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i wish these guys could stop interviews for a while and get back to doing/making what their customers want....like updated macs that can compete on their own, and something that actually wows you and makes you say I need to have it, not just a new color, not something thinner. Something that actually is impressive and works.

I'm afraid that they've lost their "magic" and are allowing competitors the opportunity to convince me that Apple is not what it used be..no more...Sigh

Yeah, since interviews take up SO MUCH of their time... Especially when they have probably hundreds of people working below them that have to stop working too when they are gone. /s
 
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i wish these guys could stop interviews for a while and get back to doing/making what their customers want....
This flawed line of reasoning seems depressingly prevelant here, that if a senior-level executive lifts their nose up off the grindstone for one minute, they're "not doing their job".

You take, "products you want haven't been released yet" (I'm eager for them too), and "executive spends a couple hours giving an interview"... you have only those two pieces of data and you think from that you know the whole story? "Stop interviews for a while"? How many interviews do you think they give? It's on the order of a couple a year. When they start doing the movie/book-release press junket, showing up on dozens of late night talk shows to exchange witty banter with the host, then I'll worry that it might be taking away from the primary job, but this is really, really, not that. They give a tiny handful of interviews a year. Even if they were to spend a couple hours every month on interviews, do you really think that is what has delayed new Macs?

And we know that we're a few weeks away from their yearly presentations of new products. It has been been a unusually long time, historically, since Macs got a significant update, that's worth being annoyed about, but complaining that they need to get back to making what their customers want, just now... it's a bit like complaining, on December 23rd, that Santa hasn't brought you anything all year.
 
It is not about Timmy not being Steve - it is about the dismal state of affairs at Apple under Timmy's "leadership" - stock price / $130,000,000,000 wasted on buybacks / lack of updates on Macs / buggy releases / etc.

You do know that the CEO is not the one who makes decisions about share buybacks?
 
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Maybe they're going to let users do what they should have allowed the month Maps shipped and let people uninstall the entire junk framework and let people replace it with far superior alternatives.

And yes, there are a lot of people who should apologise for pushing misinformation about it that using it helped the product get better. It didn't. Apple had no plan to do that. It was just a rubbish product. Apple claim this is why they have public betas, but there were more than enough people who told them during the developer betas of iOS 6 that Maps was junk. Apple just ignored them.

It's odd that this completely contradicts the other part of the interview -



Maps was entirely an ownership play, and the integration of it into the OS rather than providing a suitable API for third party map programmes was exactly Apple spreading itself too think to try and create those experiences itself.

Maps continues to be a disaster. It makes the entire iOS platform fundamentally worse by virtue of it's mere existence. Apple expends huge resource on it for little practical effect and at the expense of other projects that would be better. And for what? At this point surely only internal stubbornness that the Apple senior management should have scrapped the entire thing before it shipped and are too embarrassed to admit as such.

But no, instead we're about to repeat the process of a hugely unpopular functionality reduction with the removal of the headphone port.

I couldn't agree more about your contradictory observation.

It's telling me that either this series of interviews really is just smoke and mirrors and spin, or the execs are clueless and everything people complain about on here are symptoms of that.
 
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It really seems like Apple is on the defensive, trying to explain what is happening and to reassure everyone they aren't F*ing the bucket.

What I don't know is if these interviews are to clarify past mistakes, or pre damage control for the onslaught of negative comments that may happen if Apple release a lame iphone 7 without a key upgrade feature and further pushes it behind it's competitors.

And before people start saying I'm being too negative, yes those benzels are hideous and the iphones have a ridiculously large foot bring for it's screen size, and it sucks that it doesn't have wireless charging, and no OLED... Samsung hardware is really beating Apple's phone hardware to a pulp!
 
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When asked about Apple's opinion regarding the belief that companies -- including Facebook and Amazon -- are attempting to gain "ownership of the customer throughout the day," both Cue and Federighi said that Apple doesn't think of their services and products in that way. The company is encouraging of the third-party apps that flourish on iOS, like Uber, and doesn't see a need to spread itself so thin as to try and become and create these experiences itself.

... And to do that, we're going to purchase one of Uber's large rivals, Didi Chuxing, for one billion dollars.
 
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Maybe they're going to let users do what they should have allowed the month Maps shipped and let people uninstall the entire junk framework and let people replace it with far superior alternatives.

And yes, there are a lot of people who should apologise for pushing misinformation about it that using it helped the product get better. It didn't. Apple had no plan to do that. It was just a rubbish product. Apple claim this is why they have public betas, but there were more than enough people who told them during the developer betas of iOS 6 that Maps was junk. Apple just ignored them.

It's odd that this completely contradicts the other part of the interview -



Maps was entirely an ownership play, and the integration of it into the OS rather than providing a suitable API for third party map programmes was exactly Apple spreading itself too think to try and create those experiences itself.

Maps continues to be a disaster. It makes the entire iOS platform fundamentally worse by virtue of it's mere existence. Apple expends huge resource on it for little practical effect and at the expense of other projects that would be better. And for what? At this point surely only internal stubbornness that the Apple senior management should have scrapped the entire thing before it shipped and are too embarrassed to admit as such.

But no, instead we're about to repeat the process of a hugely unpopular functionality reduction with the removal of the headphone port.

There is one important factor that you are missing: Apple does not want / cannot be held hostage by a developer with a critical application.

Proof? Safari, iMessage, Maps.
I don't disagree with Apple's intent. I disagree with Apple's effort. Maps in particular needed a massive effort from the start.
 
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Maps totally suck. I sent multiple times a location of a new townhouse development my cousin moved into almost a year ago. Still does not show up on their maps. And you wonder why Google Maps is a MUST HAVE app.
 
And your comment on Craig has nothing to do with the article. Who cares what his photo looks like.

no but it does have to do with a photo aligned with the article. so, there you go. it is still a comment on the article and associated photos. :D
 
And despite email and error reports, my home is still incorrectly listed. And I live in densely populated eastern Massachusetts, not the exurbs of West Buffalo Chip, Montana. Lucky for me neither UPS nor USPS nor town emergency services use Apple Maps!
I once saw a UPS driver pull up in front of my house, get out of the truck with a package, look up at my house number, look down at the package, and then walk five doors down to deliver it to someone almost a block away.

I didn't see whether he was using an iPhone. ;)
 
Translation: In the past when we impacted thousands of our customers we (SJ) listened to them and corrected the problems we created because that 1% affected our bottom line and those loyal customers promoted us and were dedicated to our product line. Now when we impact 1% of our customers we (TC) completely ignore them because the 99% give us billions more money then all of our old, dedicated, supporting, loyal customers combined.
I.E. Dropping hardware and software support for our installed base for MacOS and iOS and forcing them to buy brand new outdated computers or phones to run the latest MacOS and iOS and to sync between them.
 
Apple claim this is why they have public betas, but there were more than enough people who told them during the developer betas of iOS 6 that Maps was junk. Apple just ignored them.
...
Maps was entirely an ownership play, and the integration of it into the OS rather than providing a suitable API for third party map programmes was exactly Apple spreading itself too think to try and create those experiences itself.
The timetable for the Maps release was not of Apple's choosing. The contract with Google for map data was up for renewal, but Google wasn't looking for more money (or maybe they were after that too), they were demanding more individual location data on Apple's customers (because tracking people is key to Google's business). Apple wouldn't agree to this, because they don't like selling their customers. So Apple had to rush Maps into being, and it was handled poorly, but it was also kind of doomed Out of the gate, by the situation. Meanwhile, Google put up their independent Google Maps app in short order, and folks were free to choose which to use.

These days I mostly use Apple's Maps, because they're accurate around here, the UI is nice, and Siri activation is helpful. I use Google Maps occasionally, mostly when I want the benefit of their tie-in to Waze's traffic reporting. I don't like the interface as much, but the data is good. Both apps have their pluses and minuses.
 
I agree. I am no fan of Apple Maps but it's odd that there have been several interviews recently specifically talking about the Maps fiasco. I mean, that was four years ago. We all know that the product sucked when it launched and that the "The more you use it, the better it will get" line was a lie. For some people, it still sucks (or it is inferior to the competition). I wonder why Apple execs keep referring back to the debacle now? Maybe trying to set the stage for a complete reboot of the product? Although, this seems like an odd way to do that.

I think it's a way, although an out of date and lame one, to show some humility. The dead horse has been beaten enough though.
 
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Maps was entirely an ownership play, and the integration of it into the OS rather than providing a suitable API for third party map programmes was exactly Apple spreading itself too think to try and create those experiences itself.
Hmm... Google Maps didn't reach feature parity on iPhone with the web app or Android version until AFTER Apple kicked them off and replaced it with Apple Maps. There's an argument to be made that Google would have never introduced all of those features (like street view and turn-by-turn) to iPhone in an effort to convince iPhone users to move to Android.

So if you use an iPhone and Google Maps and think Google Maps is truly excellent, there's a chance you have Apple Maps to thank for that.
 
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It is not about Timmy not being Steve - it is about the dismal state of affairs at Apple under Timmy's "leadership" - stock price / $130,000,000,000 wasted on buybacks / lack of updates on Macs / buggy releases / etc.
[doublepost=1470848159][/doublepost]

I would suggest you read the hundreds upon hundreds of posts detailing what is lacking.

The bathrooms haven't been kept up as well as during the time of Steve too...
 
I appreciate they want to do the best they can and listen to customer feedback, but I can't help think of the Mac Pro. We're coming up on 1,000 days since its last update and I see many people here clamoring for an update to stay current with technology. While I'm not in the market for one, I still (want) to look at the Mac Pro as the flagship Mac by which to compare all of other Mac's [and PC's] by, similarly like the Chevrolet Corvette is the flagship vehicle of General Motors.

Without having knowledge of their teams, goals and priorities, and just looking in from the outside, it seems to me that Apple should have more than enough resources, given the wealth of the company, to have a team working on the Mac Pro and keeping it up to date.
I'm with you and then I'm not. I keep trying to decide if yearly underwhelming spec bumps would make me happier or if they'd just make me feel like Apple was grubbing for more money by trying to make me think I need to upgrade every year. That's sort of how that behavior makes me feel with PC manufacturers.
 
no but it does have to do with a photo aligned with the article. so, there you go. it is still a comment on the article and associated photos. :D

No. It's disrespectful and you defending your snide remark says nothing about your post. No one here benefited from your post and it's frivolous.
 
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I'm with you and then I'm not. I keep trying to decide if yearly underwhelming spec bumps would make me happier or if they'd just make me feel like Apple was grubbing for more money by trying to make me think I need to upgrade every year. That's sort of how that behavior makes me feel with PC manufacturers.
Yeah, the annual updates with minimal spec bumps can be tiresome, but going a few years between updates is annoying too.
 
Garbage? For me it's solid. Have been using Apple Maps exclusively for almost two years (except for when I need street view). I have a choice and use Maps because I like it better, not because its built-in or the default.
I'm sure Apple Maps is great in the Bay Area. Try using it in NM, AZ, or OK -- it sucks compared to the GOOG. Everything from the timing of turn-by-turn directions to the updates for accidents and construction zones is done half-assed. I can only imagine what Tim Cook's new India maps center will bring us...
[doublepost=1470851693][/doublepost]
Why do you say this, because of that one mobile me anecdote? You do realize that most of the executive leadership team at Apple was put in place (and groomed) by Steve.
Baloney, the first thing Cook did after Jobs died was to shake up the top leadership and change the scope of many roles. His prerogative of course, but don't try to claim that it's the same management lineup that Jobs dealt with at the handover.
 
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Why do they keep bringing up maps? Yes it wasn't good, but really there have been other problems of that size (or greater) since then.
I suspect it's because they realize the type of person that would read these sorts of interviews would likely associate it with Forstall, and as the latter is no longer with Apple, a pretty 'safe' target for (false?) self-deprecation.

You're absolutely right that there have been many, many failures since that are perhaps much more relevant to the 'new' Apple, but perhaps not as 'safe' to criticize either with the fans or fellow executives.
 
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No. It's disrespectful and you defending your snide remark says nothing about your post. No one here benefited from your post and it's frivolous.

i don't think commenting on someone's (namely a VP and face of Apple) smug character is disrespectful. He presents himself as pompous and in a way I would't like Apple to be seen. Some folks seemed to have benefited from the comment.

I find him awful to listen to on stage, and I get the feeling anything he presents is awful. He, alone, can give me a bias and turns whatever he is touting into a roll-my-eyes "feature". he seems forced. he seems pushy and the example of something that shouldn't come from a guy trying to market products. Maybe an infomercial ...Sham-Wow comes to mind.
 
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i don't think commenting on someone's (namely a VP and face of Apple) smug character is disrespectful. He presents himself as pompous and in a way I would't like Apple to be seen. Some folks seemed to have benefited from the comment.

I find him awful to listen to on stage, and I get the feeling anything he presents is awful. He, alone, can give me a bias and turns whatever he is touting into a roll-my-eyes "feature". he seems forced. he seems pushy and the example of something that shouldn't come from a guy trying to market products. Maybe an infomercial ...Sham-Wow comes to mind.

I'm not going to agree with you and stray away from the article any further. But You stating he is 'Pompous' says nothing and means nothing, as if you truly know who he is. Judging from your previous comments, your more concerned about his appearance than anything else. I think this discussion has expended its agenda.

And the word Pompous could potentially be affiliated with any Apple Excutive for that matter.
 
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