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Tim Cook Stumbles at His Specialty, Shipping Apple Products on Time
- jkestner 9y agoHis specialty is manufacturing/supply chain. These appear to be design/development issues.
- DRW_ 9y agoYeah, Apple taking so long to update their Macs (for instance) isn't a manufacturing issue, it's their own development issues (all of which were brought on themselves).
- exabrial 9y agoLook I'm not an expert, but maybe if they stopped adding useless features and they end "The War on Ports" they'd be doing better. Right now their sales are driven by hype (and I guess an iMessage monopoly), not quality or value.
- pwthornton 9y agoWe get it -- you're not an expert.
- dang 9y agoPlease don't post uncivil or unsubstantive comments, regardless of how wrong someone else is. The 'economics' of that are backwards in that it damages the container more than any value it contributes. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- jjtheblunt 9y agocustomer satisfaction is what drives their sales, more than advertising/hype: not everyone is satisfied though the fraction which is satisfied tends to compound, evidently. The fraction which is not satisfied tends to complain and take their business elsewhere, which is good for all.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y agoThe iMessage monopoly is actually a good point. I switched to a PC for quality/value reasons recently after waiting too long for update to Mac Pro. Everyday I hate that I don't have iMessage on this machine. And my phone is constantly propped up against my screen so I can stay connected to my text messages. I had no idea how much this would effect me and if I can find a third party solution that connects me to iMessage I will probably be switching back soon.
- ryanmonroe 9y agoOne of the features of iMessages is that they're encrypted and can't be unencrypted by anyone but the Apple-authenticated recipient. This has the downside that the only way to access those messages on non-Apple devices is to create some kind of man-in-the-middle attack.
- brazzledazzle 9y agoUnless Macs have a secure enclave I don't think there's anything about that encryption that requires Apple devices.
- chappi42 9y ago(offtopic) go threema...
- Nullabillity 9y agoOr stop using iMessage on your phone too?
- on_and_off 9y agoIt really saddens me that it that the more times go by, the more fragmented the messaging ecosystem gets. I just want a secure messaging solution that I can use with anybody, regardless of what device/service they use.
- neonate 9y agohttp://archive.is/Sy6sJ http://archive.is/Sy6sJ
- smpetrey 9y agoThanks!
- post_break 9y agoI still think it's crazy that if you bought a MacPro or MacMini when it launched and bought Apple Care it would have long run out, and the same computer is on their store.
- symfoniq 9y agoApple is still selling "new" Mac Pros with Xeon E5-1650 v2 CPUs for $3K. I just picked up a like-new refurbished HP workstation with the exact same CPU for $350 on NewEgg.
- benjohnson 9y agoI honestly think this really hurts them - I used to be able to tell people "Just buy an Apple, it won't be cheap but it will be a fair value." Now I have to people them what Apple models to avoid like the plague.
- 1123581321 9y agoHow many people do you talk to that were going to buy a Pro or a Mini? iMacs and laptops, which most people buy, have been regularly updated. I don't agree that it has hurt them because the obsolete lines are barely visible* to people who don't understand how to evaluate a computer purchase, and presumably anyone who understands how to shop isn't avoiding all of Apple over this. * See a Best Buy in-store display or https://www.apple.com/mac/ https://www.apple.com/mac/ for evidence of this.
- radley 9y agoI've always recommended getting a "Pro" or Mini and recommend avoiding the iMac completely. Throwing out a huge, decent monitor simply because you need more processor power and/or storage is (sorry) asinine.
- 1123581321 9y agoSounds like an opposite situation. GP's comment was about people avoiding buying the lines that haven't been updated, and you are only recommending the un-updated lines, so you aren't trying to steer people away from those old machines.
- reaperducer 9y agoIf it means less-buggy products, let him stumble all he wants. I'm tired of billion dollar companies charging me for betaware.
- aaron-lebo 9y agoHas that been the result? I've heard fans complain about the quality of software decreasing. So they're shipping buggy products slowly? I'm tired of companies in general putting out junk. The complete lack of embarrassment or care about putting out (and charging for) broken stuff frustrates me to no end. What I especially hate is instead of companies recognizing that and fixing it because they actually want to be better, they make excuses. Is product quality not a priority anymore?
- setr 9y agoThe market, afaict, no longer properly associates a game with its publisher/developers in the general case. In which case, companies don't have to try very hard to get out of problem release: few even know who they are.
- kirykl 9y agoI think such quality collapse is evident across many industries today. It might be related to wage stagnation. Can't afford to buy quality, and no incentive to produce it.
- dammitcoetzee 9y agoPlease. They released an iOS update and the calculator wasn't working. How many expensive 10x PhDs do you need to release a working calculator app?
- pdelbarba 9y agoYou don't need any 10x PhDs. You need some competent, well paid QA devs to go over the product and make sure the obvious stuff is working before you ship. I've heard of a bunch of companies cutting QA staff in the past year or so. Upper management sees them as an obstacle to shipping and middle management sees them as the "source of all the bugs" and an entire office not "producing" anything so they're clearly not useful.
- typetypetype 9y agoCouldn't get past paywall, but it could be that Tim Cook is better at operations then whomever replaced him.
- neurothustra 9y agoYeah, it's kind of annoying when you click on an article that looks interesting and it's locked up behind a paywall
- briandear 9y agoYou could subscribe to avoid the paywall. That's one option.
- mark-r 9y agoI'm not going to subscribe so I can read one article every month or two. If WSJ wants to ignore the long tail of potential readers that's their right, but we shouldn't be condoning it by posting links here on HN.
- grzm 9y agoThe mods have been clear on the HN policy regarding paywalls: From a recent comment by 'dang: > "The paywalls suck, of course, but banning NYT, WSJ, Economist, New Yorker, and all other such publications would suck worse. I realize not everyone agrees with this, but it seems the right call to me, which doesn't mean I like it any more than you do." https://hn.algolia.com/?query=author:dang%20paywall&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=author:dang%20paywall&sort=byD...
- mark-r 9y agoWSJ has changed their paywall policy over time, so I don't expect any policy written in the past to be optimal for the current reality - which is no access without a subscription, period. I know NYT allows a limited number of articles per month, and I'm fine with that. Don't know about the other two but I don't remember having any trouble accessing them. If you already have a subscription to WSJ I expect that you'd be a heavy enough user that you don't need a HN link to inform you of content to check out.
- dilap 9y agoPreviously Apple shied away from announcing products they were ready, and tended to ship products that were reasonably bug-free and highly polished. Apple seemed pretty unique in this, in the industry. Lately Apple is more like everyone else -- announce early, rushed to meet dates, not so polished and much more buggy.
- ProAm 9y agopolish got expensive
- kinkrtyavimoodh 9y agoWas it because earlier their offering was unmatched by competition? There was no true iPod equivalent or iPhone equivalent when they were launched.
- tqkxzugoaupvwqr 9y agoI had the impression Apple was under pressure to announce products at their conferences because of their yearly cycle, and since they had not enough material to fill the two hours they announced what they plan to do. They also had to do some damage control and calm the professionals because they completely neglected this segment and had nothing to show.
- dilap 9y agoFor the Mac Pro, definitely, a special case where they totally screwed up and had to be like, "don't abandon us! we still care about you, we promise!"
- empath75 9y agoYeah it seems less a case of missing shipment dates and more a case of announcing earlier in the cycle. Jobs tended not to announce stuff until it was ready to ship. I think Jobs had fewer leaks to deal with, which I think forces Cook to announce things earlier.
- valuearb 9y ago
- bluthru 9y agoI know Apple doesn't have divisions, but would it seriously harm the brand to have a B team keeping the Mac Mini (and other established products) updated?
- ladberg 9y agoThe problem is that Apple doesn't want to have a "B team" on anything, they'd rather have an A team or no team. This is just a personal observation, and I don't really agree with it as it means I sometimes have to go outside the Apple ecosystem for specialty things I need.
- tqkxzugoaupvwqr 9y agoI wonder if Apple campus (the newly developed area) tied up all the design resources. I really can imagine the Apple designers going nuts on stairs and handrails and curvature of windows, designing everything meticulously, and having only little time for the actual products.
- valuearb 9y agoIf they thought the Mini was worth the investment, they would be making it. Don’t know why they don’t think it’s worth it.
- CamperBob2 9y agoThe B-team concept is tricky to pull off. If certain products get a reputation of being a tar pit where careers go to die, as is commonly reputed to happen at Google, then good people won't want to work on them and good executives won't want to manage them. I don't know what the right approach is. If your company has a mixture of products that are widely preceived as being divided into "sexy" and "boring" categories, there may simply be no good answer.
- bluthru 9y agoYeah but if I'm in the first half of my career being on the B team at Apple is still an honor. My thought is that even if the Mac Mini team was filled with jaded workers, it still would be in a better position than it is now.
- 013a 9y agoMaybe the difference is that Apple has, recently, been announcing products well in advance of their official release date. We knew about the HomePod and the iMac Pro months before they failed to be released on the date promised. Maybe nothing has changed about their ability to deliver products, we just know more about their failures. Horrible article.
- valuearb 9y agoApple is really good about not pre-announcing new versions of existing products, but when it’s an entirely new product unlikely to cannibslize existing products, they are happy to pre-announce way sooner.
- nafizh 9y agoSeems to me Tim Cook's legacy will be similar to Steve Ballmer at Microsoft. Great for shareholders, terrible for the company's long term competitiveness.
- kinkrtyavimoodh 9y agoAs an aside, are there many examples of major (say Fortune 500) companies where more than one CEO was famous / respected / acclaimed? Maybe Sundar Pichhai but he is young in his CEO role so it's too early to decide.
- neurothustra 9y agoIf I had to point to anyone, I'd say that Satya Nadella is being giving a lot of credit for a major turn around at Microsoft.
- Keyframe 9y agoIn tech? How about Intel - Moore, Grove, Otellini. Nintendo - Yamauchi, Iwata. Microsoft, obviously.
- awad 9y agoTop of my head? Goldman Sachs, GE, Disney, Ford (maybe not as fair since the Ford last name gets you instant fame) In tech: Google before Alphabet, the former Yahoo, the former Sun. Twitter did their musical chairs act, as well.
- kinkrtyavimoodh 9y agoGoogle before Alphabet was only Eric Schmidt right?
- awad 9y agoLarry was the original CEO until 2001. He was then CEO after Eric Schmidt, starting in 2011, until the formation of Alphabet in 2015.
- everdev 9y agoSounds similar to the mistake of taking your best developing and having them manage the dev team. Code quality will likely drop. What made Apple exiting was their visionary products. With Johnny designing and Tim getting them launched on time, Steve could be Steve. We need a new Steve.
- menacingly 9y agoIt's probably difficult to have the resources of Apple at your disposal and really internalize that you can't do some stuff. We used to think the same naive thing about Microsoft. "Why can't they just fix <X>. They've got all the money in the world." Sure, but at a certain point, it stops being about resources. Two women can't make a baby in 4.5 months. We often use construction metaphors in software, but a structure is at least expected to be done at some point, not growing in size and complexity forever, unbounded. I'd bet there's a point where even in the physical world a construction crew would be paralyzed by the amount of variables involved in moving forward.
- mankash666 9y agoShipping brand new tech isn't like shipping a new T-shirt, where, for example, the only change might be the print design. From the T2 processor in the new Mac Pros to the iPhone X Ai/VR chips, from new filesystems to brand new cloud services, Apple's 'critical path' is in R&D. How can an operations guy accelerate that?