How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs • Hacker News Board

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#111

Post by baybal2 » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:09 AM UTC

gonehome wrote: post #80

throwawayboise wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the reason (for the one-button mouse) was so that you'd never have to think about which button to click.

"Farag recalls a prototype presentation meeting with Jobs where he and the design team presented possibilities for what would be the next Apple mouse. The team had several versions to show Steve, some of which "were fully done, with all the parting lines cut in for buttons and different plastic parts, and all the colors just right," according to Farag. At the last moment the team decided to include a prototype that e…

Believe me or not.

Big retailers don't like Bluetooth mouses because they have huge returns from them.

Usually they will place a few unconspiciously in the corner, but otherwise give most of shelf space to non-bt mouses.

Why so? People can't freaking press the PAIR button, even if you slap a big red sticker on it.

This is also the reason retailers insist on having batteries inserted into the mouse at factory, or have internal batteries charged to full before shipping.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#112

Post by baybal2 » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:12 AM UTC

yudlejoza wrote: post #110

baybal2 wrote: post #79

I worked in, and around OEM electronics since 2007. I've seen many guys like Tim Cook, most worse off ones. He squeezes suppliers, and know what he is doing. Others squeeze suppliers, and don't know what they are doing. On one of my first jobs, I've been witness to one such negotiations down to single cents, and microns of plastic for a few million units customized charger order. The order was such a whopper for a sm…

> On one of my first jobs, I've been witness to... > ...years later I found out that the design of the first Kindle charger exactly matched... So your employer's client was Amazon?

It was some inconspicuous sourcing company, may well been their front co, or maybe an actual sourcing agent working for them.

I don't believe they could've reused the design for some other client.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#113

Post by Ericson2314 » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:17 AM UTC

dba7dba wrote: post #23

duxup wrote: post #8

The article seems to hinge around China and etc more than most things. I do wonder how capable any company is to move manufacturing out of China at any kind of large scale.

Samsung moved most or all of their factories from China recently.

But Korea is more export oriented than China (proportionally) and actually has expertise in these matters.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#114

Post by askafriend » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:21 AM UTC

CyberDildonics wrote: post #106

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is rumoured that Apple put the charging port in such an awkward place to force people to unplug the cable as soon as the mouse is charged. You say this as if it's absolutely typical of Steve Jobs. I read it and think exactly the opposite. Jobs was certainly a stickler for aesthetics, but also for usability. I've read numerous accounts of him lashing out when he found a workflow noticeably frustrating. What decis…

Yeah, I can't imagine him endorsing some sort of forced dark pattern behavior like that. His biography talked about going to great lengths to make his jet bathroom door toggle instead of using two separate lock and unlock buttons.

It's not a forced dark pattern. Others are leaving out a lot of detail about the product design.

* The mouse supports fast charging - 2mins on the charger gives you all day use.

* A full charge will give you more than 2mo of battery life - nearly 3.

* In 24 months, you will have to put it on the charger between 6 and 8 times TOTAL.

With that context, the design makes perfect sense for a wireless mouse.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#115

Post by zepto » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:21 AM UTC

cageface wrote: post #81

I think it’s naive to expect that American companies like Apple that outsource everything but design and software and reap enormous profits are going to be able to do this indefinitely. China is getting better fast at doing these things too and will have tremendous advantages when it owns the entire stack. If American companies want to stay competitive in the long run they’re going to have to break their addiction to…

It’s going to be a while before China can own either the top (the OS) or the bottom (the silicon) of the stack, but ultimately you are right.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#116

Post by zepto » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:23 AM UTC

rektide wrote: post #7

icelancer wrote: post #4

Apple M1 is the kind of thing that truly impresses in the post-Jobs era, IMO.

Years of snapping up brilliant companies/minds[1]! * PA Semi, 2008 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.A._Semi * Licensing then hiring most of the Imagination Technologies GPU engineers, including setting up an office down the street from them in St Albans, 2017-2020. * some of Dialog Semiconductor, 2018 * Intel's smartphone division, 2019 * Intrinsity, who had some cutting edge chip design, 2010 There's also an unbeliev…

> At least if these engineers were working at Qualcomm or MediaTek the fruits of the labor could be shared

Except these companies had a massive headstart over Apple, and failed to deliver. Furthermore Qualcomm generally act to suppress innovation through patents.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#117

Post by zepto » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:25 AM UTC

nabla9 wrote: post #36

908B64B197 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I also just am so very very sad to see so much talent disappear off the open market, distressed that the lead seems to only grow & grow over everyone else. All that talent was up for grab: What were the other players waiting for?

Monopoly power from two sided markets. Apple is in the position where it outbid competition. They take 20% cut from app sales and sell 200 million units.

When the bought PA semi they were nowhere near the size they are now.

All that happened is that Apple made better investments than their potential competitors.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#118

Post by ffumarola » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:27 AM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #88

yreg wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve might have actually loved it if he'd see it. It is rumoured that Apple put the charging port in such an awkward place to force people to unplug the cable as soon as the mouse is charged. I can imagine customers using the wireless mouse with the cable attached is something that would grind Steve's gears as well. Preventing the situation with a flipped tortoise design is a Steve thing to do.

> It is rumoured that Apple put the charging port in such an awkward place to force people to unplug the cable as soon as the mouse is charged. You say this as if it's absolutely typical of Steve Jobs. I read it and think exactly the opposite. Jobs was certainly a stickler for aesthetics, but also for usability. I've read numerous accounts of him lashing out when he found a workflow noticeably frustrating. What decis…

You're holding your phone wrong, mate.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#119

Post by zepto » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:28 AM UTC

rektide wrote: post #34

908B64B197 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I also just am so very very sad to see so much talent disappear off the open market, distressed that the lead seems to only grow & grow over everyone else. All that talent was up for grab: What were the other players waiting for?

> All that talent was up for grab: What were the other players waiting for? That's exactly the problem with monopolies. As one two or three companies get to be ever more outsized giants (Apple: 2.2T$, Amazon & Microsoft: 1.6T$), owning more of the talent pool, there's less other players with any chance to build up success, to acquire talent. People can keep making small, successfully-acquired companies, but this idea…

Apple’s market cap was less than 10% of what it is now when they bought PA Semi.

Monopolies have nothing to do with this.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#120

Post by jimmaswell » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 1:30 AM UTC

askafriend wrote: post #114

CyberDildonics wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I can't imagine him endorsing some sort of forced dark pattern behavior like that. His biography talked about going to great lengths to make his jet bathroom door toggle instead of using two separate lock and unlock buttons.

It's not a forced dark pattern. Others are leaving out a lot of detail about the product design. * The mouse supports fast charging - 2mins on the charger gives you all day use. * A full charge will give you more than 2mo of battery life - nearly 3. * In 24 months, you will have to put it on the charger between 6 and 8 times TOTAL. With that context, the design makes perfect sense for a wireless mouse.

This still sounds pointlessly inconvenient compared to a wired mouse, not to mention reliability and latency issues that come part and parcel with wireless peripherals.

I tried a wireless keyboard once and every 10 minutes it would hang and repeat the last key I pressed for 10 seconds. How much better is the situation today?