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Apple Reportedly Has Secretive 'Startup' Team Working on Experimental Technologies for Future Devices
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We're a fraction of Apple's size and have teams working on stuff that is no sooner than 5 years out, if it ever sees light of day. Of course Apple does this.
That would be the case is those doing the research weren't hamstrung by having to chase grants, or were torpedoed by politicians who take away their funding because it's not doing anything to get them re-elected.
The “Severence” series on Apple TV+ is the documentary of the lives of those in this elite, secretive r&d team .
How about a better keyboard?, better keyboard prediction?, better dial pad that actually worls!, better browser, smaller “continent” (Island). Apple just don’t care about innovation anymore. Compare to Android and you will see. Apple is doomed to die before Android due to focus on pleasing investors instead of users.Latest round of rumors says iOS 17 will be a "stability" release with little to no new features and plenty of bug fixes.
And, of course, this is being reported as a bad thing and a sign that Apple has, once again, "run out of ideas".
A lot of the armchair CEOs here have latched on to the obviousness that Apple has advanced R&D teams.
I’d argue that conducting basic, long range, and extensive R&D in house is NOT obvious at all, given its expense and failure rate relative to acquisitions.
But there is more to this story than if it just meets your personal narrative of how R&D actually works. Take, revelations about the organization of these skunkworks: for example, that people often work on multiple projects but arent allowed to talk to others in the lab about those projects. I wonder how they enforce informational silos like that within their own group and what they hope to gain.
I’d argue that conducting basic, long range, and extensive R&D in house is NOT obvious at all, given its expense and failure rate relative to acquisitions.
But there is more to this story than if it just meets your personal narrative of how R&D actually works. Take, revelations about the organization of these skunkworks: for example, that people often work on multiple projects but arent allowed to talk to others in the lab about those projects. I wonder how they enforce informational silos like that within their own group and what they hope to gain.
I don’t think to this scope. Google probably has a team, but they are a search/digital ad company, so I don’t see how cutting edge tech would be anything outside of squeezing more out of their core business. Apple is really in a unique position.
I feel like we have this discussion here, and on other platforms whether its Android, Windows, etc. Has overall OS gotten less stable? It's hard to say.
I challenge everyone by asking how often have oyu setup a BRAND new device, meaning not restored from backup but let all your iMessages download from cloud, only setup bare minimum apps, and install apps as you need? I do this whenever I can when getting a new device but I do recognize sometimes I simply want to copy and go.
With that said, I think it should be noted that a brand new device is extremely stable, has great battery life, etc. IF you're using a system backup where you have gone through 10 device upgrades, copying the same data over and over again it wouldn't be surprising that a backup copy of some app that you first setup on an iPhone 5 is in full working condition in 2023. So maybe Angry Birds crashes today because that backup has gone through 10+ devices and 10+ iOS revisions. Does that mean if you setup a brand new iPhone and download Angry Birds that it will start crashing also? I doubt it.
At some point device settings, many of which that you set ages ago may be outdated or some apps are so old they haven't been updated or settings are outdated for today's iOS / MacOS. I think this is even more prevalent in the Mac space where people download apps that are not on the App Store. Some apps have been long abandoned or use old hacks / APIs to do nifty new things. That same app that worked for some High Sierra hack in 2017 isn't necessarily going to work in Ventura. This is why when you look at popular apps that users have loved for years (BTT, iStat Menus, Alfred, etc.) they get major updates with new OSes. They get major updates with new hardware like M1 or M2 chips. No one forces these apps to be compatible too so at any point the developers can stop supporting them or stop updating them. The more hacky productivity tools you have, the more risky they are to breaking the whole system.
Also I touched on this in another thread, but recent version bias is a real thing. People think iOS16 or MacOS 13 is the worst thing ever, but come iOS17 and MacOS14, and now 16 and 13 are the most stable versions ever. IF every new version is truly worse then we shoud've gone from rock solid 99.999999% stability to instant boot crashes now but that's not the case. In my Android development days of nightly build bots, I would remember how so many people would come to report bugs about the newest nightly even if no commits have been made or the only thing that changed was translations. People would make wild accusations about reception, battery life, etc. when its more likely a simple reboot changed hwo their phone was behaving.
I suspect the reality is iOS or MacOS today is more or less as stable as the last few versions for most people.
Google famously has X development. It would be a safe bet that any tech company at Google/Apple’s scale would have these kinds divisions. They could potentially produce a huge profit making concept with a tiny portion of profits.
The QA department are all demanding 100% work from home so they can watch Netflix on the tv out of view of their webcam incase they have to FaceTime someone.
Perhaps there is part of said group working to make Siri someday identify Cats in photographs. They did with Dogs finally.
Actually it sounds more like a skunk works, than an R&D department
Obviously there military connection is not there but the core concept is very similar
Check it out
Kelly's 14 Rules & Practices
1. The Skunk Works® manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. He should report to a division president or higher.
2. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry.
3. The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (10% to 25% compared to the so-called normal systems).
4. A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided.
5. There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly.
6. There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program.
7. The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for subcontract on the project. Commercial bid procedures are very often better than military ones.
8. The inspection system as currently used by the Skunk Works, which has been approved by both the Air Force and Navy, meets the intent of existing military requirements and should be used on new projects. Push more basic inspection responsibility back to subcontractors and vendors. Don't duplicate so much inspection.
9. The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. He can and must test it in the initial stages. If he doesn't, he rapidly loses his competency to design other vehicles.
10. The specifications applying to the hardware must be agreed to well in advance of contracting. The Skunk Works practice of having a specification section stating clearly which important military specification items will not knowingly be complied with and reasons therefore is highly recommended.
11. Funding a program must be timely so that the contractor doesn't have to keep running to the bank to support government projects.
12. There must be mutual trust between the military project organization and the contractor, the very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. This cuts down misunderstanding and correspondence to an absolute minimum.
13. Access by outsiders to the project and its personnel must be strictly controlled by appropriate security measures.
14. Because only a few people will be used in engineering and most other areas, ways must be provided to reward good performance by pay not based on the number of personnel supervised.
Obviously there military connection is not there but the core concept is very similar
Check it out
Kelly's 14 Rules & Practices
1. The Skunk Works® manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. He should report to a division president or higher.
2. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry.
3. The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (10% to 25% compared to the so-called normal systems).
4. A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided.
5. There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly.
6. There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program.
7. The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for subcontract on the project. Commercial bid procedures are very often better than military ones.
8. The inspection system as currently used by the Skunk Works, which has been approved by both the Air Force and Navy, meets the intent of existing military requirements and should be used on new projects. Push more basic inspection responsibility back to subcontractors and vendors. Don't duplicate so much inspection.
9. The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. He can and must test it in the initial stages. If he doesn't, he rapidly loses his competency to design other vehicles.
10. The specifications applying to the hardware must be agreed to well in advance of contracting. The Skunk Works practice of having a specification section stating clearly which important military specification items will not knowingly be complied with and reasons therefore is highly recommended.
11. Funding a program must be timely so that the contractor doesn't have to keep running to the bank to support government projects.
12. There must be mutual trust between the military project organization and the contractor, the very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. This cuts down misunderstanding and correspondence to an absolute minimum.
13. Access by outsiders to the project and its personnel must be strictly controlled by appropriate security measures.
14. Because only a few people will be used in engineering and most other areas, ways must be provided to reward good performance by pay not based on the number of personnel supervised.
That explains why we haven't seen any innovation/improvements for a while, the secret team has poached all the talent.
we want new features, tons of them every year. Apple can improve stability later when they get time.
exactly, people & Tech experts in youtube need to decide what they want, new features (Innovation) os table OS.Latest round of rumors says iOS 17 will be a "stability" release with little to no new features and plenty of bug fixes.
And, of course, this is being reported as a bad thing and a sign that Apple has, once again, "run out of ideas".