14 ms·

AnandTech Publisher Anand Shimpi Headed to Apple

140 points by mstolpm 12y ago

blutoot 12y ago
I know what his title will be - Chief Benchmarking Officer - CBO...
- akuma73 12y ago
  Except Apple really doesn't do much to call out benchmark results. Maybe that will change going forward.
  - reitzensteinm 12y ago
    Just because they don't focus on benchmarks in their marketing does not mean that there isn't some serious behind the scenes effort going on. If you want your end result to run smoothly, your internal engineering metrics are probably looking a lot like the guts of an in depth Anandtech article. I bet they know exactly what their maximum frame delay, FPS, load times etc while loading and using their core apps are across every revision of the hardware and software, probably even using an automated system. For what it's worth, I doubt he'll be so specialized - my guess is some kind of consumer advocate focusing on a higher level (of which performance would be just one part). Essentially reviewing products before they're released, probably even while they are still hypothetical or in prototype phase.
  - dblohm7 12y ago
    Unless it favors them.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
  - flomo 12y ago
    In the not too distant past, Apple released benchmark reports for major new Mac lines: G4, G5, Intel.
  - arrrg 12y ago
    That’s marketing. Maybe Anand was brought on for that, but I really don’t think so. I find it very easy to believe that Apple cares a lot about measuring the performance of their products internally and also about making the right trade offs. And that’s also exactly what Anand was looking into and writing about, always the whole industry in view. It seems quite easy to believe that he was brought on to do something similar to that, only internally at Apple and with actual power to change products during the design process. I really hope that Apple won’t go more benchmark-heavy in their marketing. It’s unnecessary and unhelpful. Anand wrote for a niche. His writing had never mass appeal and it’s the wrong way to market products. Also, marketing will never show you the whole picture, just because when you selectively leave things out your product looks better. It’s not exactly lying, but I still believe it’s not something Anand would ever want to do. It’s a business reality, sure, but it doesn’t seem like his business. He wants the whole picture, and the only place I can see him doing that at Apple is internally. To critically look at their products while in development.
  - mwfunk 12y ago
    Just because companies don't emphasize benchmarks in their marketing doesn't mean their engineering processes aren't driven by them. Benchmarks have as much or more value to the people that make the stuff as they do to the people that buy the stuff.
- dmishe 12y ago
  I would think it's not benchmarking, perhaps not all of it. I think it's about his experience of what users look at, how they use it and what are they complaining about in nowadays consumer tech. Like "No way guys, this iphone antenna will be obstructed 90% of the time" type of thing. I'm sure they a bunch of people like that already, but still.
JohnBooty 12y ago
I'm embarrassed to admit that my heart sunk when I read this, because I imagined thousands of dedicated dislikers-of-Apple immediately declaring, "See! He favored Apple all along!" It's ridiculous, of course. I always felt he and his staff were extremely objective and by volume, the vast majority of AnandTech's coverage was non-Apple in nature. The whole idea of "picking sides" is so silly anyway...
- psbp 12y ago
  I haven't seen anyone do that. It's truly an indefensible position given Anand's track record.
  - phaus 12y ago
    I agree, now if it were the Boy Genius or one of the folks from the verge, it would be easily defensible. Anand was a great hardware reviewer. The only other reviewer I think of that compares to him would be Lisa from mobiletechreview.com. Her reviews aren't as technical, but not everyone needs that. What's important is that she's got integrity.
    - arrrg 12y ago
      How is that in any way a defensible position for The Verge? It’s an absurd and delusional position.
      - phaus 12y ago
        I like the verge too,but let's be serious.
  - nizmow 12y ago
    Unfortunately it's what all of the pro-Android Apple-haters at my office immediately said. I don't think he was in any way biased, just passionate. If his reviews of Apple products were in any way more detailed than those of Android products (which I'm not sure they were), I'm certain it was simply due to the frequency of releases and that Apple products tend to be much more interesting technically.
e15ctr0n 12y ago
Is Apple hiring him for his experience with digital publishing or his extensive knowledge of the hardware industry?
- chucknelson 12y ago
  No evidence of course, but I'm going to think most people will say his knowledge of hardware (and his connections).
- karl_gluck 12y ago
  Besides the fact that his public goodwill and expertise is valuable, Anand has been behind the scenes at many of Apple's competitors. His extensive knowledge of the competition's 4-year product timeline is well worth whatever extraordinary concessions Apple must have made for him.
  - judk 12y ago
    Does he have nonpublic knowledge of those product lines?
  - Steko 12y ago
    A 12 year old could tell you what the competition's 4 year product timeline looks like.
- curtis17 12y ago
  Apple could have big plans for their ARM64 platform. Anand could be part of it.
passive 12y ago
I'm pretty sure after the iPhone 5s announcement, when he was floored by the 64-bitness of it, I posted something along the lines of "it would be really clever for a mobile company to hire Anand". Maybe it was just in my head, but nonetheless I think Anand will be an awesome addition to the Apple team. Anyone want to start a pool on when we will see him onstage in a turtleneck? ;)
qq66 12y ago
Perhaps they're hiring him to be their "taster" - the guy who tests a prototype and says "it's perfect" or sends the team back to the drawing board. Jobs was famous for this role and Anand would be great at it, having spent 15 years doing it.
- Steko 12y ago
  I doubt they'd hire someone externally for that and I doubt Anand's taste really aligns with what Apple is going for. I imagine he's going to be taking over a lot of what Katie Cotton used to do. I also imagine maybe (big maybe) he could be a presenter in keynotes, which Katie didn't do. I think we could eventually (probably not next week) see him doing demos similar to what Bertrand Serlet would occasionally do but more often. Anand won't really be a hardware guy at Apple, just a bridge guy who explains the hardware to the press. Down the road when Anand comes on stage and tells you that the new SOC is twice as fast as last year's, that's going to hold a lot more credibility with the press than when Phil Schiller says the same thing.
  - amrrs 12y ago
    Admit that. Anand explaining the SoC of new Apple Processor that too if they're ditching Samsung for a new Chip maker, it has to gain some traction. Anand will be perfect for that and he knows how Android makers manipulated Benchmark results. He'll be a great taster/tester and also a big plus on stage if Tim Cook brings him on stage.
  - eevilspock 12y ago
    Except that Apple presenters (and all execs) seem to also be chosen for their physical charisma. Anand, at least from the articles one photo, doesn't seem to fit Apple's bill.
    - yincrash 12y ago
      What in the world.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
jeswin 12y ago
Just to improve my understanding of how things work, would anyone here be able to shed light on how his compensation might be structured? I'm only looking at examples, not in what exactly Anand makes.
- kayoone 12y ago
  why does it matter? He will certainly be very happy with his compensation but considering how well Anandtech is running, i am not sure money is a big motivator for him at this point.
guelo 12y ago
Kind of amazing that he would go to the one place where you're not allowed to write publicly.
- yuhong 12y ago
  Yea, I hope Apple is fixing the secrecy. I have wished for a Mac version of oldnewthing for a while now.
brisance 12y ago
It makes sense. Anand built a site which became a brand and a community that rallied around it. Angela Ahrendts built Burberry as we know it. Dre… beats. Who is next, Alex Ohanian? :D
kayoone 12y ago
Read his Mac Pro review and you will understand that Anand really gets it while others either just love or hate everything Apple does.
- wycx 12y ago
  http://www.anandtech.com/print/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013 http://www.anandtech.com/print/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013
sireat 12y ago
What kind of financial/other incentive could there be for Anand be to go to Apple? It seems so much more limiting to be working at a company like Apple than running your own show. The reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/2f1jze/anand_from_anandtech_just_retired_the_site_will/ http://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/2f1jze/anand_from_... refers to him buying a Ferrari at 17 in 1999(2-3 years after starting Anandtech and at the high of the dotcom craze of late 90s). Presumably, the site has been doing quite well since then thanks to the excellent quality of articles like the famous SSD series. We know Apple of Steve Jobs would not pay any super salaries at Apple. Has that changed or maybe Anand is doing it just for the challenge?
- jonknee 12y ago
  > What kind of financial/other incentive could there be for Anand be to go to Apple? They're a $600,000,000,000+ company, there's a lot they can incentivize with. > Presumably, the site has been doing quite well since then thanks to the excellent quality of articles like the famous SSD series. Quite well is quite relative. Remember that they just paid $3b for a headphone company. Beats was also doing "quite well" and then Apple happened. > We know Apple of Steve Jobs would not pay any super salaries at Apple. For people who are replaceable the salaries are not good. It's a different story for people who are not or who represent Apple in public. For example, Apple's executives are extraordinarily well paid. Steve Jobs richly rewarded his friends and Tim Cook similarly doesn't have a problem handing out buckets of cash.

140 points by mstolpm 12y ago

blutoot 12y ago

I know what his title will be - Chief Benchmarking Officer - CBO...

akuma73 12y ago
Except Apple really doesn't do much to call out benchmark results. Maybe that will change going forward.
- reitzensteinm 12y ago
  Just because they don't focus on benchmarks in their marketing does not mean that there isn't some serious behind the scenes effort going on. If you want your end result to run smoothly, your internal engineering metrics are probably looking a lot like the guts of an in depth Anandtech article. I bet they know exactly what their maximum frame delay, FPS, load times etc while loading and using their core apps are across every revision of the hardware and software, probably even using an automated system. For what it's worth, I doubt he'll be so specialized - my guess is some kind of consumer advocate focusing on a higher level (of which performance would be just one part). Essentially reviewing products before they're released, probably even while they are still hypothetical or in prototype phase.
- dblohm7 12y ago
  Unless it favors them.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- flomo 12y ago
  In the not too distant past, Apple released benchmark reports for major new Mac lines: G4, G5, Intel.
- arrrg 12y ago
  That’s marketing. Maybe Anand was brought on for that, but I really don’t think so. I find it very easy to believe that Apple cares a lot about measuring the performance of their products internally and also about making the right trade offs. And that’s also exactly what Anand was looking into and writing about, always the whole industry in view. It seems quite easy to believe that he was brought on to do something similar to that, only internally at Apple and with actual power to change products during the design process. I really hope that Apple won’t go more benchmark-heavy in their marketing. It’s unnecessary and unhelpful. Anand wrote for a niche. His writing had never mass appeal and it’s the wrong way to market products. Also, marketing will never show you the whole picture, just because when you selectively leave things out your product looks better. It’s not exactly lying, but I still believe it’s not something Anand would ever want to do. It’s a business reality, sure, but it doesn’t seem like his business. He wants the whole picture, and the only place I can see him doing that at Apple is internally. To critically look at their products while in development.
- mwfunk 12y ago
  Just because companies don't emphasize benchmarks in their marketing doesn't mean their engineering processes aren't driven by them. Benchmarks have as much or more value to the people that make the stuff as they do to the people that buy the stuff.
dmishe 12y ago
I would think it's not benchmarking, perhaps not all of it. I think it's about his experience of what users look at, how they use it and what are they complaining about in nowadays consumer tech. Like "No way guys, this iphone antenna will be obstructed 90% of the time" type of thing. I'm sure they a bunch of people like that already, but still.

JohnBooty 12y ago

I'm embarrassed to admit that my heart sunk when I read this, because I imagined thousands of dedicated dislikers-of-Apple immediately declaring, "See! He favored Apple all along!" It's ridiculous, of course. I always felt he and his staff were extremely objective and by volume, the vast majority of AnandTech's coverage was non-Apple in nature. The whole idea of "picking sides" is so silly anyway...

psbp 12y ago
I haven't seen anyone do that. It's truly an indefensible position given Anand's track record.
- phaus 12y ago
  I agree, now if it were the Boy Genius or one of the folks from the verge, it would be easily defensible. Anand was a great hardware reviewer. The only other reviewer I think of that compares to him would be Lisa from mobiletechreview.com. Her reviews aren't as technical, but not everyone needs that. What's important is that she's got integrity.
  - arrrg 12y ago
    How is that in any way a defensible position for The Verge? It’s an absurd and delusional position.
    - phaus 12y ago
      I like the verge too,but let's be serious.
- nizmow 12y ago
  Unfortunately it's what all of the pro-Android Apple-haters at my office immediately said. I don't think he was in any way biased, just passionate. If his reviews of Apple products were in any way more detailed than those of Android products (which I'm not sure they were), I'm certain it was simply due to the frequency of releases and that Apple products tend to be much more interesting technically.

e15ctr0n 12y ago

Is Apple hiring him for his experience with digital publishing or his extensive knowledge of the hardware industry?

chucknelson 12y ago
No evidence of course, but I'm going to think most people will say his knowledge of hardware (and his connections).
karl_gluck 12y ago
Besides the fact that his public goodwill and expertise is valuable, Anand has been behind the scenes at many of Apple's competitors. His extensive knowledge of the competition's 4-year product timeline is well worth whatever extraordinary concessions Apple must have made for him.
- judk 12y ago
  Does he have nonpublic knowledge of those product lines?
- Steko 12y ago
  A 12 year old could tell you what the competition's 4 year product timeline looks like.
curtis17 12y ago
Apple could have big plans for their ARM64 platform. Anand could be part of it.

passive 12y ago

I'm pretty sure after the iPhone 5s announcement, when he was floored by the 64-bitness of it, I posted something along the lines of "it would be really clever for a mobile company to hire Anand". Maybe it was just in my head, but nonetheless I think Anand will be an awesome addition to the Apple team. Anyone want to start a pool on when we will see him onstage in a turtleneck? ;)

qq66 12y ago

Perhaps they're hiring him to be their "taster" - the guy who tests a prototype and says "it's perfect" or sends the team back to the drawing board. Jobs was famous for this role and Anand would be great at it, having spent 15 years doing it.

Steko 12y ago
I doubt they'd hire someone externally for that and I doubt Anand's taste really aligns with what Apple is going for. I imagine he's going to be taking over a lot of what Katie Cotton used to do. I also imagine maybe (big maybe) he could be a presenter in keynotes, which Katie didn't do. I think we could eventually (probably not next week) see him doing demos similar to what Bertrand Serlet would occasionally do but more often. Anand won't really be a hardware guy at Apple, just a bridge guy who explains the hardware to the press. Down the road when Anand comes on stage and tells you that the new SOC is twice as fast as last year's, that's going to hold a lot more credibility with the press than when Phil Schiller says the same thing.
- amrrs 12y ago
  Admit that. Anand explaining the SoC of new Apple Processor that too if they're ditching Samsung for a new Chip maker, it has to gain some traction. Anand will be perfect for that and he knows how Android makers manipulated Benchmark results. He'll be a great taster/tester and also a big plus on stage if Tim Cook brings him on stage.
- eevilspock 12y ago
  Except that Apple presenters (and all execs) seem to also be chosen for their physical charisma. Anand, at least from the articles one photo, doesn't seem to fit Apple's bill.
  - yincrash 12y ago
    What in the world.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]

jeswin 12y ago

Just to improve my understanding of how things work, would anyone here be able to shed light on how his compensation might be structured? I'm only looking at examples, not in what exactly Anand makes.

kayoone 12y ago
why does it matter? He will certainly be very happy with his compensation but considering how well Anandtech is running, i am not sure money is a big motivator for him at this point.

guelo 12y ago

Kind of amazing that he would go to the one place where you're not allowed to write publicly.

yuhong 12y ago
Yea, I hope Apple is fixing the secrecy. I have wished for a Mac version of oldnewthing for a while now.

brisance 12y ago

It makes sense. Anand built a site which became a brand and a community that rallied around it. Angela Ahrendts built Burberry as we know it. Dre… beats. Who is next, Alex Ohanian? :D

kayoone 12y ago

Read his Mac Pro review and you will understand that Anand really gets it while others either just love or hate everything Apple does.

wycx 12y ago
http://www.anandtech.com/print/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013 http://www.anandtech.com/print/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013

sireat 12y ago

What kind of financial/other incentive could there be for Anand be to go to Apple? It seems so much more limiting to be working at a company like Apple than running your own show. The reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/2f1jze/anand_from_anandtech_just_retired_the_site_will/ http://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/2f1jze/anand_from_... refers to him buying a Ferrari at 17 in 1999(2-3 years after starting Anandtech and at the high of the dotcom craze of late 90s). Presumably, the site has been doing quite well since then thanks to the excellent quality of articles like the famous SSD series. We know Apple of Steve Jobs would not pay any super salaries at Apple. Has that changed or maybe Anand is doing it just for the challenge?

jonknee 12y ago
> What kind of financial/other incentive could there be for Anand be to go to Apple? They're a $600,000,000,000+ company, there's a lot they can incentivize with. > Presumably, the site has been doing quite well since then thanks to the excellent quality of articles like the famous SSD series. Quite well is quite relative. Remember that they just paid $3b for a headphone company. Beats was also doing "quite well" and then Apple happened. > We know Apple of Steve Jobs would not pay any super salaries at Apple. For people who are replaceable the salaries are not good. It's a different story for people who are not or who represent Apple in public. For example, Apple's executives are extraordinarily well paid. Steve Jobs richly rewarded his friends and Tim Cook similarly doesn't have a problem handing out buckets of cash.