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Papermaster's Departure Linked to 'Cultural Incompatibility' Rather Than Antenna Issues

firewood said:
If the rumored i4 antenna testing schedule is any indication, the i5 was on the drawing boards last year, and is already in early developmental testing by now and in time to get enough test runs done before a volume production ramp next spring.
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iPhone 5 has probably been on Apple product roadmaps for several years, but certainly the projected components wouldn't have been available for testing last year. Apple's development schedule goes roughly like this: proto, DVT, EVT, PVT, ramp/steady state production.

They are probably around the Design Verification Test stage at this time.

Nothing new here, this is their standard development timeline.
 
JoshBoy said:
I just got an iphone 4 today and i can not replicate the issue or make it drop down in bars. By far it has better reception than the 3GS that would drop in and out of service, now i have nearly full bars.
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Yeah right, I dont buy that and you dont either...
 
Small White Car said:
No, the "stuff" I'm talking about is when people started complaining about it and Consumer Reports said they wouldn't recommend the phone.

Apple knew about the flaw a year ago, yes, but they honestly didn't think it was going to be as big a problem as it was. Antenna work is all compromises and trade-offs. They knew the flaws but they thought the gains made up for them.

It was a 2-steps-forward, 1-step-back in their mind. They thought people would notice but say "oh well, but it's better overall so it doesn't matter."

What they DIDN'T know was that people wouldn't care about the steps forward. Apple didn't guess that the advances were things people wouldn't really notice or care about. I really do think that part surprised them.

Thus, I stand by my "this stuff happened after it shipped" comments. Just because they knew of the flaw it doesn't mean they knew it would be the big problem it turned out to be.
.
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I might agree with you if "they" is Jobs. It sounds like some smart people at Apple knew darn well it would be an issue. But then there wasn't agreement about whether to ship the bumpers. If they shipped the bumpers then that was admitting they knew there was a need for them. So they tried shutting their eyes at the launch, knowing they always had the bumper solution.

Oh, and it isn't that people didn't notice or care about the advances. There is no way to miss that incredible screen. But the problem is, if your phone does not work as a phone (as is happening with enough of the phones that Jobs had to fly back from Hawaii to call that press conference - and btw, happens without holding the phone at all), then it doesn't matter how beautiful the screen is.

I think it will always be hard for those who got a good working 4 with no issues to understand what it was like for those who didn't (and who have been with iPhone from the start).

notjustjay said:
Unfortunately, there's simply no way to spin "broken antenna" as forward-thinking. The best they could do is "Hey, everyone else's is flawed too!"
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+1
awmazz said:
That unit had a case on it. I assume all the test units were in cases. I assume most iPhone 4s in consumer's hands will be in cases. Case closed. ;)
?
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You completely missed the point. The lost prototype was in answer to someone who asked why the launch was rushed if they had issues. Case closed.

firewood said:
If the rumored i4 antenna testing schedule is any indication, the i5 was on the drawing boards last year, and is already in early developmental testing by now and in time to get enough test runs done before a volume production ramp next spring.
Click to expand...

That would be good news.
 
Arisian said:
I've worked for and with three of the biggest companies in the WORLD.

One of them, Wal Mart, had this same corporate culture (minus the creativity) and the turnover was amazing. Like you hinted at, it's not necessarily the corporate OR that corporations culture, it's more of the department and if the boss is medling in it - ie, the iphone department and Jobs... I'd freak'n quit too... having your boss there all the time trying to manage things they know nothing about sucks and it makes for products that have issues and it totally undermines trust... I think you can blame Jobs himself quite significantly for these antennae issues... not entirely, but when a boss demands something their is little room for anyone to say "But it will suck that way!"

Can't blame the engineers in my opinion - they are looking to keep their jobs, right?

This is spot on. I've work the same job right next to peers who's life sucked while mine was great - it's all about the project. Id add to that... the project and your boss.

The more I read about Apple and Jobs I'm startled at how much of an ass he seems to be. Genius or not, he's not doing his job well if he's micromanaging. Managers should manage... and a CEO shouldn't be BLINDLY demanding design specs (the white iPhone design specs are ridiculous)... (note, this is entirely opinion... not fact... thus if you disagree lets keep it cordial since I'm not drawing a line in the mud :)).

Anyways, thanks for your comments.
Brian
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Steve Jobs gets paid one dollar a year.

From an ROI standpoint, he is the best performing CEO on the planet, bar none. The fact that he was voted the most valuable CEO in a survey by other CEOs is pretty telling.

I'm a shareholder, not an Apple employee so how Steve behaves as a manager doesn't personally affect me (I do have quite a few friends who are Apple employees though and I want my friends to be happy).

If you don't like Apple's corporate culture or Steve Jobs, no one is forcing you to work there. Apple is very picky about who they hire and the company runs very lean on human resources. The headcount is very, very small for the revenue they pull in.

You claim to have worked for/with the three biggest companies on the planet. You should have asked them, "Why don't you guys perform like Apple?" Then you should have asked the CEOs, "Why are you getting paid so much? Steve Jobs gets paid a dollar a year."

Anyways, thanks for your comments.
 
Gee Wiz

I have never seen a forum with such a bunch of whiners. It is apparent you not nothing about the issue here but that doesn't stop any of you from acting like a bunch of spoiled rotten 2 year olds. I know people who have worked both at Apple and IBM. They tell me the difference in corporate culture between the two companies is like you are in two different space time continuum. At Apple it is like you live in a country with an leader something like Mussolini, the term a total a$$hole, my way or the highway, is not enough. But if you fit in you feel like you work at the center of the whole universe. The single vision at Apple means it's products have a personality that nothing else in this market has. While at IBM you have more freedom, you are given a job and it is up to you, and your team, to do it. IBM does not do anything in the area of consumer electronics anymore, so they deal with a totally different kind of customer, this is the major difference between the two. IBM is in business of selling, installing, and servicing large networks for big corporate data systems.
 
Arisian said:
Like you hinted at, it's not necessarily the corporate OR that corporations culture, it's more of the department and if the boss is medling in it - ie, the iphone department and Jobs... I'd freak'n quit too... having your boss there all the time trying to manage things they know nothing about sucks and it makes for products that have issues and it totally undermines trust... I think you can blame Jobs himself quite significantly for these antennae issues... not entirely, but when a boss demands something their is little room for anyone to say "But it will suck that way!"

Can't blame the engineers in my opinion - they are looking to keep their jobs, right?
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That the reason why I left my first job; my boss was checking all the time on my department; so he can show everyone is role model in leadership; it turned up against him because he was speaking A LOT! and talking about thing that he could not understand and listener had to shake his head yes sir! or else ... Later, People speak technical and use words that he never heard them in his life.
The CEO looks better when they keep themselves inside their room, in my opinion. Can't blame Papermaster for his resignation.
 
Companies never tell people the real reason why people are let go. Apple's ambiguous "he was incompatible with our corporate culture" sounds like a blanket statement.
 
CFreymarc said:
In short, I think it went this way.

1) This guy had some of the mysterious "IBM way" that Steve wanted to know about.

2) Steve pulled the guy into the Cupertino Inner Circle (hope he liked sushi) for a while to see if he had any magic spells that wasn't in Steve's spell book.

3) Steve learned a few things and found one more man behind the curtain in corporate America to not be concerned about.

4) It was good for about a year and he let this guy float 'til the iPhone 4 launch with all the rewards for playing volleyball up in Woodside and eating sushi.

5) Steve looks hard at this guy and sees there is nothing more. He is a bit too "straight laced" to wear all six colors of Apple.

6) This guy is not only handed a golden parachute for his departure but also a golden fleece taking blame for all the iPhone 4 shortcomings.

7) One final sushi and sake with Steve and a he is out of there.

8) Everyone loves and learns, the iPhone 5 is just started on the drawing boards.

The beat continues in Cupertino.
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I'll bet you're right on the money with this scenario. Somebody's got to take the blame, just to keep everybody in line and happy they've got a job and it sure isn't going to be SJ. Some giant corporations play musical chairs with a select group of executives, whose role is to occupy a title, then move on after a year or two. They always get hired by another company for their business acumen and experience, and repeat the process. They're praised at the hiring and not so subtle hints are dropped at the resignation announcements that they failed, but they quickly turn up again somewhere else. They make whole careers out of being the perceived fall guy, and allowing the new company to pick their brain for info on the competition.
This guy will end up in charge of some department at Dell or HTC or somewhere within a year.
 
Originally Posted by JoshBoy
"I just got an iphone 4 today and i can not replicate the issue or make it drop down in bars. By far it has better reception than the 3GS that would drop in and out of service, now i have nearly full bars."

ANTAWNM26 said:
Yeah right, I dont buy that and you dont either...
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Why not? I bought my iPhone 4 on day 1, reserved and then waited in line 5 hours for it. To this day have not been able to replicate the antenna issue. I believe it exists for some people, but not for me.

my iPhone 4 32GB has been an awesome phone, I have zero complaints.
 
cvaldes said:
Steve Jobs gets paid one dollar a year.

From an ROI standpoint, he is the best performing CEO on the planet, bar none. The fact that he was voted the most valuable CEO in a survey by other CEOs is pretty telling.

I'm a shareholder, not an Apple employee so how Steve behaves as a manager doesn't personally affect me (I do have quite a few friends who are Apple employees though and I want my friends to be happy).

If you don't like Apple's corporate culture or Steve Jobs, no one is forcing you to work there. Apple is very picky about who they hire and the company runs very lean on human resources. The headcount is very, very small for the revenue they pull in.

You claim to have worked for/with the three biggest companies on the planet. You should have asked them, "Why don't you guys perform like Apple?" Then you should have asked the CEOs, "Why are you getting paid so much? Steve Jobs gets paid a dollar a year."
Click to expand...


You're overreacting man. Im not bashing Apple and I'm well aware that no one is forcing me to work there. I love Apple... I have 5 apple products w/ in arm reach :D We are discussing why Papermaster left for 'cultural incompatibility', not the reasons why I wouldn't work there.

BTW, Wal Mart 'out-performs' Apple by 10x based on annual revenue and all their managers/upper management have salary caps and are contractually required to give away significant portions of their profits to charity. Since you raised the question of 'performance' - what are we measuring that by? - not sure what your point is here :)

There is no doubt that Jobs is an excellent CEO and one that you would want to hire asap... he's a genius like I said earlier, but again, on topic, how he effects his employees (Ie, Papermaster) is what we are talking about, thus him as a manager... not a CEO. His brilliance as a CEO def. makes up for his seeming lack of people management skills. Hope that makes sense.

Cheers,
Brian
 
Exactly what I said about the previous story. Executives aren't fired for things as fake and minimal as "antennagate".

I guess Mr.Papermaster just didn't mesh well with some of the other innovators that work at Apple.
 
Arisian said:
BTW, Wal Mart 'out-performs' Apple by 10x based on annual revenue and all their managers/upper management have salary caps and are contractually required to give away significant portions of their profits to charity. Since you raised the question of 'performance' - what are we measuring that by? - not sure what your point is here :)
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As an investor, I measure performance by increased shareholder value. AAPL blows doors on WMT as well as the S&P 500 over the past 5-10 years.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5y&s=AAPL&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=WMT&c=^GSPC
 Source: Yahoo Finance (AAPL vs. WMT vs. S&P 500 index over the past five years)

Raw revenue figures are often meaningless if your margins are razor thin. Apple's profit margin is over 21%. Walmart's is less than 4%.

Since you chose to bring up Walmart, I will point out that they have $8.5B in cash and almost $47B in debt liability. Apple has zero debt and over $24B in cash.
 
*LTD* said:
What are you talking about??

Business is business. So someone was fired/let go/politely asked to "volunteer" to leave, etc. Whatever. And an IBM guy at that. Big friggin deal. On to other news . . .
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NO in general they get mean from the pain from the cancer he had months ago. Not talking about this just one person who got laid off.
 
ANTAWNM26 said:
Yeah right, I dont buy that and you dont either...
Click to expand...

I also upgraded from a 3Gs and haven't had any problems with the iPhone 4 antenna. It's on par with the 3Gs, if not better. But then again I use a case on the iPhone 4. Honestly, I think this antennagate is insanely overblown.
 
cvaldes said:
As an investor, I measure performance by increased shareholder value. AAPL blows doors on WMT as well as the S&P 500 over the past 5-10 years.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5y&s=AAPL&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=WMT&c=^GSPC
 Source: Yahoo Finance (AAPL vs. WMT vs. S&P 500 index over the past five years)

Raw revenue figures are often meaningless if your margins are razor thin.
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that's fine - was just asking how we were messuring it. Besides, my comparision of WMT to AAPL really isn't apples to apples (crap, that was an unintentional pun). There's just no need to compare their CEO's to Apples... it's a different company so different set of rules.

Like I said, Steve is one of the best CEO's ever.
 
cvaldes said:
Since you chose to bring up Walmart, I will point out that they have $8.5B in cash and almost $47B in debt liability. Apple has zero debt and over $24B in cash.
Click to expand...

Since you point to Walmart; I will ask you question;
How many products do Walmart sell in comparison with apple?
How many stores do Walmart have?
How many employees do Walmart have in comparison with apple? And if Walmart have the same apple policy for recruiting will their service affected??

Both are giants but the scope is different. :cool:
 
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