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Scott Forstall leaves Apple

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Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#201

Post by smegel »

bennyg wrote: post #188
smegel wrote: post #162

Can everyone saying "it's unfair to dump him due to Maps, because mapping is hard" realize it has nothing to do with the quality of the application, but the quality (or lack thereof) of the PR and management of customer expectations. If Apple had come out 3 months before iPhone5 and said "Look, we really need to divorce ourselves from Google Maps as we can't be relying on an arch-competitor for such an important serv…

I don't know about that PR move you suggested. It's not very becoming of the market leader to publicly express that their own product that hasn't launched yet, and won't for 3 months, is buggy and incomplete - and to be patient with them while it gets fixed. I don't agree that calling it the best ever was such a great move, but that's what Apple does. In a couple years, it won't matter what happened with the Maps lau…

It's not very becoming either that the CEO of such an image concious company has to make a such grovelling apology for such an embarrassing failure...

I agree that in the long term Maps will be great and people will have forgotten the ill-planned launch - except perhaps Scott Forstall.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#202

Post by [deleted] »

adam-a wrote: post #192
WiseWeasel wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rounded corners aren't necessarily skeumorphic; they're a style choice just as rounded cabinets and trim are a (popular) style choice. Likewise, shading and gradients to give an impression of depth and lighting are often used to distinguish items that are clickable or as a separator. These are artistic tools that can be used to various effects, but are not skeumorphic in the sense of trying to imitate a familiar obje…

Skeumorphic features are defined by the fact that they are unnecessary carry-overs from older or different objects. They can be useful and style choices too, but a digital button does not need to indicate depth, whereas a mechanical button does, because it needs to protrude from the surface in order to be pressed.

[deleted]

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#203

Post by aes256 »

mibbitier wrote: post #127
aes256 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dixons is just one brand of Dixons Retail (formerly DSG International) which also owns Currys, PC World, etc. They rebranded all their high street stores to Currys.digital, and although store numbers have been declining, they are still a regular fixture on high streets.

That would explain why Currys and PC World are also ridiculously awful. Every time I go into one of those shops, it's because I need something immediately, to take away. They never have it in stock, and ask if I'd like to order it. If I wanted to order it, I'd do it myself, online.

I can't believe it's still a viable business model.

Granted they provide convenience and the ability for customers to use products in store before purchase, but I can't believe people still pay the price premium.

I've only stepped foot in their stores twice in the last couple of years; once to try out the new Retina MacBook Pro and once to inspect televisions before buying one online for ~£400 less than their price.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#204

Post by RShiki »

eridius wrote: post #200
panacea wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because pages in an e-reader are not physical sheets bound together that require flipping over before you can see the page below. If you can render the next page faster, then why fake a 'page turn' that takes time to animate. It's the very definition of skeuomorphism.

The speed at which you can present text to the reader is not the end-all, be-all of the reading experience. In fact, the logical conclusion, of having zero transition whatsoever, is actually a pretty terrible experience. Why do you think people use smooth scrolling on their OS? Transitions are very valuable in producing a good user experience, whether it's a simple horizontal slide as the Kindle iOS app uses by defau…

I don't know when it has been introduced, or even if it was always there and I didn't notice, but iBooks also supports continuous vertical scrolling and it IS much faster than looking at an animation that shows a page turn or a slide. The default mode, "page turn" doesn't make any sense. When I scroll through an ebook through the continuous scrolling, the text appears INSTANTLY, without a perceptible delay and since it's continuous scrolling, you don't go from a page to another, but you're always "in between". The concept of a "page" 1, "page 2", "page" 3 itself is no more. It's not a physical book, it doesn't need pages.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#205

Post by jason_slack »

ricardobeat wrote: post #126
mratzloff wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. Here you go: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57425920-37/apple-exec-sco...

Thanks! Interesting quote: Although a major sell-off can sometimes mean an executive is leaving a company, that might not be the case with Forstall. I wonder why this didn't generate any rumours of his departure at the time?

I think this is more interesting:

"Forstall has made it abundantly clear inside Cupertino that he would like to eventually be Apple's chief executive, adding that "he wears his ambition in plainer view than the typical Apple executive.""

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#206

Post by WildUtah »

chj wrote: post #175
apike wrote: post #18

> Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple next year > Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company And thus ended the reign of skeuomorphism at Apple. Or, at least, the reign of hyper-realism and hyper-whimsy in UI design. Jobs or Forstall always seemed to favour it, but could you imagine Jony Ive signing off on a Podcasts app where half the screen is a reel-to-reel tape tha…

That Podcasts app is really really a piece of "work". whoever designed it should be fired.

+1

Even worse than maps, which are a huge ongoing problem.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#207

Post by camus »

I cant wait to hear reactions from the fanboys when Cook is out : "Oh yeah , best opportunity ever for Apple...", Whatever Apple does is ,strangely ,always a good decision from its followers perspective...

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#208

Post by nirvana »

dave1619 wrote: post #116
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #24

Interesting timing on the announcement, given that the stock market is closed today and likely tomorrow too. As both a fan and shareholder of Apple, I'm very pleased to hear Browett is out. The stories that came out a couple months ago about the changes in Apple Retail did fill me with admiration for his management style. Also, given how Forstall is described in a Business Week profile[1], and that Bob Mansfield is n…

Regarding Mansfield, it's interesting that Apple announced his retirement a few months ago: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/06/28Bob-Mansfield-Appl... Then Cook convinced Mansfield to "unretire" and become an advisor: http://gigaom.com/apple/shedding-light-on-apple-exec-drama-w... And now, Mansfield heads up a huge new group called Technologies (wireless, semiconductor, etc). What a roller coaster for Mansfield.…

I think retaining key talent is one of Tim Cooks' most important jobs... and this shows pretty clearly that Mansfield was tired of his previous job, wanted to retire, and Tim found a way to create a position that interested him, or at least, would keep him around for a couple more years.

And this new section, I think, could be really important.

Apple has been really innovating in silicon and wireless technologies, and they're at a point where this will increasingly be the source of key competitive advantages.

I suspect Mansfield's job is to integrate this division, get it whipped into shape and then recruit a replacement to lead it.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#209

Post by nirvana »

It wasn't always obvious that Cook would be the CEO of Apple after Jobs left. This is the job Forstall wanted, but that Apple didn't want him for. The job went to Cook, and so Forstall was either going to have to find a place to be happy in Apple or he'd be on his way out.

This gives a smooth transition to the large teams under him over the next year or so, in exchange for more vesting of his shares.

People saying this is about Maps or Siri or Skoumorphism are focusing on relatively petty issues.

This is about how is going to be the leader of Apple. Tim Cook turned out to not just be the interim CEO, and waiting a year for the transition is respectful all around-- and is enough time for everyone to know what the right direction for their lives is.

Forstall may want to do a startup-- where he'd certainly be a CEO.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#210

Post by da_n »

whatusername wrote: post #140
nostromo wrote: post #101

Does anyone but me here listen incessantly to podcasts? The latest Podcasts App from iTunes is a skeuomorphic mess. It has a superfluous animation of a reel-to-reel player of course. But it utterly fails at its most basic task: playing a goddamn podcast. But don't take my word for it, it has a 1.5 star rating on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/podcasts/id525463029 Not to mention crashes... Apple used to make…

On a suggestion from my father - I downloaded the 'downcast" app. $2 well spent in my opinion.

I have tried almost all the podcast apps at this stage (sinking about $15-20) and although Downcasts is great (my number 2 choice) I recently found myself prefering the lesser known Pocket Casts. The best feature by far is they poll the feeds on their own servers and push notifications to you (I know Instacast is supposed to do this but I didn't find it very reliable and Instacast had many other problems for me). Pocket Casts very rarely crashes (with over 60 podcasts subscribed), resumes/pauses system-wide reliably and instantly, has a nice responsive UI (even on my iPhone 4) and has full import/export OPML so you aren't stuck with them. No affiliation.
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