Apple Hiring Engineers to Work With Liquidmetal Alloys

[MacRumors]

AppleInsider notes that Apple has posted job listings for three new positions apparently dedicated to working with Liquidmetal's "amorphous metal alloys" for which the company acquired the rights last month. The three new positions include Amorphous Metal Development Manager, Metal Process Development Engineer, and Amorphous Metal Development Engineer. Among other responsibilities for the "highly visible" positions, the management role will entail:

- Managing a team responsible for developing amorphous alloy composition, molding and forming processes, and secondary operations (e.g. machining, grinding, finishing) as applicable to Apple requirements.

- Meeting all quality, capacity, logistics and cost requirements working closely with Industrial Design, Product Design and Global Supply Managers.

- Identifying, researching, developing, and qualifying world-class equipment manufacturers and suppliers.

- Managing the optimization of process capability to achieve dimensional tolerance and cosmetic finish requirements.

Liquidmetal's alloys, which were tested in the SIM card removal tool for the iPhone 3G, are said to offer rapid, low-cost fabrication of relatively complex parts while offering superior strength and corrosion-resistance compared to traditional metals. One former Liquidmetal executive has speculated that Apple is planning to use Liquidmetal alloys in future iPhone models.

Article Link: Apple Hiring Engineers to Work With Liquidmetal Alloys

 

[LouieSamman]

This would mean with the next redesign we are not going to continue with the glass backing of the iPhone.

Rather than worrying of having the iPhone cracking in the front and back of the device, we now only have to worry about the front since that will continue to be glass.

 

[alex.sebenski]

Ayaaaaah!

Steve didn't get his shurikens so he needs someone to make them for him. Hattori Hanzo, VP of iWeapon Engineering.

 

[csmitty]

I have an old friend who has more education than he knows what to do with. I think his last two degrees were a Masters in Material Science and a PhD in Chemistry.

Even with his education and work experience, I don't know if he would be qualified to run a critical department at one of the worlds most progressive (and fast paced) companies.

I would bet they had 10,000 qualified applicants within a day of posting the job.

I'd imagine you'd have to have 10+ years of managerial experience to run something like that. I wouldn't think anyone with a PhD would be able to walk in with out any leadership experience and do that. I know if it was me I wouldn't even try. Look what happened to Papermaster or maker, what ever his name was.

 

[lilo777]

Apple is getting more and more vertically integrated. Soon they will start buying farms to produce milk for the engineers who work on liquid metals for engineers who work on cases for engineers who work on laptops.

 

[inket]

I'd say it's for the next MacBook Pros.

2011 will be all about Macs and OS X 10.7.

 

[applefanDrew]

All you guys saying we will see it the next iPhone or MacBook pros are crazy. If they are just now hiring, the earliest iPhone model to see liquidmetal will be the 2012 one ( it'll be due for a redesign then anyway). iPhone 4g (5) is already designed and probably being tested. 2011 MacBook pros will probably be the same as always.

 

[Razeus]

I'd say it's for the next MacBook Pros.

2011 will be all about Macs and OS X 10.7.

At 30% of their sales. Hardly.

 

[Horus]

Steve didn't get his shurikens so he needs someone to make them for him. Hattori Hanzo, VP of iWeapon Engineering.

I lol'd

 

[Mac21ND]

No T2 jokes yet? Remember, it can only be formed into stabbing weapons, not complex machines.

 

[WiiDSmoker]

All you guys saying we will see it the next iPhone or MacBook pros are crazy. If they are just now hiring, the earliest iPhone model to see liquidmetal will be the 2012 one ( it'll be due for a redesign then anyway). iPhone 4g (5) is already designed and probably being tested. 2011 MacBook pros will probably be the same as always.

Unfortunately you're most likely right. I skipped the 4, hoping the 5 would be an improvement and have this, but it's probably way too early.

 

[wikoogle]

This would mean with the next redesign we are not going to continue with the glass backing of the iPhone.

Rather than worrying of having the iPhone cracking in the front and back of the device, we now only have to worry about the iPhone coming to life, massacring people, and enslaving humanity.

Fixed.

Happy now Mac21ND?

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

This would mean with the next redesign we are not going to continue with the glass backing of the iPhone.

Rather than worrying of having the iPhone cracking in the front and back of the device, we now only have to worry about the front since that will continue to be glass.

why do you make this assumption? could it be that liquidmetal might be what the NEXT external antenna will be made of?

 

[Mac21ND]

Fixed.

Happy now Mac21ND?

Much better. I'll be back.

 

[hardhatmac]

we now only have to worry about the front since that will continue to be glass.

When will they start using transparent aluminum like they've had in Star Trek since the Kirk era?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_materials

 

[justperry]

I'd say it's for the next MacBook Pros.

2011 will be all about Macs and OS X 10.7.

Agree

All you guys saying we will see it the next iPhone or MacBook pros are crazy. If they are just now hiring, the earliest iPhone model to see liquidmetal will be the 2012 one ( it'll be due for a redesign then anyway). iPhone 4g (5) is already designed and probably being tested. 2011 MacBook pros will probably be the same as always.

Are You an insider,You don 't know anything,making wild guesses.

At 30% of their sales. Hardly.

Explain

Nowadays getting a new product on the market is totally different than a decade ago,they have so much more technology by their side to help them designing and testing a product so it takes mere months instead of years.
And,who says they were not already doing this longer than now.(Designing and testing)
Look at OSX for Intel,it was already there 5 years before they actually confirmed it would run on a Intel Mac.
They could well have a new design for lets say next summer and get 10.7 with it.
I also think the Aluminium enclosure of the Macbooks (Unibody) are way too expensive to make,so why not get this liquid Metal enclosure as fast as possible!

 

[Brinkman]

Can't wait for the next revision of the macbook pro's.

 

[entatlrg]

All you guys saying we will see it the next iPhone or MacBook pros are crazy. If they are just now hiring, the earliest iPhone model to see liquidmetal will be the 2012 one ( it'll be due for a redesign then anyway). iPhone 4g (5) is already designed and probably being tested. 2011 MacBook pros will probably be the same as always.

I agree with your comments.

Product design, development, testing production takes much longer than many people realize yes even in the fast paced tech industry ...

 

[SeattleMoose]

MS Looking For Someone To Invent "Corporate Ex-Lax"

Word on the street is that their design department is so constipated that MS probably needs dynamite to get the ideas flowing again...

MS Zune DOA
MS Phone MIA
MS Pad "still in creative visualization"

 

[CFreymarc]

I'd imagine you'd have to have 10+ years of managerial experience to run something like that. I wouldn't think anyone with a PhD would be able to walk in with out any leadership experience and do that. I know if it was me I wouldn't even try. Look what happened to Papermaster or maker, what ever his name was.

Welcome to the USA where a Ph.D. is more of a career limiting move than career enhancing. When I see those sometime dreaded three letters on a resume, I think one of the following. 1) Very bad industry experience and retreated back to school 'til they were turned down for tenure; 2) Specialist researcher that better have a bunch of patents in their name or they have just been making someone else rich / famous; or the worst 3) Someone with cultural or family expectations that you must need a doctorate for any respect above a commoner in one's realm.

I never assume management skills. In fact, when I see Ph. D. I tend to think lack of social and group skills. Some of the worst managers I have seen in this valley have doctorates. In many cases, designing for cost and not state-of-the-art is what makes a good engineering manager. While Apple is very progressive in state-of-the-art products, they tend not have the latest and greatest unless a good user experience can be wrapped around it.

The state-of-the-art-no-matter-what mindset went out with the Apple ][ engineering crew when the Lisa project started up. Hard to believe Lisa Jobs is 32 now and can be seen around Greenwich Village these days.

 

[JustARumor]

If they are just now hiring, the earliest iPhone model to see liquidmetal will be the 2012 one ( it'll be due for a redesign then anyway). iPhone 4g (5) is already designed and probably being tested.

You're likely right that the next models are already designed and being tested. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that those models don't utilize this technology: remember that this isn't a new technology being researched, it's something that's been around and that Apple has actually used. It could very well be that they've designed and prototyped, say, the next iPhone as an LM product, and being happy with the results, decided to buy the sole rights to lock out competitors in preparation for eventual mass production.

 

[MyDesktopBroke]

At 30% of their sales. Hardly.

I know the conventional wisdom is that Steve hates Macs now. I was surprised that he spend a good amount of time during the iPod event talking about new Mac stores and how many customers are buying Macs (and how many of those are first time Mac buyers). In fact, it stood out because there were no Mac updates (iTunes, I guess) announced that day.

 

[justperry]

I agree with your comments.

Product design, development, testing production takes much longer than many people realize yes even in the fast paced tech industry ...

Again I don't agree,setting up the factories and the whole infrastructure is taking much more time than actually designing,testing an enclosure will take near to nothing,what's there to test,no software bugs,no bad (electronics)components to be tested.
Sure,there will be stress tests and so on but it won't take a year,months would be more acurate.

 

[CFreymarc]

Word on the street is that their design department is so constipated that MS probably needs dynamite to get the ideas flowing again...

MS Zune DOA
MS Phone MIA
MS Pad "still in creative visualization"

At times there there is no difference between a mass layoff and rolling a hand grenade down the cubical aisles. There have been a few scenes where things get to such a loggerhead and everyone blames each other, just fire the whole damn crew and start over.

There was this one cliquish group of marketing types and engineers (all in their 20s and 30s) that was doing a very early smart-phone and almost nothing was done. Long and short, they ended up turning their product development team into a social circle.

All those "long days" were no all devoted to work. They ended up doing two to three hour lunches, weekend field trips and I swear a few were sleeping with each other. I wrote up the report to the VP and CEO and told them they were doing their best to cover each others asses. When they asked me what to do, I said, "They are so tight with each other, any new arrival will have weeks just to fit in. If you want anything to move forward, unload the whole crew."

They did just that, a new product crew was hired with (some turned away just for being from the same university classes of the just dismissed clique) and half the jobs were contracted out. Product was done and shipping by the end of the year.

 

[CFreymarc]

I know the conventional wisdom is that Steve hates Macs now. I was surprised that he spend a good amount of time during the iPod event talking about new Mac stores and how many customers are buying Macs (and how many of those are first time Mac buyers). In fact, it stood out because there were no Mac updates (iTunes, I guess) announced that day.

I don't by that at all. Steve started the Mac, it's his first child. If you have noticed, the market that the Mac addresses matures with the aging of his daughter Lisa Jobs who is now 32.

To me, the whole iOS product line is viewed as the eventual successor of the Mac in the "post PC era" if that ever comes to fruition. Keep in mind, Steve hasn't always batted a 1.000 on his technology predictions. When NeXT started, he expected optical drives to replace magnetic hard disks in capacity and access speed. They didn't for whatever reason. The iPad is ground breaking doing the tablet concept right. We still need and use keyboards, mice and monitors to work with large amounts of data.

Envision a scenario where the iPad moves into replace the lower end Mac like the Mini where you just park you iPad to the Mini or a terminal like device and you are at you desk typing away with all the data sharing and the iPad is the network connection.

I'm sure a prototype is running right now in "the loop" as we speak. However, for higher end process and servers, Macs running OS X are going to be around for a good while. The user experience needs to be right so grandma doesn't have to worry about IP addresses.