Listen to the latest episode of MacBreak weekly and you will be proven wrong over and over. What’s being reported lately is the complete opposite of actual first hand accounts inside apple. One or two disgruntled people tend to always steal the spotlight and sensationalize everything. People are literally sick to their stomach inside the design team over the false reporting going on lately. What’s true rarely makes the headlines rather than the easy one liner.
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New Profile Delves Into Background of Jony Ive Successor Jeff Williams
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Totally. The Apple Watch is a Tricorder. It may be an early version of what’s portrayed in Star Trek but it’s surely progressing to that point.
Well, more people seem interested in picking apart Tim Cook's response to the latest WSJ article instead of showing how the WSJ article was off the mark in the first place.
Having seen how Aboveavalon picks apart Apple-related news articles from publications like WSJ and Bloomberg, I tend to be more skeptic when it comes to subsequent articles from them.
This is no different.
... and why are customers holding onto their devices longer, I wonder...?
Could it be that Apple doesn’t have any premium products that appeals to customers, which normally would have upgraded to a shiny new model with desirable features?
The far higher prices for premium iOS devices (ie the X models) have often been cited, but iPhone customers have historically bucked the trend, and paid for a premium product - as long as it provided desired features and didn’t alienate them.
My particular case of rejecting the lack of the Home Button isn’t isolated, it seems. I had an iPhone XR for 2 weeks before I took it back to my carrier, returned it, and bought an iPhone 8 instead. I could have remained with my iPhone 7, seeing as how there was no difference in functionality between the 7 and 8, mind you.
The rep at the carrier asked me about the reason for the return, and before I could answer, he volunteered “it’s the Home Button, isn’t it?”, and in the course of the conversation I found out that this carrier saw over 30% in returns for that same reason from people that previously upgraded. (Generally iPhones have less than a 5% return rate, by the way)
This was mirrored by 90% of my clients (I’m a tech/Apple/Mac consultant), who all would not upgrade to X models for the same reason (those whose iPhones were damaged, or too old, upgraded to iPhone 8 models).
Now, look at the earlier analysis of the Samsung penalty Apple just paid, which breaks down to 25-35 million of iPhone X models that Apple didn’t sell, and also knows they would no longer sell in this sales cycle.
To get back to your/my point, the indication is quite clearly there that Apple has alienated a significant portion of their customer abuse, notably those that would consistently upgrade to their premium product - which was significant enough that Apple would no longer reveal their unit sales, seeing as how iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 sales carried the iPhone sales. The numbers are all out there if you are willing to look for them.
As for China sales, and to a lesser degree other countries like India (which also suffered a reduction in sales - but is less interesting since they are not as ‘sexy’ as China), why, what ‘variety of reasons outside Apple’s control’ do you believe are responsible for reduction in sales there?
Considering he really hasn’t been doing his job for the past 4 years, and you apparently haven’t noticed, I would say you’re very naive in your assumption.
I only have a few small requests (Apple, please read): Return of the "keyboard that works" 2015-style MacBook Pro keyboards, return of the standard USB Port, Ethernet Port, SD card, etc on MacBook Pro, and please bundle the monitor stand with the new 32" Monitor that Apple is selling. It makes no sense to buy the monitor if you aren't getting the stand! Thank you.
What’s wrong with simply buying the stand together with the monitor? This seems more like complaining for the sake of complaining.
"People are literally sick to their stomach inside the design team over the false reporting going on lately."
How do you know this exactly?
What's wrong with just buying the stand without the monitor?
It would have the same effect as the Supreme brick.
It would be nice of Williams were not the same kind of design maven as Ives, for it turned Ives into a kind of dictator who saw nothing with wrong with imposing his tastes on the entire Apple user base. Responsibility for design ought to be entrusted to (or at least shared with) the person who rightfully deserves it: the individual user. Compare, for example, Safari, in which all the design details are baked in by Ives, with Chrome, in which the end user is free to choose between a huge variety of looks. Right there is one of the many reasons I prefer Chrome. I wouldn't want somebody marching into my living room and making all the design decisions, so why should I have to tolerate somebody doing that to the electronic space I inhabit? Isn't the whole point of personal computing the empowerment of the individual user? Ives had no respect at all for us out here in Apple-land. If Williams is not a similar control freak it would be a very wholesome step in the right direction.
When Jony Ive announced that he is leaving Apple to start his own design firm, Apple confirmed that chief operating officer Jeff Williams is set to oversee many of the product design responsibilities previously held by Ive. In a new profile today by The Wall Street Journal, Williams' history at Apple is highlighted, including his potential as a future successor to CEO Tim Cook.
According to people who work closely with Williams, he has been "more visible" in the development of Apple products than Cook. Williams has displayed interest in the look and feel of certain products, and helped pivot the Apple Watch away from its fashion-focused launch to one predominantly concerned with health and fitness features that can be achieved without a connected iPhone.
Additionally, Williams was on the product development team that was responsible for the iPhone 4, and his contributions reportedly "quieted doubters" within Apple about his ability to contribute to the design stage. One unnamed source described Williams' knowledge in a thermal-engineering meeting: "It was impressive for a negotiator, and spreadsheet guy, and it just came naturally to him."
Yet, some people wonder if Williams' executive skills are enough to lead Apple product design, and live up to Ive's legacy.
Apple chose to promote from within instead of finding outside blood to replace Ive, which analyst Bob O'Donnell said would have been almost impossible anyway. "What they're doing is saying, 'let's reallocate how we think about this and put someone else overseeing a few young designers to give them leeway.' It's time for fresh blood. The last few iPhones have looked really similar."
Many of WSJ's sources wondered about Apple's future and what its next major product invention will be, and how that will be achieved without Ive's leadership. "You could have looked at Jony and said: 'He's the soul of Steve Jobs,'" said Ensemble Capital president Sean Stannard-Stockton. "I just wonder about their ability to invent the future now."
Ive is set to leave Apple sometime later this year.
Article Link: New Profile Delves Into Background of Jony Ive Successor Jeff Williams
Indeed. Ives as good as a designer he is needs a filter. Jeff is more realistic and if that results in products that are less design and more functionality, but still look like an apple product that's probably a very good thing. Let's face it Apple laptops of late have all been about thinness of the design, not about usability - lack of ports, the worlds worst keyboard, etc.
Ive's "Jelly Bean" early phase was his most successful with everything rolling downhill ever since. With the beans he had underlying hardware that was not very powerful so the room he gave it to grow was not important. The current crop of designs limit the underlying power of devices.
I listened to that episode and one of the guests Andy Ihnatko said it. He also said the WSJ report doesn’t jive with what he knows about the design team and Ive’s relationship with the rest of the executive team. He also made a good point about not really seeing any accounts from former employees corroborating anything. If the WSJ was blowing the lid of of what’s really going on in the company you’d think we’d be seeing Medium posts or Twitter threads from former employees feeling like they were now able to speak out. Where are they?
Check out the 13 minute mark here:
https://www.twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly/episodes/668?autostart=false
Most of the people having opinions (like the ATP guys) are just spitballing. They don’t have contacts inside the company or if they do they’re software engineers not in the know.
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What is your source for this?
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What is your source for this? It sounds a lot more like personal opinion than fact.
And what is ‘macbreak weekly’ then? I doubt it’ll prove me wrong as I doubt you can 100% claim Apple employees are talking on it, in breach of their employment contracts...
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No I’m pretty sure the articles indicate he has been doing his job... and last I checked Apple were still selling devices and a new iPhone every year. Oh and updating iOS and Mac OS. So you bless Apple just stopped functioning for the last 4 years then no sorry I hadn’t noticed, that the boss of design for all hardware and software wasn’t doing his job....
It’s really hard to know what’s what’s fact vs what’s someone’s opinion. But if the WSJ report was accurate you’d think by now some former employees would be out on social media corroborating it, feeling like that was the opening and it’s safe for them to speak out. But it’s crickets. All we have are people’s opinions.
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Software engineering developer iPadOS. Ive never ran software engineering.
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The Watch is a new device. The phone is 10+ years old. Let’s see how much progress there is with the Watch 5-10 years from now.
He is responsible for its look and feel, it’s in his job description in case you hadn’t noticed...
http://www.apple.com/uk/leadership/jonathan-ive/
I love how people on here make quick jives, oh but Ive isn’t in this or that department, no but he IS in charge of ALL design so all those departments have to work with him, and get his and his teams approval.
iPadOS is about way more than look and feel. Also Craig’s bio says he’s responsible for user interface.
https://www.apple.com/leadership/craig-federighi/
It’s great to see how people’s sentiments have changed. When Scott Forstall left Apple and the flat redesign of iOS has happened, there were a lot of comments praising it.
Now many of the top rated comments are about missing Scott, how the quality of software has deteriorated and are hoping for the changes for the better.
Now many of the top rated comments are about missing Scott, how the quality of software has deteriorated and are hoping for the changes for the better.
Read the first sentence of my post you are responding to. The first 30 minutes of the episode goes into all the “off the record” stuff people inside the design team are saying. I’ll take that over the one person who is disgruntled spewing BS.
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That’s what off the record means if you know an ounce about reporting. MacBreak weekly is a very popular podcast that has people on there who have a very good track record in the industry as well as many contacts inside apple.
Or you can keep on believing the sensationalism of one or two people trying to make waves.
When iOS 7 came out I was very surprised. I missed the old design. I think they can bring back SOME of those old elements. It’s ok to have buttons/texture. The OS currently is too flat and white in a lot of areas.