I'm glad people here seem to think all this is a net positive for Apple... Because I'm afraid the new campus is a sign of all that is wrong with Apple.
1) It's an ungodly and completely unnecessary cost (with no tangible benefit)
2) The giant, communal workspace is disruptive and upsetting to employees. Could facilitate the leaving of crucial talent
3) People like Jony Ive dedicated a significant portion of their time and effort in the design and construction process, diverting attention away from the product line.
4) the migration of employees from Infinite 1 loop to here will result in a reduction of productivity spread out over months.
Making a pretty, round building isn't going to increase productivity or make more people want to work at Apple. It's cool though...
1) Apple has the money. And they will make more money. If the cost to build the new campus was $5 billion... they can make that much profit in 45 days.
However... it would be unwise for a company like HTC, for instance, to spend $5 billion on a new campus.
2) and 3) Possibly... but it's not the end of the world. (I admit I don't have experience with open floorplans nor Sir Jony's time-management skills...)
4) A couple of months? Or 60 days to move a few miles down the road? A single person can migrate in an afternoon... while an entire department of stuff might take a week. I don't think they are taking the old furniture though... so that'll lighten the load.
There will probably be
some distraction... but what are ya gonna do...
And remember... there are thousands of Apple employees RIGHT NOW spread out in leased office space all over Silicon Valley. That can't be good for productivity.
At least 13,000 of them will be in the same (albeit large) campus. And that leads back to the end of your point #1... I think there is absolutely a tangible benefit to have as many employees as possible in the same general location.
[doublepost=1504670477][/doublepost]
It's not "ungodly" at all. Just a few months of the company profit will pay for it. If you or I were to build a house for ourselves, we'd spend far more than that.
And it does have benefits, for example people who work together on the same project won't need to drive for half an hour through heavy city traffic to whatever small building the other people are working in. Which benefits the whole city (less traffic). Not to mention they replaced concrete with (mostly) trees. Cities need more trees.
Anyone who wants privacy will just have internal walls put up. Easy, cheap, quick.
Apple has plenty of other people who can work on those products with a little direction from Ive/etc. No harm done, and it's good to spread the work around incase somebody decides to leave.
They had 25,000 employees in the city a couple years ago, and surely more today. Only half their employees can fit in this new building and less than a quarter at 1 Infinite loop – people at the old campus can stay where they are if moving would hurt productivity.
You beat me to it.
