Yeah I don’t think it’s gonna sink in 10-20 years. But it will be downhill with no good replacements on the market
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Another Longtime Industrial Designer Leaves Apple
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Apple's design has been lacking for far longer than they need to report to operations VP.
No thanks. That person strikes me as an egomaniac and the exact opposite of a good leader. There are reasons he is no longer working there.
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Yup companies going mainstream don’t necessarily resonate well with everyone. That’s probably not the perception of the majority, given how successful Apple is overall.
With the aging-out of senior staff and founders, what's left are fill-ins performing the tasks of a structure that was not created by them, but, rather, handed to them to manage, maintain and build-upon.
Had Mr. Jobs lived, he would be turning 69 later this month. And, were he still at the helm of the good-ship Apple, the press would have already been speculating on his successor candidates and how that new leadership would affect the course of the company. His most-unfortunate early passing has already revealed the answers to these questions.
I read "very little" into the parting-of-ways of senior, and long-time, folks...it is merely the natural course of human life and not some portend or omen. I, myself, left my corporation after 32 years for no other reason than "it was the right time for me". My wishes for Mr. Andre (and Mr. Ive, and so many others) are...best of health and enjoy your new adventures!
Had Mr. Jobs lived, he would be turning 69 later this month. And, were he still at the helm of the good-ship Apple, the press would have already been speculating on his successor candidates and how that new leadership would affect the course of the company. His most-unfortunate early passing has already revealed the answers to these questions.
I read "very little" into the parting-of-ways of senior, and long-time, folks...it is merely the natural course of human life and not some portend or omen. I, myself, left my corporation after 32 years for no other reason than "it was the right time for me". My wishes for Mr. Andre (and Mr. Ive, and so many others) are...best of health and enjoy your new adventures!
If they were going to base it on iPadOS, they should have done everyone a favor and re-thought that one first. It seems they have standardized on their worst interface. They actually made the Mac worse by bringing iPad style controls and windows to it, instead of leaving that alone and making the iPad controls and windows better.
The iPhone and iPad worked well as “Fisher Price” operating systems for the time, but they all need more refined interfaces and controls now. The iPhone is starting to feel like a straight jacket in terms of its Home Screen, for me anyway.
I…no, not Elon Musk.
One thing I know for sure about Elon Musk is that he is not capable of working within the structure that Apple has set up. He has shown that he is incapable of coming in to an existing company and making good decisions.
About the only thing he and Steve Jobs had in common is a complete inability to work for anyone but themselves.
It’s not just about dreams, it’s about execution. Steve Jobs’s super power was negotiation. That seems to be Elon’s kryptonite.
Elon is only good at following his own wild dreams with little to no downside or consequences to himself. Not a good fit for Apple.
Edit: I now realize you may have meant more generally, not just for Apple. Yes maybe, but he still seems to have a problem with execution. I do like the space stuff. If he actually gets us off this rock, all the trolling will have been worth it. But that’s still a big if.
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I hate articles like this because it always brings out the “Steve would never have done this!” types out from the woodwork.
That said, as much as I think designers can be up-their-own-ass, this doesn’t sit well with me.
Part of what made modern Apple “Apple” is their “person-focused” approach to their products. The design philosophy was to make stuff intuitive and simple to use, easy to pick up for the average user. I’d hate to see them move away from that.
That said, as much as I think designers can be up-their-own-ass, this doesn’t sit well with me.
Part of what made modern Apple “Apple” is their “person-focused” approach to their products. The design philosophy was to make stuff intuitive and simple to use, easy to pick up for the average user. I’d hate to see them move away from that.
“The intersection between technology and the liberal arts.”
Cook has no clue about the second one.
More designers will leave because they will not want to be managed by someone who does not know what it is like to be a designer and everything that comes with being a designer. COO Jeff Williams does hold a B.S. and MBA in Mechanical Engineering therefore he must have some design knowledge BUT it would appear he has not used that B.S and MBA knowledge in any design capacity thus it stands to reason that designers reported to him would be a bit annoyed having to report to a non-designer.
The guy put in 30 years.. he is retiring, not abandoning ship because of Cook. Sheesh, can we for once read what is literally right in front of us rather than putting on our negative shades and rubbing our angry crystal ball?
Yep
Look at the state of designs right now.
iPhone SE using a 10 year old design
No OLED on Macs or iPads
60hz on $800 phones
Same design for 5 years on iPhone
Same camera design for 6 years on iPhone
Same iPad design for 7 years now reused on Air and mini.
Bad designed cases for iPhone, Vision and AirPods max
Forced tiny redesign for USB-C.
Absolute bean counter Jeff Williams is ruining what made Apple different.
Cheap, lazy and stupid designers.
So you’ve come out of the woodwork with us, then.
The entire article reads like one giant red flag. Essentially it’s describing how there is no more design team. This is something people have worried about for a few years as people have left and no one replaced them.
Not necessarily a good thing either. It’s inevitable but I’m not sure the heritage of the Old Ways is being passed down sufficiently.
Indeed. Read what’s in front of you. The fact that he’s retiring is not the central issue with the article. The central issue with the article is that Apple has methodically dismantled their design department and replaced actual designers with Jeff Williams. Williams is an operations guy. A decidedly boring and non visionary operations guy. That’s a problem for a company that built its brand on design. If this was a lead designer leaving who was to be replaced by another such individual that would be fine. But that is NOT what’s going on here.
People forget how quickly markets can turn. Nokia which was the king of phones for a while and now they are a shadow of themselves as the market shifted quickly on them.
Blackberry had the same thing happen to them. Nothing to say the same thing can not happen to Apple.
I have criticisms of Tim Cook, but not to the point I demonize him and deify Steve.
I certainly don’t think he’s as radical as Steve was certainly.
So you personally know Jeff Williams and his job competency? Just because he comes from Operations doesn’t mean he has no other skills.
Steve Jobs, in all reality, had no real “background” other than starting a business. But he had other interests and opinions on products. I don’t see how Jeff Williams is any different.
He has been the leader of the entire Apple Watch since launch, and he’s proven himself to do a pretty darn good job at leading product development.
You guys do understand that operations isn’t limited to bean counting right? These are guys with backgrounds in engineering, not “bean counting.” Operations figures out how to MAKE physical things, and how to design parts for manufacture. It’s not like they have no skill or taste in design. Looking at Apples design of their processes and production lines are just as meticulous as the products themselves.
They also just launched their most complicated hardware product to date and a brand new software platform with an entirely new UI paradigm. A new product that costs a whopping $3500. And the “bean counters” have taken over? It’s like the design/product team got EVERYTHING they wanted.
Seems like no matter what Tim Cook does, he will NEVER prove himself to the Jobs/Ive worshippers.
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Not even close. Apple is not pitching clones to put itself out of business. This fantasy about design being paramount is unreasonable in today's world. Yes products should be attractive, but more importantly they need to the possess the performance and features that make consumers want them. Every company has some design engineers they are not that rare, just because someone personal team is mostly gone doesn't mean Apple doesn't have a lot of bright people working for them currently.