Apple Campus 2 Nearing End of Construction as 'Major Landscape Changes' Take Place

[coolfactor]

I'm curious about that landscaping structure.... what material is that? Is it biodegradable, or will it be inert for 500 years?
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Different Apple Campus, Different Apple. Not sure the latter is what Jobs had in mind with the Think Different ad campaign. Sadly it seems Apple is the new Microsoft, a lumbering behemoth of a company encumbered by its own size.

I don't think the fault is in the size of Apple, but I think they've become too comfortable — highly-profitable products that people keep buying no matter the compromises made, and turning a deaf ear to the feedback of the "little guy", thinking they know better. Steve Jobs always said "your customers don't know what they want until you show them", but Apple has taken an opposite approach... cutting features that are useful to their customers. It's very frustrating. They are locked into a habitual cycle of product development.

Leadership needs to change, unfortunately, as evidenced by what has happened with Microsoft under new leadership.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I thought the new campus was designed by Jobs?

Yes, and what exactly is your point? In my post I distinctly said the latter of my two comments is what was un-Jobsian.
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The new campus was personally approved and even presented to the California government by Steve. You can find video on YouTube. This campus is different it's like nothing we ever seen before. So Think Different fits here.

Again, the building is not the point of my post -- it's used as a metaphor to connect where Apple is now. The building is new -- this Apple is different too.

 

[Jarman74]

Actually, that is a wide misconception. Not getting into specifics, but towards 2008 Cook began making the decisions as Jobs focused on the iPad release that truly launched the iPhone (long story on that one as well). As Jobs' health worsened he focused on his family and the iPad launch.

Jobs' other project in limbo since 1984 finally broke ground. The Spanish Colonial Revival 'Jackling house' designed by architect George Washington Smith in the early 1900s for copper magnate Daniel Jackling was finally approved for demolition by the courts in 2010 after Jobs bought in 1984 and fought preservation societies/groups and city council(s). Plans for the new structure were finalized years ago and Jobs was already retired behind the scenes. He knew his time was short and wanted to build his designed home almost 30 years in the making (the design was quite modest in size and aesthetics with some very innovative technology that Jobs and Ive hoped to showcase at some point). Sadly, the lot is empty as the mansion was demolished and Jobs passed away before it was built.

The Apple Campus was 75% Ive. Jobs entertained the idea and fought for its approval, but behind the scenes he lamented its ostentatiousness as it evolved into something very different than he imagined. However, he felt the need to let Cook make the decisions during his transition and decided to "let go" and enjoy his remaining time. He still worked from time to time, but the rumors that he worked up until his death weren't true.

Very interesting. However I'm wondering whether it is a misconception or not as the involvement of Jobs in the project was detailed by articles like this one - e.g. "[Architect Norman] Foster says in the movie: "One of the most memorable things and perhaps vital to the project was Steve saying, 'Don't think of me as your client. Think of me as one of your team'."

 

[RichTeer]

You can't get Cocoa programming job at Apple if you no willing to relocate to California, unlike Google and Microsoft with different teams almost in every major country. The greatest thing build by Steve is not Mac iPod or iPhone it is Apple itself. It can succeed and it proved to do things even better than under Jobs rule. Definitely more open, diverse and environmentally friendly.

I don't disagree that Apple is environmentally friendly, but insisting that new employees relocate is about as environmentally unfriendly as you can get. There's no technical reason why programmers can't work remotely.

16 GB RAM limit is not a problem at all if you consider SSD speed and macOS became much more memory efficient starting from Mavericks. It is not not technically possible to include 32 GB and keep good battery life.

That sounds like something Phil Schiller would say! But more to the point, RAM bandwidth is higher than that of PCIe, so for some workloads, 16 GB of RAM is not "not a problem".

Edit: Also, why not let people choose? Some people may be perfectly willing to trade some small amount of battery life for an extra 16 GB of RAM.

What do you mean?

Did you miss the story where the MacBook Pros don't include the power (extension) cable?

 

[ronntaylor]

It appears Apple is building products that suit about 90% to 95% of their users...

You already answered your own question.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I don't think the fault is in the size of Apple, but I think they've become too comfortable — highly-profitable products that people keep buying no matter the compromises made, and turning a deaf ear to the feedback of the "little guy", thinking they know better.

Yes, but I think those two things ARE linked. As any organization grows, be it a company or government, so does inertia -- the desire to conserve what has been built and to not take too many risks. Apple is very profitable so it doesn't want to take risks that might upset that, so to speak, apple cart. The result is unsatisfying incrementalism at best, stagnation at worst.

Also as an organization grows the communication between departments shrinks and fiefdoms appear. This also makes innovation slower and tougher to achieve. This isn't just with Apple. Take a look at any mega-corp and you will see similar characteristics.

For those that say Apple must know what it's doing because it's making lots of money, well so does Kraft. They sell a ton of Oscar Meyer hot dogs.

 

[WinstonRumfoord]

WAYYYYY to thick. They could lose the bathrooms and drop a MM, I'm sure.

 

[citysnaps]

The new campus was personally approved and even presented to the California government by Steve. You can find video on YouTube. This campus is different it's like nothing we ever seen before. So Think Different fits here.
The Apple is still small company and they operate in the same way instead of devisions - Microsoft office devision, xbox devision they have functions and they pull engineers from different projects together, that's why the Touch Bar has some features from Apple Watch for example. You can't get Cocoa programming job at Apple if you no willing to relocate to California, unlike Google and Microsoft with different teams almost in every major country. The greatest thing build by Steve is not Mac iPod or iPhone it is Apple itself. It can succeed and it proved to do things even better than under Jobs rule. Definitely more open, diverse and environmentally friendly.

16 GB RAM limit is not a problem at all if you consider SSD speed and macOS became much more memory efficient starting from Mavericks. It is not not technically possible
to include 32 GB and keep good battery life. At some point like it happened with CPU clock speed, memory amount has to stop. It can't increase forever, that's against laws of physics.

9.7 iPad Pro is the best iPad ever made, I would get it without thinking, but I already own iPad Air 2 and I am very happy with it. Magic Safe got much worse after 2.0 and 3.0 update, I agree Thunderbolt charging is not as safe. My recommendation is to wait, I bet Apple already working on a USB-C Magic Safe cable. Yes, it is bad move to not release it with new MBP.
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What do you mean?

.

Damn, what an excellent post! Thank you!

It's well-reasoned, interesting, intelligently written and supported with facts. With all the moans and juvenile snark that has ramped up on MR over the last year, it's a shame that when a great post pops up I get caught off-guard and do a double-take.

 

[jayducharme]

I'm not sure that it's "nearing the end of construction". One of the videos mentions that the opening date has been pushed back till sometime in 2017, and that landscaping will continue through at least mid-2017. Even so, I'm impressed that such a massive construction job has taken so little time.

 

[now i see it]

Just think how many dongles are going to be in THAT building. (dongles, as in adapters).

 

[pat500000]

Tim's quick exit if something is going bad.....(teleportation)

 

[32828870]

Very interesting. However I'm wondering whether it is a misconception or not as the involvement of Jobs in the project was detailed by articles like this one - e.g. "[Architect Norman] Foster says in the movie: "One of the most memorable things and perhaps vital to the project was Steve saying, 'Don't think of me as your client. Think of me as one of your team'."

More or less a misconception. Jobs was very involved in the early stages yet his focus was on fighting for its approval (not unlike his near 30 year crusade for his home). Jobs was a tough negotiator, that much everyone knows, yet he knew when and where to stand his ground and what to acquiesce in order to ensure desired results. It was a tactful game and Jobs learned to add finesse with his notoriously headstrong negotiations in his last few years. The original design of the campus was very different in subtle ways to what became a grander project each day.

There was a story of a fight between Jobs and possibly Cook regarding the hallways. Jobs wanted perfectly structured corridors that would require extreme structural engineering. In the early stages when the campus was much smaller the cost wasn't an issue yet as the size grew and Jobs became less involved, the designs were changed to compensate the massive budget. Essentially, he remained to fight for its approval as he was still regarded as the CEO and face of Apple, using his negotiation skills and tactics with his notoriety to ensure approval yet towards the end of his life Jobs left much of Apple's decision making to Cook before it was made public. The decision was to facilitate Cook's transition and to ease shareholders and the public towards a new direction without Jobs.

 

[opfreak]

It appears Apple is building products that suit about 90% to 95% of their users and anyone outside of that range will simply have to look elsewhere for computers. I suppose that's an efficient way for Apple to operate although that still doesn't make much sense to me as far as the Mac Pro computers are concerned. Apple wants to greenify everything, so power requirements have to be kept low. Apple would never be able to compete with companies building VR computers because they require lots of graphics processing using the latest cards available. Those things really suck power. I remember Oculus saying how no Macs were suited for their VR Rift gear. I find that somewhat sad but obviously Apple is moving a different way from most computer hardware companies. I really hate the fact that most PC users can just grab any latest off-the-shelf graphics card(s) and use them to their fullest and beyond. All Apple can provide is old and crippled mobile graphics processors for the iMacs that probably end up being further throttled down due to thermal constraints of the case. I'm sure Apple's best iMacs suit the majority of the users just fine but the few power users don't fit into Apple's plans at all.

I'm thinking Apple is being run by bean counters but if saving the ecology is Apple's way, then I suppose there's nothing that can be done. I guess I shouldn't be selfish wanting a couple SLI graphics cards needing some huge power supply when we should be cutting back on energy use. Everything Apple does seems to cut waste and excess materials so I suppose I'll have to go along with it. I guess that's what the Mac Pro was designed to do but it damn sure was crippled in the process, in my opinion. Why should some cheap Windows PC be able to run circles around it in terms of graphics power? And you're stuck not even being able to upgrade it over time. I just wish Apple would come out and explain what and why they're doing things the way they do them instead of having everyone just thinking the company is dazed and confused.

Apple does design things for 90-95% of its users, but on somethings like the macbook pro, charges what the top 10-5% of users should be expected to pay.
[doublepost=1477927412][/doublepost]on the campus, I'm assuming all those trees are not planet above the foam blocks? Otherwise wouldnt the roots just destory all that.

Plus if apple is green, I'm assuming this landscape is all native plants that once past getting established wont need millions of gallons of water?

 

[Harmonious Zen]

I still don't get the circular design. It looks cool, but is there any functional reason to do it?

 

[slimothy]

Now we know why the MBPs this year are so much more expensive.

 

[kemal]

It is a great piece of work. And I suspect any plumber or electrician who is called to work on the buildings won't need special tools or Apple certification.

 

[FromTheWild]

I heard the new design is much slimmer. Too thin to get any work done in there, but who cares about that right?

Also, don't bother pushing the doorbell, it doesn't chime.

Just wait till next year when they remove all the windows!

 

[macgabe]

Yet again Apple have built it themselves to their own specs and will undoubtedly generate great efficiencies and income in so doing. They will now be paying rent to themselves, and have the perfectly assigned labs and facilities to attract staff rather than being prey to inefficiencies and rising rents of landlords, or difficulties of getting building permissions, maintaining security etc. This just as they are ramping up R&D spend massively. I do wonder what they are doing about the residential side however. Don't know the area but land prices and rents must be skyrocketing there. Wasn't this costed at $1b or so? Anyone remember? Looks like it'll be worth many times that.

 

[Rob_2811]

Different Apple Campus, Different Apple. Not sure the latter is what Jobs had in mind with the Think Different ad campaign. Sadly it seems Apple is the new Microsoft, a lumbering behemoth of a company encumbered by its own size.

I've been buying Apple products since 1988. They've always been hellishly expensive but until of late I never felt ripped off. It was always designed for my needs and paid for by the the time effecencies it brought to my workflow. But I guess starting with the 9.7 Air Pro that changed and now the MBP which is stuck in 2012 with 16GB RAM limit -- a mediocre amount for a supposedly pro machine and decoupled of basic accessories like a power cord. I shutter to think of how Apple will dumb down and price up the next iMac revision.

The bold sums up exactly how I feel.

 

[iamgalt]

I'm curious about that landscaping structure.... what material is that? Is it biodegradable, or will it be inert for 500 years?
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https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...r-panels-windows.1975323/page-2#post-22959249

Read response #27.

 

[Acceleration Apps]

Different Apple Campus, Different Apple. Not sure the latter is what Jobs had in mind with the Think Different ad campaign. Sadly it seems Apple is the new Microsoft, a lumbering behemoth of a company encumbered by its own size.

I've been buying Apple products since 1988. They've always been hellishly expensive but until of late I never felt ripped off. It was always designed for my needs and paid for by the the time effecencies it brought to my workflow. But I guess starting with the 9.7 Air Pro that changed and now the MBP which is stuck in 2012 with 16GB RAM limit -- a mediocre amount for a supposedly pro machine and decoupled of basic accessories like a power cord. I shutter to think of how Apple will dumb down and price up the next iMac revision.

No the new campus was designed while Steve Jobs helped with it the reason why they sale their products for that money is because they don't sell bad products
[doublepost=1477937146][/doublepost]It's a nice campus have always wanted to work for Apple still 13 already have an app on the App Store

 

[thirteen1031]

Different Apple Campus, Different Apple. Not sure the latter is what Jobs had in mind with the Think Different ad campaign. Sadly it seems Apple is the new Microsoft, a lumbering behemoth of a company encumbered by its own size.

You can't put the genie back in the bottle. Apple got big and it's not going back to that little company flying the pirate flag. And we can all sigh and feel sad for those good-old days when it was a little company that could rebel and defy the lumbering behemoths.

But don't forget...it also was at risk of going out of business. I remember it nearly going under as everyone went Microsoft (I even remember being told, "Apple's over. Just accept it, you and everyone else will be using Microsoft software in the future..."). It barely survived and resurfaced. So I can't wish it to go back to that. Big means it can survive hits and losses and mistakes. Yes. Big does come with its own lumbering problems. But I really don't think the cries here of "Apple has lost its way!" Are being fair or right. I think its transitioning. As all companies need to at this time when smartphones, tablets and laptops are ubiquitous and we're only just on the threshold of VR, wearable computers, home kits and self-driving cars.

I don't think Apple is gone or vanished. I think it's still there, still Apple, but, like a lot of companies, finding its way in a shifting landscape, one where products that were groundbreaking are commonplace, and where the next groundbreaking products are, as yet, uncertain. Which is all to say, I think it's premature to call time of death at the moment. Real, not incremental, innovation will start up again, and when it does, that's when we'll know if Apple is still there or if it's vanished into the behemoth.

 

[Eric5h5]

You think this is impressive? Well, around here, the next town over has halfway finished re-paving 1/4 mile of road in the same time frame. Take that, Apple!

--Eric

 

[nuppieri]

saw the microsoft studio? looks so nice... why is that not a mac?

 

[commodorepet]

I wonder how Apple handled their attempt at purchasing that apartment complex. It should have been done before they bought out the larger area owned by HP. Once they made their plans apparent for Campus 2, of course no landlord in their right mind would sell off units that are within a short walk of many people's future workplace. It sucks, but it's a good opportunity to capitalize off of.

The Hamptons was always a premium apartment complex. On that side of the 280, it's basically in Sunnvale, very close to San Jose, but with the coveted Cupertino schools. The owners jack prices at any chance they can, so selling even some to Apple must have been because it was a very good deal for them. The new campus chokes off the road in front of the Hamptons at one end, so people living their will need 5-10 extra minutes to get to the main roads in the morning.

The Bay Area needs more normal spec'ed / priced apartments though.