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How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

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Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#151

Post by numpad0 »

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…

> using 2 cheaper through hole diodes in parallel instead of one a cent more expensive

Just an idea, would it be possible to ask suppliers to jack up prices of THT power diodes so price follows forward current rating?

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#152

Post by hyperpallium2 »

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…

Isn't this ordinary commoditization? Provided Apple keeps innovating, they'll keep ahead. They have a head start, and innovatiin is their corporate organizing principle, from hiring to advertizing. They leave commodity profits on the table.

The danger is if China has a monopoly on know-how, i.e. if it's not a "commodity". But that doesn't seem to be the case.

However, one day, the iphone will be "good enough", and customers won't pay extra for further innovations... and unless other product lines or new ones (glasses? cars? others?) catch fire, Apple will settle down to become like Sony.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#153

Post by CoryAlexMartin »

eigen wrote: post #130
toomim wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm using one now. This "mini" is huge.

the iPhone 12 mini is slightly smaller by volume than the iPhone 4. iPhone 4: 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm or 62.781 cm^3 iPhone SE: 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm or 67.994 cm^3 iPhone 12 mini: 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4 mm or 62.473 cm^3 [1] https://support.apple.com/kb/SP587?locale=en_US [2] https://support.apple.com/kb/SP820?locale=en_US [3] https://www.apple.com/iphone-12/specs/

The iPhone 12 mini is larger in height and width, which is what matters most for one-handed use.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#154

Post by trilinearnz »

ambicapter wrote: post #104

I, for one, hate the expanded product lineup. I'm looking to buy an iPad and I have no idea which one is best suited for my case. Air? Pro? Mini?

While I don't think it's quite that bad, it does remind me of how Steve slimlined the Mac product line almost immediately upon his return.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#156

Post by JimDabell »

jimmaswell wrote: post #120
askafriend wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

How long ago was this? You make it sounds like you last tried wireless peripherals in the 90s, gave up, and never tried again.

I started using Apple wireless peripherals over a decade ago and haven’t experienced anything like what you describe once. I remember PC peripherals doing that kind of thing in the 90s though, back before everything switched to Bluetooth and everything used proprietary IR dongles etc.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#157

Post by novok »

whoisjuan wrote: post #107

Apple is the best company in the world at operations. I don't know how they do it but: 1) Ever year they manage to diligently upgrade iphones/ipads, macbooks and watches. 2) Every year they make some progress in their quest of removing suppliers by becoming vertically integrated. They don't only remove the supplier. They beat their former suppliers specs. (e.g: M1 chip). 3) Every year they make some progress in their…

Apple's mobile devices haven't been that interesting since the iPhone X / Watch Series 3. Nothing really has felt like a 'must have' upgrade. iPhone 12 & series 4 watch was definitely an improvement stylistically, but that's about it.

And apple only really cares about privacy from 3rd parties, not privacy from apple for their customers. They don't E2E encrypt their backups, and many other services, which makes their service operation not very attractive. Why use apple services if it's not going to be private, might as well use the better run or cheaper google or amazon ones at that point.

Most interesting thing so far is the M1.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#158

Post by Kranar »

bryananderson wrote: post #147
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…

Why wouldn't they just move production to another, cheaper country besides China? I think you are underestimating how much more expensive an iPhone would be if it was made entirely in the United States: https://fee.org/articles/a-made-in-america-iphone-would-cost...

The article you linked argues why it wouldn't be possible to move to another country. In fact the article argues heavily that labor costs are not the biggest advantage that China has.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#159

Post by GloriousKoji »

DRW_ wrote: post #125
whoisjuan wrote: post #107

Apple is the best company in the world at operations. I don't know how they do it but: 1) Ever year they manage to diligently upgrade iphones/ipads, macbooks and watches. 2) Every year they make some progress in their quest of removing suppliers by becoming vertically integrated. They don't only remove the supplier. They beat their former suppliers specs. (e.g: M1 chip). 3) Every year they make some progress in their…

Yep, Apple's operations and logistics are second to none in this industry. Watching AMD, NVIDIA, Sony, Microsoft and others struggling so much manufacturing their products, and then having Apple launch: - 2 new Apple Watches - 4 new iPhones - 3 new Macs - Airpods Max - Homepod Mini All with Apple's own custom designed chips, even relying on the same chip fabs as those other companies, and still managing to mostly avo…

> All with Apple's own custom designed chips, even relying on the same chip fabs as those other companies, and still managing to mostly avoid the huge shortages that those others have faced is impressive.

I would not be surprised if the other companies are having shortages because of Apple taking up most of the fab capacity and support engineers.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#160

Post by behnamoh »

enjeyw wrote: post #21
elktea wrote: post #9

"The 2014 iPhone 6 was “the poster child” of this transformation, according to a person involved in the product’s development. While the device had complex internal components and a larger screen, it dropped the diamond-polished edges and the precisely cut glass parts of the back of the iPhone 5 and 5s, which had been difficult to produce." well, that explains why the iPhone went from such a unique design to generic…

I agree that the design of the 6 regressed from the 4/5, but the build quality is much higher than that of the average android. I'm still using a 6 as my daily phone, which means my phone is closer in generation to the original iPhone that it is to the latest one. I wish the (equally expensive) android phones I use at work had anywhere near that longevity.

It's not just about physical longevity; whether the software (iOS) still "works" is also important. With older versions of iOS, you have two options:

1. Upgrade to the latest version, which makes the iPhone slower (arguably intentionally).

2. Don't upgrade, but many apps require an updated iOS version to install, so you won't be able to install/update your apps anymore.

Since there's no third party app store, older iphones are just doomed to die slowly. I have a 4s and downgraded as soon as I could to iOS 5. The os is faster but I can install very few apps.

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