Longtime Apple Executive Dan Riccio Retiring Later This Month

[ronno]

Well, since I didn’t buy the first generation iPhone, the iPhone was obviously also a failure, by your benchmark.

People maligning products they have no interest in makes far less sense to me than people defending a product they like, but have yet to buy.

I own each of the six Apple products (Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV) that jaw04005 referenced as having had version 1 issues, but not one of those did I purchase in a version 1 iteration, specifically because early adoption has issues like initial high price. The AVP is expensive, but the bill of materials made it obvious that it would be expensive.

The AVP still has time to be a failure, but as it has only been available for a few months where I live, it seems rather premature to judge. Of course, it only has a chance as long as Apple gives it time to mature, not unlike the Apple Watch and Apple TV.

We were not speculating about long-term success or failure, just speculating why this guy is departing the company at this particular time.
Cheers.

 

[Arsenikdote]

r u sure it isn’t FORCED retirement considering the $Billions Apple sunk into the AVP money pit?

Bro got fired after AVP bombed haha

Probably got pushed out after the VR BS flopped.

Considering he got the Vision Pro out the door and it is (currently) the most advanced consumer VR and AR product on sale, why fire him?

It is not like he personally decided it should sell for $3500 nor was he in charge of the (lack of) marketing and promotion for it. That falls on Cook and Joswiak as CEO and SVP of Worldwide Marketing, respectively.

Clearly, he either is looking for new challenges or he is ready to retire and enjoy his money.

You don't have your facts in line. First, he is responsible for the outcome of the products not which products get chosen to be made. Dan got $%&@ done and was good at the job. Apple made bets on many products, most work but some don't. Dan was involved in a lot of them because he was good at his job, getting them done, not picking which ones to do.

Secondly, he has been working with Apple for YEARS towards retirement. Three years ago he took his first step away and transitioned much of his day-to-day work away. He was talking even as long ago as 5 years at a conference at MIT where he was planning his retirement as part of his 5 year plan. Finally, when Apple let's someone go because they don't like the outcome of their performance it looks like this:

Apple Announces Changes to Increase Collaboration Across Hardware, Software & Services

www.apple.com

This is when Scott Forstall was let go. Scott was an executive, made decisions about products, just not how the rest of the Apple leadership liked it. They say he is "leaving" and not retiring. Retiring verbiage is held for those that leave Apple in high esteem and Apple doesn't really want them to leave. AKA Bob Mansfield:

Bob Mansfield, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, to Retire

www.apple.com

 

[bgillander]

We were not speculating about long-term success or failure, just speculating why this guy is departing the company at this particular time.
Cheers.

Well, I think I saw that he got his engineering degree in 1986, which was 38 years ago. Assuming he was 18 when he started the degree and it was a 4 year degree, that would put his age at 60, at the youngest. 60 seems like a very normal time to retire if you have (much) more than enough to live on. Some people want to actually enjoy their life’s earnings and not work themselves to death.