Apple Gives iPhone Designers Bonuses Up to $400K to Counter OpenAI Poaching

[MacRumors]

Apple gave its iPhone Product Design team bonuses worth "several hundred thousand dollars" in an effort to keep them from being poached by other companies, reports Bloomberg. The bonuses were provided as restricted stock units (RSUs) that will vest over a four-year period.

Hardware designers given bonuses will need to stay with Apple to get the full value of the stock award, which can range from $200,000 to $400,000 or even more depending on how Apple stock does over the next several years.

Apple executives are concerned with the number of engineers the company has been losing to rivals like OpenAI. Several former Apple designers are now working on hardware products at OpenAI, including former Apple design chief Jony Ive. OpenAI has been recruiting Apple engineers that worked on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro, and it has hired over 40 former Apple employees.

In 2021 and 2022, Apple also handed out stock bonuses to engineers in silicon design, hardware, software, and operations to thwart poaching and increase employee retention.

Article Link: Apple Gives iPhone Designers Bonuses Up to $400K to Counter OpenAI Poaching

 

[willzyx]

So they got restricted stock that may be worth up to $400k one day. All OpenAI has to do is counter with $400k sign up bonus. They are burning through so much cash, I don't think they'd care.

 

[tennisproha]

If revamped Siri fails, they're gonna have to start giving customers RSU's to keep them from jumping ship.

 

[GeezGlitch]

Honestly, I’m not surprised. Without a true visionary like Steve Jobs, Apple feels like it’s slowly losing its edge.

Remember when Jobs introduced the iPhone as the “iPod killer", “an iPod, a phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator”? I think something similar is coming again, but this time, it won’t be Apple leading it. What OpenAI is building, especially with someone like Jony Ive involved, has the potential to be the iPhone killer. Not just another device, but an entirely new way of interacting with technology.

It would be more like a presence, something that’s always there, always listening (seeing) when you need it, but never in the way.

You wouldn’t open apps or tap through screens.

You’d just talk.

 

[ThomasJL]

It shows how dull, uninspiring, and lacking in innovation Tim Cook is to have Jony Ive and other Apple employees leave Apple to go work for Scam Altman.

 

[GeezGlitch]

It shows how dull, uninspiring, and lacking in innovation Tim Cook is to have Jony Ive and other Apple employees leave Apple to go work for Scam Altman.

I wonder what Scott Forstall thinks, or, what he would do if he was allowed to return and takeover as CEO.

 

[locovaca]

They would’ve done cash but it would’ve required putting ads into the contacts app too

 

[CarAnalogy]

Honestly, I’m not surprised. Without a true visionary like Steve Jobs, Apple feels like it’s slowly losing its edge.

Remember when Jobs introduced the iPhone as the “iPod killer", “an iPod, a phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator”? I think something similar is coming again, but this time, it won’t be Apple leading it. What OpenAI is building, especially with someone like Jony Ive involved, has the potential to be the iPhone killer. Not just another device, but an entirely new way of interacting with technology.

It would be more like a presence, something that’s always there, always listening (seeing) when you need it, but never in the way.

You wouldn’t open apps or tap through screens.

You’d just talk.

Yeah, we keep describing the Enterprise Computer used through a Communicator.

But instead of teleportation and tactical analysis we’ll just get more ads.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Honestly, I’m not surprised. Without a true visionary like Steve Jobs, Apple feels like it’s slowly losing its edge.

Remember when Jobs introduced the iPhone as the “iPod killer", “an iPod, a phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator”? I think something similar is coming again, but this time, it won’t be Apple leading it. What OpenAI is building, especially with someone like Jony Ive involved, has the potential to be the iPhone killer. Not just another device, but an entirely new way of interacting with technology.

It would be more like a presence, something that’s always there, always listening (seeing) when you need it, but never in the way.

You wouldn’t open apps or tap through screens.

You’d just talk.

Just talking is fine when you're by yourself. It doesn't work in an office, in the public, on a bus, in a car with others, on a plane, at the airport.. It's just a bad idea. Typing/taping is private.

The Altman/Ive misadventure is going to be a dud.

 

[ghostanime2001]

Apple is getting weak openai poached their top employees means their interest is elsewhere that apple can't deliver on ..and Siri is going to call short or fail again for 2nd year In a row I just have this gut feeling...and Siri isn't even apple anymore it's Google underneath just like how ...a Toyota Supra isn't Toyota ..it's a BMW lol

 

[JPack]

Not enough when it's a lifetime hit to your earnings potential by spending your best years at a non-AI company.

 

[McScooby]

Apple is getting weak openai poached their top employees means their interest is elsewhere that apple can't deliver on ..and Siri is going to call short or fail again for 2nd year In a row I just have this gut feeling...and Siri isn't even apple anymore it's Google underneath just like how ...a Toyota Supra isn't Toyota ..it's a BMW lol

It's also possible that for someone who loved their job money wasn't the only pull?

Imagine being challenged every day for being told you can't do something because of Apple's restrictive data policies to switching to a company where you're like a kid in a candy store by having too much of it.

 

[Abazigal]

If revamped Siri fails, they're gonna have to start giving customers RSU's to keep them from jumping ship.

Users have been free to switch at any time. The iPhone is more than any one feature thanks to the strength of its ecosystem. Siri is a bummer in its current state, but hardly the death knell you all love making it out to be.

 

[Gloor]

I don't think you understand the tech here. iPhone will not be killed for a long time. Eventually we will have an iPhone killer but that is at least 10 years away if not longer. At some point we will control things either through our minds or through some form of eye/voice interaction (maybe a black mirror style device).
That tech however is a long long in the future. All these AI device will be addition to an iPhone. We are not ready to do all things without a screen. My bet is 15 years we might start to see some tech that might be getting closer but not before.
The only exception would be AR Glasses but seeing how population reacts to that right now I don't see that changing soon either.

Honestly, I’m not surprised. Without a true visionary like Steve Jobs, Apple feels like it’s slowly losing its edge.

Remember when Jobs introduced the iPhone as the “iPod killer", “an iPod, a phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator”? I think something similar is coming again, but this time, it won’t be Apple leading it. What OpenAI is building, especially with someone like Jony Ive involved, has the potential to be the iPhone killer. Not just another device, but an entirely new way of interacting with technology.

It would be more like a presence, something that’s always there, always listening (seeing) when you need it, but never in the way.

You wouldn’t open apps or tap through screens.

You’d just talk.

 

[luccalabs]

It would be more like a presence, something that’s always there, always listening (seeing) when you need it, but never in the way.

You wouldn’t open apps or tap through screens.

You’d just talk.

Big difference - people didn't know they wanted the iPhone. People actively don't want what you described, at least not in any sort of near term functionality, or they only want it in very niche scenarios.

 

[Octavius8]

That means that Apple does not have enough people to do its own stuff.

 

[ThisIsMike]

Oh yeah, lol that’ll definitely be enough to keep folks from jumping ship. /S

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Up to $400k to reheat the same designs year after year? Y'know, when they're not making the phones even uglier.

 

[Kkspire]

Hopefully not just them this year. Hopefully all employees will see something decent. The 50 year fanfare for marketing is fun and but people working deserve something that benefits them personally too for all their hard work.

 

[Rogifan]

I wonder what Scott Forstall thinks, or, what he would do if he was allowed to return and takeover as CEO.

Why do people keep bringing up his name? What has he done in the last 14 years that would make him the right person to run Apple?

 

[Apple_Robert]

It is a step in the right direction. Apple will need to do more to keep the talent interested and happy.

 

[reyesmac]

I don't have a problem with this. They should give incentive for important people providing work that will make Apple billions a pretty generous compensation to stay longer.

 

[etichi]

It is a step in the right direction. Apple will need to do more to keep the talent interested and happy.

There are so many idiots that got lucky in this era of development. Please don’t think they are worth it. Take a look at Siri. It speaks for the lack luster brain dead teams they have at Apple.

Hate me but there is an element of truth in this thought.

 

[sw1tcher]

Apple gave its iPhone Product Design team bonuses worth "several hundred thousand dollars" in an effort to keep them from being poached by other companies

Just ask Siri to do their work. 😂

 

[code-m]

Honestly, I’m not surprised. Without a true visionary like Steve Jobs, Apple feels like it’s slowly losing its edge.

Remember when Jobs introduced the iPhone as the “iPod killer", “an iPod, a phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator”? I think something similar is coming again, but this time, it won’t be Apple leading it. What OpenAI is building, especially with someone like Jony Ive involved, has the potential to be the iPhone killer. Not just another device, but an entirely new way of interacting with technology.

It would be more like a presence, something that’s always there, always listening (seeing) when you need it, but never in the way.

You wouldn’t open apps or tap through screens.

You’d just talk.

Ah nostalgia is such a beautiful and perfect memory. Didn’t the late Steve Jobs also say that no one wants to view pictures or was it video on an iPod then later released an iPod Video and after the iPhone along with the iPod Touch.

There is no post-mortem prediction that Jobs would have not done the same, better or worse with AI compared to the present Apple. For all you know he could have done the same or worse and your comment is moot.

Steve Jobs was not perfect and his visionary was limited to certain factors, let’s not blow his contributions out of proportion.