Apple Looking to Hire Samsung Battery Experts and Other High-Tech Employees

[dannyyankou]

More in line with what CEO's in corporations are supposed to be, Not a rock star.

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Um, Samsung has been making cars since 1994. I know you're being cheeky but still...

Their business has declined and now they're only selling their cars in Chile. And as of this year, Samsung took their name off the cars. It would be a good time to make a comeback with their own smart car 😉

 

[justperry]

Yes they can because they can get away with promising users that these issues/bugs will be patched by some undetermined point in time.

I personally haven't been affected by the many Wi-Fi issues that affect many different devices, but I know plenty of people tearing their hair out over issues that have still not been addressed. How can something as simple as Wi-Fi still be an issue in 2015? How can Apple keep screwing this up year after year?

Then there's various issues/problems with OS X that have not been resolved thanks to the ludicrous rapid release schedule for OS X. Again I have not been too inconvenienced by this although 10.10.2 did resolve most of my issues, but I shouldn't have had to wait months for problems identified by beta testers over half a year ago to finally get a fix. I know plenty of people who had to roll back to Mavericks as Yosemite broke something significant.

Apple are too damn slow to react to things and QA went out the window a while ago.

OT. WIFI still has issues, even on 10.10.3 beta.
I unloaded Discoveryd, loaded mDNSResponder (From 10.9.X) and all seems well.

 

[Rogifan]

What if Apple's ultimate goal is to own Tesla and so they're hiring knowledge and expertise in this area so they can drive the acquisition price down (with the perception of competition) and once acquired more easily integrate with all the knowledge they gained from their R&D efforts.

 

[LordVic]

Image

I think its why people are so polarized with him though.

He ACTS the rock star. But lacks the charisma that Jobs had. So when he does it, it comes accross as fake, or contrived. When Cook speaks, you can easily detect the "Apple Reality Distortion Field". When Job's spoke, you tended to miss it and believe what he was selling easier.

But, when regards to financials. Growth, and actual delivery, he's doing everything right, right now. at least from a Corporate / Finance standpoint.

 

[RobertMartens]

and of course between 2015 and 2020 Apple needs to have other all-new products. It can't just depend on the iPhone.

Saying Apple needs to 'keep having new ideas to survive' is a throw away line. All tech companies need to do this. Saying 'of course' just means you didn't need to say it in the first place.

 

[Porco]

Unlike Apple, Samsung have removable battery experts? 😉

 

[samcraig]

But aren't they worried these Samsung employees will only be SPIES?! 😱😱😱😱

 

[RobertMartens]

"Steve's Reality Distortion Field".

was the best thing about him. He could turn you into a kid again, and make you believe in magic! That is irreplaceable.

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Unlike Apple, Samsung have removable battery experts? 😉

I like what you just did. Very much

 

[TheRealTVGuy]

...Apple is a consumer electronics company... EVs are not consumer electronics. Swapping out a gas engine for a battery doesn't magically move automotives from one market into another.

A few years ago someone could have said the same thing about their foray into cellular telephones. "Apple's a computer company, it says so right in their name." They've proven that they're more than a computer company. So much so, they changed their name. I believe you'd have to be pretty naive to think that all they could ever be is just "a consumer electronics company."

 

[69Mustang]

I don't get the Tim Cook hate. The man picked by the venerated Steve Jobs has only increased the company's profit every single year since becoming CEO. Increased the company's sphere of influence in many areas of society. Increased the company's social and philanthropic endeavors. Increased the company's green initiatives and attention to humane labor practices and influenced other companies to follow suit. Holy crap that's a lot of sentence fragments. 🙂 He's done other things as well, but I think my point is clear. When judging a business, and not "my favorite company", it's hard to argue with the success of Cook's tenure at the helm.

He doesn't engender the cult of personality of Jobs, but so what? Jobs achieved success one way and Cook another. As a CEO, based on any quantitative data, I really can't think of any who've done a better job. Qualitatively, he hasn't done bad either. Neither Apple, Tim Cook, nor Steve Jobs is/was perfect; revisionist history notwithstanding. Comparatively speaking, CEO to CEO, I would put Cook's record against pretty much anyone else's.

To tie this back to the OP (apologies for the off topic rant), he is again demonstrating sound logic. Get the best battery people you can get to work on your EV. If rumor of the car is true, Cook is acquiring top level talent to try to make the project a more successful endeavor. He could have gone with the super secret double pinky swear in-house only route and more than likely failed. There's no guarantee the rumored project will be a success, but I doubt it will be because a lack of prep and planning.

TLDR; How many better CEO's are actually out there? What do people think a CEO's purpose is?

Sorry for length.

 

[69Mustang]

...Apple is a consumer electronics company... EVs are not consumer electronics. Swapping out a gas engine for a battery doesn't magically move automotives from one market into another.

I think a lot of people think this is a trivial endeavor based on Apple's success in consumer electronics. Success here = success there. It doesn't work that way.

A few years ago someone could have said the same thing about their foray into cellular telephones. "Apple's a computer company, it says so right in their name." They've proven that they're more than a computer company. So much so, they changed their name. I believe you'd have to be pretty naive to think that all they could ever be is just "a consumer electronics company."

Where in the quote above does it say Apple could only be a consumer electronics company? I can't find it. I don't think anyone in any of these threads said Apple can only be in consumer electronics or they can't enter the automotive industry. What they have said is consumer electronics to automotive nowhere near the same as going from one consumer electronics category to another consumer electronics category.

 

[thekeyring]

Still here. Big Concepts do not equate to Big Realization. I still have big $ bets on Apple and Cook but he has yet to fully prove himself as the successor of Jobs as an idea guy. We will get a better glimpse of that as the Apple Watch rolls out, and of course between 2015 and 2020 Apple needs to have other all-new products. It can't just depend on the iPhone. 2020 is a long time away in corporate fiscal years.

He doesn't need to be an ideas guy, as long as he recognises he's not one, and ensures there are other people who are.

The more I hear about Apple, the more it feels like Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and Jony Ive were at the head of the company, and slowly Steve Jobs faded away, passing creative responsibility to Jony and organisational responsibility to Tim.

 

[doelcm82]

I don't get the Tim Cook hate. The man picked by the venerated Steve Jobs has only increased the company's profit every single year since becoming CEO. Increased the company's sphere of influence in many areas of society. Increased the company's social and philanthropic endeavors. Increased the company's green initiatives and attention to humane labor practices and influenced other companies to follow suit. Holy crap that's a lot of sentence fragments. 🙂 He's done other things as well, but I think my point is clear. When judging a business, and not "my favorite company", it's hard to argue with the success of Cook's tenure at the helm.

Remember that when Steve Jobs WAS at the helm, all this criticism was aimed at him. When the iPhone or the iPod was destined to fail, it was going to be Jobs' fault. When the iPad was destined to fail, it was because Jobs had run out of ideas.

Sure, Jobs was also respected, but so is Tim Cook. Those who defended Steve Jobs often were accused of being worshipful. Those who defend Tim Cook sometimes get attacked with homophobic slurs (by weak-minded creeps who think that way).

 

[apolloa]

Now... I wonder just how many people are going to be praising these 'Samsung' employees on here...... ?

EDIT: Oh I see, we have already had a few spying and copying posts already.

 

[69Mustang]

I think its why people are so polarized with him though.

He ACTS the rock star. But lacks the charisma that Jobs had...

But, when regards to financials. Growth, and actual delivery, he's doing everything right, right now. at least from a Corporate / Finance standpoint.

100% agree. He tries to act the rock star but it ain't in him. Doesn't need to be in my opinion. Just keep doing what you said: driving growth and actual delivery. That's what CEO's do.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

As a CEO successor, he has proven himself. As an idea guy, I don't know, but he is bringing in other idea guys. And it looks like he's giving them the freedom to explore. But will it all be unified? Jobs could see the "big picture". I don't see where an Apple car fits into the Apple's big picture.

Still, it's an interesting ride (npi). And nowhere near as dull has had been predicted when Cook took over.

Jobs could not only see the "big picture," but the minutely fine details. In fact I think it's fair to say it's biggest successes AND failings were due to the latter -- making sure a product was as polished as possible, but also obsessing too much about the tiniest of details that mattered to no one but him.

To date we have not see Tim Cook obsess about details. Most of his early missteps happened because he did delegate a tad too much. The Apple Watch will be our best view to see if he learned from those mistakes because when it's finally release everyone is going to inspect it down to its atoms.

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Why does Cook have to be the "idea guy?" Why are you expecting him to be Jobs?

In my opinion, an unreasonable expectation. Cook is the guy Jobs picked. Let Cook be Cook.

Because that's what CEOs do.. they birth good ideas. Idea's lead to efficiency and good products. Good products lead to big profits. Big profits lead to happy shareholders, company growth, higher employment, and the ability to make more good products.

He doesn't have to be Jobs. He has to be Tim Cook. But he has to have his own ideas not just be a caretaker or order maker.

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Saying Apple needs to 'keep having new ideas to survive' is a throw away line. All tech companies need to do this. Saying 'of course' just means you didn't need to say it in the first place.

If I didn't need to say it I wouldn't have said it. "Of course," is an empty transition phrase yes. The rest is not. A lot of people do not assume tech companies need ideas to grow.

 

[ChrisNH]

There is a 'water's edge' for Apple. This is it.

No company is great at everything. Even the best companies know where their 'water's edge' is. They know where they shine and ought to also know where they don't. When it comes to vehicles, this is probably a BIG step way over the 'water's edge' for Apple. I also might say their big-screen TV idea approaches that, too. (How many Apple Stores have back-of-house space to inventory these things?). And no stores have a footprint necessary to display a car...never mind inventory them.

So, I'm thinking this is 'jump-the-shark' time for Apple.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

He doesn't need to be an ideas guy, as long as he recognises he's not one, and ensures there are other people who are.

The more I hear about Apple, the more it feels like Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and Jony Ive were at the head of the company, and slowly Steve Jobs faded away, passing creative responsibility to Jony and organisational responsibility to Tim.

So he doesn't need to lead? Other people can fill in the blanks, but the CEO needs guide them on the path to take. Jony Ives is an idea guy but Jobs always honed them to perfection, or as close as tech would allow. We'll see if Cook did that with Apple Watch.

 

[Solomani]

And why not? Strengthen your own ranks while diminishing those of your strongest rivals. 😛

Yup yup. Pretty much nailed it.

And the Samsung battery experts probably will find more value when they realize that AAPL stocks (which they will most likely get as a sign-on incentive) is valued a lot more than the recently (in past year) depressed Samsung stock.

 

[jkruehne]

Apple is probably trying to poach from Samsung's two-week-old sCar department, brought together only by rumors of Apple making a car 😛

: D
thats what i ' ve thought, too: "Panic in South Korea! Samsung bet for Hummer."
: D

 

[robbyx]

And no stores have a footprint necessary to display a car...never mind inventory them.

Never mind service them. Will the geniuses do double duty as mechanics? Will Apple be building car service centers next to Apple Stores? It seems rather far fetched to me.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

A few years ago someone could have said the same thing about their foray into cellular telephones. "Apple's a computer company, it says so right in their name."

They could have said that, but they would have been dumb. Apple had already done the iPod. At the reveal of the first iPod, people could have made that exclamation. They wouldn't have been right exactly (Apple made a lot of consumer electronics during the time Steve Jobs was away) but they could have been excused for the mistake, since at that point everything Apple had made other than computers had been a flop.

 

[Jess13]

The Apple "Car" is for the new iPhones 2024 onward.

As iPhones continue to get thinner, with this process speeding up rapidly in the immediate few years to come before Jony Ive’s retirement, iPhones are going to become physically invisible. When you purchase an iPhone you won’t physically receive an iPhone, instead your iPhone is going to be holographic.

It's Apple "Car" and cloud based. That’s all I am able to say.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

TV is all about content and how one acquires and pays for that content. I suppose Apple could get into the content producing business but what does that have to do with consumer electronics?

Apple doesn't need to produce new content. They can change the way content is delivered to consumers, the way they did with the iTunes store. This isn't something completely new to them. They're already selling videos through the iTunes store. They just need to shake up the model.

The current model sucks. You pay a cable company tons of money, who then only allows you to watch content at specific times, and they still give you 30 seconds of ads for every 1 minute of content.

It's utter BS, and everyone knows it. The issue is that thus far, there hasn't been a big enough company to try and disrupt this market yet. It's been smaller companies trying it, which then get crushed in court by the cable companies (whether the case has merit or not is irrelevant - small companies can't afford to go to court no matter how frivolous.) The companies that strike me as being best positioned to shake it up are:
1 - Apple
2 - Google
3 - T-Mobile

I hate Google and it'd be a stretch for T-Mobile, so I'm hoping Apple does it.

 

[HenryDJP]

Still here. Big Concepts do not equate to Big Realization. I still have big $ bets on Apple and Cook but he has yet to fully prove himself as the successor of Jobs as an idea guy.

Perhaps but what is true is Apple has become the most valuable company worldwide....and that was achieved long after Cook came around, so he most certainly has proved himself to be a worthy successor to Jobs. Innovation of "cool" products is not the only thing that makes for a great CEO. Apple is certainly not mismanaged.