? No
It is sad when fiction writers pose as reporters, then blame Apple for not meeting the deadlines in the fictional stories.
As I said before, surely Apple must have some internal deadlines on their product development cycle? Surely, when they announced a white iPhone and then they shipped it nine months later, this couldn’t have been the original plan?
Apple is the only company with a secretly guarded road map, so we must rely on guessing. And guess we must, since Apple is a publicly traded company, and forward-looking information is required by owners (shareholders) in order to make proper investment decisions. Since Apple won’t give such information, others must guess it. And when four iPhones get released in June of every year, it makes perfect logical sense to conclude that, when the fifth is released in September, somebody missed some major deadlines. Especially since it was an ‘S’ model (3G -> 3GS; 4 -> 4s; 5 -> 5s; in other words, an incremental upgrade). By now, we all know what it was (Siri), but the point is that an internal deadline must have been there and has been missed.
The article is one of the rare writings that makes sense.
Over all I agree with what you say.
” Since Apple won’t give such information, others must guess it. ” And while this is true, what is so sad is that the bloggers and anal…ysts, in general, DO NOT try to guess correctly. They guess in a way to get hits, to drive stock price, to protect their clients. They guess with an agenda that has NOTHING to do with being correct.
This gets so bad as to be criminal, but so far no one seems to notice. So sad.
PS, its also funny how most other companies announce their road maps only to bluster and brag and never meet their path. Its used by them as advertising only.
So sad.
And rumor sites have no shame in denying that they were wrong about product/software releases………………..the headline of this article overflows with arrogance……….
Not really. The “rumour” site is quoting a former Apple employee who worked there for years, and who provides the core of the statement in the headline (that Apple has no qualms about pushing back product deadlines). This guy had witnessed it many times, and it underscores the fundamental difference between the way Apple does development of product and everyone else. The article talks about MVP (Minimum Viable Product) as the driving concept in today’s tech startup world: release something that’s barely good enough, then iterate and refine while collecting feedback from early adopters. Apple doesn’t go for MVP; they go for perfection right out of the gate, and they won’t think twice before missing an internal deadline in order to achieve that perfection.
no shame?
Look at http://buyersguide.macrumors.com and tell me that it isn’t shameful how long it’s been since Apple updated its Mac mini, the Apple TV, several versions of iPod, etc. Apple is no longer interested only in delighting its users — it is now focusing its energy only on subscription-based computing & profit maximization rather than setting the pace on new hardware.
You can’t have it both ways — everyone here declares the competitors to all be copycats, then gives Cook a free pass to be late and/or buggy on product release after product release. As Jobs said, “Great artists ship.” Sadly under Cook, hardware for the most part has gotten very stale, especially on the Mac side of the house.
Mike. Hmmmm is Apple the worst company…. except for all the others???
You usually are really down about Apple not doing more and faster (you are not alone there) but where is the competition that is so far ahead of Apple???
I do not think most of us are Apple fanatics, we just look around us and see that most of Apple’s competition just sucks so bad. It does not mean we thing Apple could not do better.
I, for one, would love to see a bluetooth mouse be added to an iPad function. OMG, I could do so much more, so much easier with a mouse. Text entering is great on a bluetooth keyboard but editing with the finger sucks so bad. I am tempted to use a rubber pointing device. Would rather have a mouse.
Just saying.
Some f-er somewhere is still waiting for his powerbook G5.