| ▲ | bnchrch 10 hours ago |
| If you check my comments Im a routine critic of Apple. Specifically its mis-management of Siri. But, in my mind, Tim Cook is also responsible for the only exceptional qualities of Apple. Namely its production of the M series chips and the Vision Pro (yes really). They better have someone outstanding in mind as a replacement. Otherwise I could easily see the successor mildly improve Siri/AI functions, while continuing Apples new disastrous design language and drop the ball on the supply chain and vertical integration that makes their hardware products second to none. |
|
| ▲ | 827a 10 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| Ternus is the leading candidate; VP of Hardware Engineering. He was very likely more directly responsible than Cook for all the things you liked about Cook's Apple. My fear for Apple right now is how most decisions they make appear to incentivize them toward becoming a perpetual middle-man in all aspects of your interactions with their products. They don't manufacture much of anything anymore; its on-contract. They design the M-Series chips, but don't make them. Their software sucks; they'd rather just take 30% of your interaction with actually-good software. Their AI and search sucks; they just pay Google $30B a year for theirs. Etc and etc. |
| |
|
| ▲ | epolanski 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Changing chip is way too little of an accomplishment in 10+ years of leadership of what was once the biggest tech company on the planet. The company isn't growing from years, and it's only saved by the positive offset coming from advertisement and app store growth. |
| |
| ▲ | wk_end 10 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Listen, I don't really like the direction Apple has taken either, but since Tim Cook became CEO of Apple in August 2011 the company's stock went from like $15 to like $275; it had a value of $400 billion and now it's worth $4 trillion, ten times as much. Any characterization of him as some kind of failure who killed Apple ("once the biggest tech company on the planet", "isn't growing", "only saved"...) is completely out-of-touch. | | |
| ▲ | epolanski 6 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | As a customer and tech enthusiasts I couldn't care less about the stock performance of Apple, truly. It's a tech company, I'm interested in the tech they produce. On that front, the company hasn't been innovative for ages. | | |
| ▲ | blackqueeriroh 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | This is one of the least reality-based statements ever. Just take AirPods Pro at a minimum. Apple is doing thing with AirPods that other brands can’t even dream of, and it’s all technical engineering. | |
| ▲ | crooked-v 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Apple Silicon and everything related to it is deeply innovative, it's just not at all flashy. | |
| ▲ | knollimar 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | in house chips are pretty cool. Shared memory is a really nice architectural advancement. | | |
| ▲ | makeitdouble 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | What is your specific definition of "in house" chips ? Usually we'd apply that to Samsung's exynos or Sony's image sensors for their DSLRs. Would Google's Tensor for instance fit in that definition ? |
|
| |
| ▲ | manmal 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | It sailed on Jobs‘ monumental accomplishments, and still does. Including AirPods and Vision Pro, much of what fell into Cook‘s era was already well underway when Jobs died. Cook is a fantastic executor, fulfilling Jobs‘ legacy. But the tank is empty now, has been for a while. | | |
| ▲ | KerrAvon 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | Every bit of your second sentence is wrong. None of that was even on the drawing boards when Steve passed away. | | |
| ▲ | manmal 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Look it up. Both have been prototyped for more than a decade before being released. Like most recent Apple products. |
|
| |
| ▲ | sharts 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | How can we be sure this is specifically due to Cook and not the ecosystem overall? A lot has changed since 2011. Some was likely Cook continuing execution of things lined up by Jobs. Some could just be tech sector in general, etc. | | |
| ▲ | JKCalhoun 9 hours ago | parent [-] | | In some ways it doesn't matter. A bad CEO would have fucked up the ecosystem. |
| |
| ▲ | fnord77 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | 10x over 15 years is not really impressive for a tech company | | |
| |
| ▲ | pshc 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | MacBooks outclass any other laptop in the market thanks to those chips. | |
| ▲ | JKCalhoun 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | "…and it's only saved by the positive offset coming from advertisement and app store growth" That has been part of the plan for a decade now since Eddy Cue was tasked with boosting Apple's income from "services". (It's worked pretty well for Microsoft.) | |
| ▲ | victorbjorklund 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | It’s not the only thing. The scale up of Apple is massive and so is the supply chain. Those are not really things consumers don’t see directly (just indirectly) |
|
|
| ▲ | ChrisMarshallNY 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I think we’ll be seeing a lot more, from Vision. The Liquid GlArse thing is because they want to make every app a Vision app. Don’t forget how unimpressive the iPhone was, when it was first introduced. It has probably become the most successful product in history. |
| |
| ▲ | xwowsersx 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | How unimpressive the first iPhone was?? Yeah, totally... a full touchscreen computer in your pocket with no physical keyboard, pinch-to-zoom magic people thought was CGI, a browser that wasn't a joke, visual voicemail, and an OS so smooth it made every other phone look like it ran on car batteries. Truly underwhelming stuff. It literally redefined an entire industry, vaporized half the product lines at Nokia/BlackBerry/Palm/Microsoft, and set the blueprint for every smartphone that exists today. But sure..."unimpressive." This is the weirdest revisionist history I've ever heard. If you mean that the iPhone has come a long way and that it was unimpressive relative to the phones we have 18 years later, sure. But unimpressive it was not. | | |
| ▲ | ChrisMarshallNY 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | > This is the weirdest revisionist history I've ever heard. I thought we were supposed to find less abrasive ways to engage each other, around these parts. In any case, I admit that I could have phrased it better. What I meant, was that “professionals” laughed at it (and there were a lot of them), but “customers,” did not. I worked for a company, where they literally laughed in my face, when I told them “This thing will be trouble for us.” A few years later, their own product line was a smoking crater in the ground. |
| |
| ▲ | linkage 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > Don’t forget how unimpressive the iPhone was, when it was first introduced We have very different recollections, then. People audibly gasped when Steve demoed slide-to-unlock on stage. The first generation was sold out for a long time despite being eye-wateringly expensive compared to competing devices like the BlackBerry. | | |
| ▲ | ChrisMarshallNY 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | > despite being eye-wateringly expensive compared to competing devices like the BlackBerry. That’s sort of what I meant. The people who poo-poohed it, were marketing folks at more traditional companies (like the one I worked for, at the time). They literally laughed themselves into the poorhouse. I watched that happen, right in front of my eyes. |
| |
| ▲ | aprilthird2021 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Comparing the Vision Pro customer response and iPhone customer response is laughable, imo |
|
|
| ▲ | dude250711 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| With the right visionary, $2k phones and $500 textile cases will not be impossible... |
| |
| ▲ | wtallis 9 hours ago | parent [-] | | $2k phones has been a thing for a while now, with the folding phones. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold currently starts at $1700 and Google Pixel Pro Fold starts at $1800, and both are over $2100 for the 1TB models. |
|
|
| ▲ | dyauspitr 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| I think it should be Sabih. Having worked with him he has a great head on his shoulders. |
