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I left Apple almost exactly a year before this, but I remember how totally horrific the Copland dev was, hundreds of engineers writing crap with hardly any coor

I left Apple almost exactly a year before this, but I remember how totally horrific the Copland dev was, hundreds of engineers writing crap with hardly any coordination. It was pretty depressing to come to work because we had almost no money for anything, and no real hope for a future. I assumed Apple was doomed if they continued as they were so I left. If I had only known what was going to happen I would have stayed. Oopsy.

superdug 5y ago
At the time, it was a sport of sorts to predict when Apple would fold entirely. It was always imminent. Then came Mac OS X, iMac, iBook, and iPod ... and the rest is history
- macintux 5y ago
  I don’t think the word “beleaguered” fully abandoned Apple headlines until after 2010.
  - MBCook 5y ago
    Oh no. They were doomed to fail. Any day now. The original iMac was a joke. At least 20 different iPod killers came out every year and the media rooted for them. Then the iPhone came out and was a joke. Any minute now blackberry will release their new touchscreen model and wipe Apple off the map. Then Android was going to eat Apple‘s lunch. Then the iPad was announced and was a joke. Then android tablets were going to kill that market. At every step Apple was a few months from being bankrupt and useless. Because Dell/Google/HP/RIM/Sony/whoever would undercut their CLEARLY overpriced product and their sales would evaporate. At some point in the last five to seven years you started to see if you were in fewer of those takes. In 2018 Apple became the first trillion dollar company and somewhere along the line the “Apple‘s going to fail any day now“ meme died. It’s very clear Apple is here to stay. But don’t worry. Every product is a failure. After all Steve Jobs died and the company can’t work without him. The iPad was going to be a failure. The Apple Watch was going to be a failure. The AirPods were going to be a failure. So don’t worry. There’s still tons of Apple pessimism available. It just changed targets.
    - macintux 5y ago
      They hit trillion dollar market cap in 2018, not 2008. In 08-10 the accounting for iPhone sales (GAAP? I don't recall the details, just regurgitating what I read at the time, had something to do with the way the devices were subsidized) seems to have not yet made it obvious how much money Apple was printing. I knew from following people much smarter than me that I should be investing all my money in Apple stocks, I just didn't have any to invest.
      - MBCook 5y ago
        You are 100% right. I had to look up when Apple became $1 trillion company and yet somehow I typed the wrong number. The iPhone 3GS took off quite well, but I’m not sure it was really clear to people just how big of a juggernaut it was until the iPhone 4, especially when it came to Verizon.
    - grecy 5y ago
      Honestly not that different to Tesla. and it's funny how quiet things are now. Toyota just announced they aim to be producing 3 million EVs by 2030. That will put them about 6-7 years behind Tesla. All quiet.
      - MBCook 5y ago
        I’m not sure that’s the same. Apple has been doing amazing with product after product and product since the iPod exploded. People predicted doom most of the time even when they were INCREDIBLY successful. I think it was fair to question Tesla. The Roadster was ultra low volume. The S was pretty low volume and high price (limiting potentially sales). Good, but still small. The X had a lot of problems during development and still not too high in volume due to price. Finally getting the 3 out the door after all the delays and the tons of orders that came from that were the thing that seemed to cement them as not going to fail at any moment. I mean Musk has explicitly said they came REAL close to the end trying to get the 3 out, so it was somewhat fair. In contrast with Apple the doomsaying continued for at least 10 years after they were very safe. Seems a rather different to me.
sydthrowaway 5y ago
Did they do RSUs back then?

superdug 5y ago

At the time, it was a sport of sorts to predict when Apple would fold entirely. It was always imminent. Then came Mac OS X, iMac, iBook, and iPod ... and the rest is history

macintux 5y ago
I don’t think the word “beleaguered” fully abandoned Apple headlines until after 2010.
- MBCook 5y ago
  Oh no. They were doomed to fail. Any day now. The original iMac was a joke. At least 20 different iPod killers came out every year and the media rooted for them. Then the iPhone came out and was a joke. Any minute now blackberry will release their new touchscreen model and wipe Apple off the map. Then Android was going to eat Apple‘s lunch. Then the iPad was announced and was a joke. Then android tablets were going to kill that market. At every step Apple was a few months from being bankrupt and useless. Because Dell/Google/HP/RIM/Sony/whoever would undercut their CLEARLY overpriced product and their sales would evaporate. At some point in the last five to seven years you started to see if you were in fewer of those takes. In 2018 Apple became the first trillion dollar company and somewhere along the line the “Apple‘s going to fail any day now“ meme died. It’s very clear Apple is here to stay. But don’t worry. Every product is a failure. After all Steve Jobs died and the company can’t work without him. The iPad was going to be a failure. The Apple Watch was going to be a failure. The AirPods were going to be a failure. So don’t worry. There’s still tons of Apple pessimism available. It just changed targets.
  - macintux 5y ago
    They hit trillion dollar market cap in 2018, not 2008. In 08-10 the accounting for iPhone sales (GAAP? I don't recall the details, just regurgitating what I read at the time, had something to do with the way the devices were subsidized) seems to have not yet made it obvious how much money Apple was printing. I knew from following people much smarter than me that I should be investing all my money in Apple stocks, I just didn't have any to invest.
    - MBCook 5y ago
      You are 100% right. I had to look up when Apple became $1 trillion company and yet somehow I typed the wrong number. The iPhone 3GS took off quite well, but I’m not sure it was really clear to people just how big of a juggernaut it was until the iPhone 4, especially when it came to Verizon.
  - grecy 5y ago
    Honestly not that different to Tesla. and it's funny how quiet things are now. Toyota just announced they aim to be producing 3 million EVs by 2030. That will put them about 6-7 years behind Tesla. All quiet.
    - MBCook 5y ago
      I’m not sure that’s the same. Apple has been doing amazing with product after product and product since the iPod exploded. People predicted doom most of the time even when they were INCREDIBLY successful. I think it was fair to question Tesla. The Roadster was ultra low volume. The S was pretty low volume and high price (limiting potentially sales). Good, but still small. The X had a lot of problems during development and still not too high in volume due to price. Finally getting the 3 out the door after all the delays and the tons of orders that came from that were the thing that seemed to cement them as not going to fail at any moment. I mean Musk has explicitly said they came REAL close to the end trying to get the 3 out, so it was somewhat fair. In contrast with Apple the doomsaying continued for at least 10 years after they were very safe. Seems a rather different to me.

sydthrowaway 5y ago

Did they do RSUs back then?