81–87 of 87 posts
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Forgive me if this is pointless cynicism but fountain of creative ideas ? * A music player * A phone * A portable computer Not exactly the most innovative product categories?
Do you remember what phones were like six years ago?
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They cold forge, laser cut, CNC mill, bead blast, and then anodize them actually - there's many processes that go into making such a product.
And what a shame that the majority of users cover it with a cheap, plastic/rubber case! :\
To be honest - I think a lot of it isn't the right direction for product design - it's designed to be HARD to implement, so I feel like a flanking maneuver is required in industrial design to start new aesthetics that will drive different ways of manufacturing.
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They cold forge, laser cut, CNC mill, bead blast, and then anodize them actually - there's many processes that go into making such a product.
And what a shame that the majority of users cover it with a cheap, plastic/rubber case! :\
To be honest - I think a lot of it isn't the right direction for product design - it's designed to be HARD to match, so I feel like a flanking maneuver is required in industrial design to start new aesthetics that will drive different ways of manufacturing that are most accessible than Apple's current methods.
We talked about doing this at my last job, and never did. When I read "...gives a small group of employees 2 weeks or ‘a limited amount of time’ to work on a project outside of their normal responsibilities at Apple", it made me think of the same attitude- the inability to commit to full-on innovation and creativity. Tim Cook, you are a great CEO, but you don't know how to take sufficient risk to get the reward. Ever…
We talked about doing this at my last job, and never did. When I read "...gives a small group of employees 2 weeks or ‘a limited amount of time’ to work on a project outside of their normal responsibilities at Apple", it made me think of the same attitude- the inability to commit to full-on innovation and creativity. Tim Cook, you are a great CEO, but you don't know how to take sufficient risk to get the reward. Ever…
Whenever there is discussion on Apple and "invention", I am reminded of this (somewhat) contrarian opinion piece by Gladwell:--
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/16/110516fa_fact_...
Punchline towards the end: Then Starkweather had a scheme for hooking up a high-resolution display to one of his new company’s computers. “I got it running and brought it into management and said, ‘Why don’t we show this at the tech expo in San Francisco? You’ll be able to rule the world.’ They said, ‘I don’t know. We don’t have room for it.’ It was that sort of thing. It was like me saying I’ve discovered a gold mine and you saying we can’t afford a shovel.”
He shrugged a little wearily. It was ever thus. The innovator says go. The company says stop—and maybe the only lesson of the legend of Xerox PARC is that what happened there happens, in one way or another, everywhere. By the way, the man who hired Gary Starkweather away to the company that couldn’t afford a shovel? His name was Steve Jobs
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Not to mention they use forging instead of casting for the aluminum bodies, and have their own white paint formula (most manufacturers don't even bother trying to make white devices). Plastic was still the norm for PCs until the "Ultrabook" wave came along.
> Not to mention they use forging instead of casting for the aluminum bodies Apple currently CNC mills all their aluminum bodies.
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FWIW, 20% time was always controversial. I was part of 'the surge' (a big hiring wave that peaked in 2006 and then died off) and a common complaint was the low number employees had 100% time (they could work on what ever they wanted) and high number employees had to get their manager's approval, and their manager only approved it if it was something the manager needed doing. Given the nature of that particular 'perk'…
Right. If you're above the Real Googler Line, then not only do you have 20% time, but no one's going to stop you from spending 100% of your time on your 20%T project... it will delay your promotion if your 20%T project isn't successful, but that's all. Real Googlers don't sweat Perf or worry about getting fired. They only pay attention to managerial demands when life events (such as having a kid) increase their expen…
I wouldn't go that far.