Just sharing my opinion as a fan, as how I view Apple. As for people who work there, only they know the culture shift during and after Steve.
I don't see any exec as driving the vision .
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Nest Co-Founder Tony Fadell Leaving the Company
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Just sharing my opinion as a fan, as how I view Apple. As for people who work there, only they know the culture shift during and after Steve.
I don't see any exec as driving the vision .
And to add, the iOS interface at the time he was part of the team was ahead of its time, it looks dated now, but then it was a great interface, one that drew me to by an iPod touch 2, and I have been buying Apple products since then.
I really do not understand some of the hatred and mockery of Scott Forstall. I guess if you freeze frame an Apple product video you can capture anyone in a moment of being highly expressive. Those commenters engaging in the practice really mustn't be true Apple fans nor have appreciation for Apple history.
Scott Forstall was part of the team from NeXT that helped Apple survive its near death experience. The lead designer of Mac OSX's aqua user interface as well as leading the original software development team for the iPhone and iPad, Scott Forstall participated in giving Apple its distinctive advantage in the market. For a long time these software were much loved and highly regarded as the best in the industry.
I never bought into the Cult of Steve if only because I know as many things the company did right during that time, they also did wrong. Honestly I think Steve should have stepped down as CEO a year or so before he finally did just weeks before he died. Tim Cook had been running the company in all but name for a couple of years anyway. In any case if the culture of a company is all about one person then that company will fail, inevitably. Apple has to be about a lot more than one "visionary," and since I think it always was, even during Steve's reign, I think it still is now.
My issue with Cook is more around narrative and messaging than anything else. Right now no one at Apple can get up on stage and tell a story like Steve did. Even if sometimes Steve was PT Barnum or there were shades of RDF he still was a very compelling speaker. I think Cook's Apple needs to do a better job of storytelling and controlling the narrative. If people can't see/hear about what you're working on they assume you're not doing anything (case in point Apple and AI). This makes messaging and controlling the narrative all that more important.
I also think Cook needs to deal with Eddy Cue and his organization. Cue either has too much on his plate or is just not suited for everything he has. I would like to see Cook bring in a SVP to oversee all of Apple's cloud services and AI work. Eddy would still have a ton on his plate with iTunes, Music, TV, Pay and Apple's professional apps.
On the one hand I would agree that there isn't one central "visionary" at Apple though maybe this idea of Steve being that person was more of a myth he was happy to perpetuate. Cook is much more front and center than I expected him to be. He doesn't just get up on stage for a few seconds and hand it off to someone else. And outside of keynotes he's really decided to be the face of Apple.
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I don't think it's that dramatic, it's not excel / fail. For me the best way to summarise where apple was and is heading is taking Sony as an example, they went through a huge innovation stage, become huge, cruised and focused on maximising profits. Sony was never going to fail, though it went from leader to one of the pack in the industry . This is where I see apple at the moment . They will be around for a very long time, one of the big boys , not the underdog.... Simplistic and Elegant
Your analogy precisely illustrates the point I am making. At what time was Sony a huge innovator? The Walkman? After that, what? Trinitron? Betamax? Basically Sony is one of dozens of consumer electronics that hit it big with a one-hit wonder and then reverted to form. Nothing like Apple at all.
I have to wonder what would've happened had Craig been promoted to CEO. Out of all the execs, he was the most honest and straightforward without beating around the bush. He might not be perfect but he would have been a far better choice than Cook.
Getting rid of Scott Forstall was the second-worst mistake Apple made in its entire history. We can all thank his absence for the way that every update to iOS causes some sort of substantial failure while looking worse at the same time.I really do not understand some of the hatred and mockery of Scott Forstall. I guess if you freeze frame an Apple product video you can capture anyone in a moment of being highly expressive. Those commenters engaging in the practice really mustn't be true Apple fans nor have appreciation for Apple history.
Scott Forstall was part of the team from NeXT that helped Apple survive its near death experience. The lead designer of Mac OSX's aqua user interface as well as leading the original software development team for the iPhone and iPad, Scott Forstall participated in giving Apple its distinctive advantage in the market. For a long time these software were much loved and highly regarded as the best in the industry.
I love how iOS 9 was rumored to be an optimization/bug fix and refinement update. Apple touted how much smoother its animations would be in iOS 9 when it actually made animations less smooth while not fixing bugs and creating new issues after every major or even minor update.
There was a reason that Steve chose Scott for the iPhone instead of Tony Fadell.
I've owned a Nest Thermostat since close to its first availability. I would NOT buy one again. Once I retired and stopped working a regular schedule, the learning function (arguably, the most valuable energy savings feature of the Nest) was completely worthless. I don't have a set schedule of ANY kind and Nest's learning function can't deal with that. I turned it off.
But the most incredibly annoying "feature" of a Nest thermostat is that it has a 3 degree range and you can't shorten that range. By that I mean... You set the Nest to 74 degrees. The A/C comes on when the inside temp hits 75 degrees. Then it runs until it is 73 degrees inside. I want it to shut off when it gets back to 74 degrees. My wife gets too cold at 73 degrees. We want the Nest to keep the house in the 74-75 degree range.
Nest insists that the 3 degree range is necessary to save wear and tear on the equipment. Yet, my old thermostat turned the A/C on when it hit 75 degrees and shut it off when it hit the SELECTED temperature, 74 degrees.
Mark
But the most incredibly annoying "feature" of a Nest thermostat is that it has a 3 degree range and you can't shorten that range. By that I mean... You set the Nest to 74 degrees. The A/C comes on when the inside temp hits 75 degrees. Then it runs until it is 73 degrees inside. I want it to shut off when it gets back to 74 degrees. My wife gets too cold at 73 degrees. We want the Nest to keep the house in the 74-75 degree range.
Nest insists that the 3 degree range is necessary to save wear and tear on the equipment. Yet, my old thermostat turned the A/C on when it hit 75 degrees and shut it off when it hit the SELECTED temperature, 74 degrees.
Mark
Yes, it funny how people don't seem to realize that Tim Cook had been de facto CEO (or at the minimum co-CEO with Jobs) of Apple for many year prior to Steve Stepping down. It was more for the investors that Steve stayed there than anything else.
Considering how important his position as COO had been to Apple turning profitable and building volume while keeping quality up, it is galling that he never gets the kudos I think he deserves. At least Steve knew how important he was to the modern Apple.
This may not be part of the point you're trying to make but I do agree with you. Tim made the wrong choice for firing Scott Forstall just because Jony Ive called his UI designs "distasteful" and Tim Cook agreed. Scott is another person Apple needs back, because hiring Jony as SVP of iOS designing was a mistake. I mean Jony's designs are good and all, but I like Scott's skeuomorphic and classical designs more. So what if Scott designs outdated? That's what Scott has; originality. And Apple always did differently than other competitors, but not anymore with Tim's poor choices.I really do not understand some of the hatred and mockery of Scott Forstall. I guess if you freeze frame an Apple product video you can capture anyone in a moment of being highly expressive. Those commenters engaging in the practice really mustn't be true Apple fans nor have appreciation for Apple history.
Scott Forstall was part of the team from NeXT that helped Apple survive its near death experience. The lead designer of Mac OSX's aqua user interface as well as leading the original software development team for the iPhone and iPad, Scott Forstall participated in giving Apple its distinctive advantage in the market. For a long time these software were much loved and highly regarded as the best in the industry.
Please write a review of your experience with the Sense Smart. I'm holding off until Apple unlocks the NFC API so I can use my Apple Watch WITHOUT my iPhone, WITHOUT waiting for Bluetooth to pair, and WITHOUT having to connect to my home's wi-fi to lock/unlock my front door when I go running. Hopefully it's a simple as double-tapping the button (like I do for Apple Pay), swiping past my cards to an icon of a key, and holding up to the door lock.
Quite the opposite. There have been multiple Sony products that turned the market upside down and changed them forever. Another example that you didn't mention was the PlayStation. Before the introduction of the PlayStation, the home video game industry was dominated by Nintendo and Sega. The PlayStation was responsible for pushing Sega to a distant 3rd place and eventually causing them to leave the market all together. Like the iPhone, Sony entered a well established market (home video game industry) and knocked out an established player (Sega). Sega's fortunes mirror those of BlackBerry. They both thought they were too big to fail and didn't take the new competitor seriously.
Need another example? That floppy drive in the first Apple Macintosh....guess who created the 3.5" floppy disk?
Need a more recent example? Playstation Vue. The second internet television service to launch turned the nascent industry upside down with its cloud DVR making its only competitor (Sling TV) nearly worthless because it has no DVR.
I tend to like his presentation "style" as well. However, not sure he has the CEO chops and, as head of software engineering - things have gotten a bit bloated and rocky.
Maybe the answer best resides outside of Apple - but that is a crap shoot as well. All of the best executive recruiting / assessment in the world does not give a lot of comfort in filling such a critical position.
Same here, almost. We did not chose a new house, but the Nest went to someone that cares less about it working correctly and we have a new Ecobee3. Seems to be working great.
With that said, it seems to me that Fadell is really the image of the new Apple. Nice and shinny on the outside, but not so much inside. Except that it would be stupid for Apple to take him back, it does seem he is cut from the same mold as the Tim Cook Apple.
I have been around many a good Cupertino bar talk with Apple folk taking about Tony. One group, a concensus was reached that Tony was insanely envious of Steve Jobs and was doing anything to imitate him. Unfortunately, he mostly saw Steve's left hand.
Steve would lead and discipline but also reward, praise and elevate those that excelled around him. Tony on the other had, I was told, viewed rising starts in a engineering group as a threat to his position. One at the bar (in view of The Loop) said very talented developers moved out of Tony's group or left Apple all together after such scuffles.
I can only assume after Tony burned his bridges at Apple, his rep lead him to "start" NEST and end up at Google since most at Apple didn't want him waking in as a price on an acquisition right back into The Loop. Perhaps bridges are now burned at Google and he'll work on pet projects with his millions as they last.
Wow, arrogant much? And what's with all the interviews? Is he really that big of a deal in Silicon Valley?
Next: watch Fadell either duke it out with Scully for role of elder statesman, or just hook up with him.
A game console that competed well against other game consoles. Takes my breath away. And they keep making new versions. Wow, I can really feel the revolution now. And the 3.5" floppy disc? That was an incremental improvement on the floppy discs that had been available for years, and Sony was not the only company working on small disc formats. Innovation, not so much. Put it this way, whenever Apple releases a new version of an existing product line, they are instantly pounced upon for it being only incrementally better than the previous generation. Which only goes to show how much more is expected from Apple than companies such as Sony.
Two words: Green Felt.
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I never liked the stitching on that shirt.I really do not understand some of the hatred and mockery of Scott Forstall. I guess if you freeze frame an Apple product video you can capture anyone in a moment of being highly expressive. Those commenters engaging in the practice really mustn't be true Apple fans nor have appreciation for Apple history.
Scott Forstall was part of the team from NeXT that helped Apple survive its near death experience. The lead designer of Mac OSX's aqua user interface as well as leading the original software development team for the iPhone and iPad, Scott Forstall participated in giving Apple its distinctive advantage in the market. For a long time these software were much loved and highly regarded as the best in the industry.
Seems like T.F. is: Fraction of the vision of Steve with too much of the worst parts and none of the cuddle of the Woz.
I would rather have a software engineer running Apple and live with Green Felt than have a bean counter, 5400 RPM drives and a significant degradation in software quality.
When is the public apology coming for Apple Music?
When is the public apology coming for Apple Music?
Cheers . Very interesting insight, and I can relate to a lot of it. Thanks for sharing .
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Come on , Walkmans, diskmans, mini disks, trinitrons ......PlayStation !!
It's like saying iPod was just another MP3 player.
One can argue the PlayStation did to Sony , what iPod did to Apple.
How is it not like Apple , apple has not reverted to from at present? Just look at the iPad Pro range? Outdated iMacs, underperforming Mac mini , outdated MP3 iPods ... Rumoured iPhone 6SS....outdated notebooks, 3 year old Mac Pro....
At which point was Apple a huge innovator? They did what Sony did, took current products and made them better. Take the PS1, a Much better console of what existed
For what it's worth, I find the Nest products to be useful and innovative... so plenty of utility on an individual basis.... but where I think they went very, very wrong, is stopping at the two products without a much more aggressive pathway forward. Once someone commits themselves to this Internetting of Everything, the overall utility of Nest starts to dwindle. Sprinkler control? Smart vents? So much Nest could be doing... and with so many other companies pushing feverishly into the space... they got left in the dust mighty fast.
And the acquisition of Dropcam seems like a band-aid move... cameras... yay.