I think you’re purposefully misinterpreting the meaning of the quote to be a contrarian or to hate on Apple. I’m not a big fan of big corporate duopoly Apple, either, but I’m also not a fan of twisting words.

It’s clear that the meaning of the quote is that Apple doesn’t look for strict technical qualifications (“they could breathe”), they instead look for people who show an ability to think critically (“they could think”).

The passage also says that the app reviewers tend to be Genius Bar employees, which is a second level role within an already competitive high tier retailer. I.e., Apple retail rejects a lot of retail employees that go on to work for other retailers that have lower pay and benefits (most of the rest of the retail industry), and then out of those people who get accepted, many are rejected to work in the Genius Bar handling repairs and troubleshooting.

> I think you’re purposefully misinterpreting the meaning of the quote to be a contrarian or to hate on Apple.

"Assume good faith." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

By the way, I'm a longtime App Store developer, so my criticism of the App Store is not shallow.

> It’s clear that the meaning of the quote is that Apple doesn’t look for strict technical qualifications (“they could breathe”), they instead look for people who show an ability to think critically (“they could think”).

I don't think that's clear. I would point out that the testimony was under oath, on penalty of perjury, so it would be personally dangerous for Shoemaker to lie. I interpret Shoemaker's remarks as admitting that Apple basically needed warm bodies for the job and didn't have strict qualifications. This aligns with my own experience as an App Store developer, dealing with Apple reviewers, who often seem completely clueless.

With regard to the Genius Bar, the term "genius" has also been more marketing than anything else. Moreover, in the context, I believe that Shoemaker was testifying about the origins of the App Store. In other words, in 2008 when Apple opened the App Store, they recruited reviewers from among current employees at Apple retail stores. Shoemaker said that reviewers "typically" worked at the Genius Bar, not that reviewers invariably or were required to have worked at the Genius Bar. The App Store itself was thrown together very quickly, after the "sweet solution" of web apps fell on dead ears. Steve Jobs hadn't originally wanted third-party apps on the iPhone. It's unclear whether Apple today is still recruiting App Store reviewers from their retail stores, and of course the volume of submitted apps today is vastly greater than the relatively small number back in 2008.