This whole article reads as if Apple is on the brink of bankruptcy and not… you know, Apple. The money-printing company.
“Ternus is also seeking new ways to generate more revenue from existing products […] Managers within Apple told Gurman that there is a sense of pressure to move faster, with more ‘hectic’ and demanding ‘hands-on’ work. Product development groups are ‘being pushed to deliver more products, more frequently and on shorter timelines.’”
If anyone feels this sounds like more polished products incoming, less buggy OS releases, less ads, paywalled functionality or “A.I.” crap everywhere… please raise your hand now.
The thing is if Apple wants to become the next microsoft we know where that ends: in users screaming in pain and jumping ship. None of these companies are worthy of ongoing loyalty. If Ternus wants apple to not be a flabby lardy-assed company then good, as long as the focus is innovating to improve the customer experience always. When that is not the focus, you get microsoft.
wants Apple to “broaden its range of devices and create a leaner organization with a greater focus on engineering.”
Doesn’t sound like downgrading to me.
the “company should be accomplishing more with fewer employees.”
Taken out of context, this sounds like usual corporate cutbacks, but
with dismissals of directors and engineering program managers taking place in the past two weeks.
When the cuts are made at the top, it’s anything but.
Other recent cutbacks have focused on the teams responsible for Siri, Vision Pro, AI-related software engineering, and Fitness+.
Not sure what is the reason for these, especially Siri & AI side, maybe they have decided it’s better to stick to outsourcing the AI instead of trying to compete with established players after seeing the real cost of developing and running these systems. Not a necessarily a bad decision considering that consumer AI will never be the primary money maker.
All valid points. I guess what concerns me as a customer is what wasn’t mentioned. Like… what about better products? Better user experience? Magic unicorn poop you won’t get anywhere else? I tried really hard to recall the last time I wished Apple would just rush out more products and squeeze more money out of the existing ones, but surprisingly the answer was “never”.
Unless you state what you mean by “better products” and “better user experience” then all you’re doing is implying that the products and user experience you’re selling now are a bit … crap.
Doing so is a sure-fire way of making your sales tank overnight.
That reminds me of Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO and former Microsoft executive. He famously declared Nokia’s products and platform a “burning platform,” then rejected Android in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone. Nokia’s smartphone business collapsed, and Microsoft ended up buying it three years later. It’s a rather remarkable example of what can happen when a CEO publicly tells customers that what you’re selling is essentially crap.
True, I would also refrain from openly saying it this way. What about “even more new and exiting stuff that will revolutionize the way we … blah blah”? I was hoping for less Tim and more Steve, but he sounds like a Bill.
Reminds me of Gerald Rattner. He owned the biggest high street jewellery business in the UK; it was very profitable and was often held up as a good example of entrepreneurship. Then he went public on the media saying that he thought what they were selling was crap, or words to that effect. The company lost all its customers and closed within a year… if memory serves.
What about “even more new and exiting stuff that will revolutionize the way we … blah blah”? I was hoping for less Tim and more Steve, but he sounds like a Bill.
