Apple eliminates Ive’s old job title

Cmaier

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Colstan

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So does this mean the Department of Impractical Thinness is going with him? Ive is a design genius, but without Jobs' ability to moderate his instincts, he went overboard. Exhibit "A" would, of course, be the butterfly keyboard fiasco.

Things got much better under Hankey. I'm not sure much will change with Jeff Williams, and hopefully Apple will remain pragmatic.
 

Cmaier

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So does this mean the Department of Impractical Thinness is going with him? Ive is a design genius, but without Jobs' ability to moderate his instincts, he went overboard. Exhibit "A" would, of course, be the butterfly keyboard fiasco.

Things got much better under Hankey. I'm not sure much will change with Jeff Williams, and hopefully Apple will remain pragmatic.
I don’t blame him for the butterfly keyboard. Someone says “hey we invented this great new keyboard” and he says “neat. We can make the computer a little thinner!” is my guess at how it went. (Versus: this is getting thinner. Go make me a keyboard that is thinner.)
 

Colstan

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I don’t blame him for the butterfly keyboard. Someone says “hey we invented this great new keyboard” and he says “neat. We can make the computer a little thinner!” is my guess at how it went. (Versus: this is getting thinner. Go make me a keyboard that is thinner.)
I don't blame him specifically for the keyboard design, but I do blame him for instilling a fetish for thinness among his design team. Hardware design has gotten much more practical since he went off to do his own thing.

Oddly enough, I liked it when Ive was in charge of interface design. We got the Big Sur overhaul after he left. I liked the post-Forstall understated aspects, before Apple went and hired the fine folks at Crayola to work on the macOS Big Sur interface.
 

lizkat

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So we can expect more design by committee now and the COO gets the prototype and then says "yeah I guess... but don't make it in blue."

I'd rather a company roll out something a lot of consumers may decde they dislike but that everyone knows someone besides a COO actually signed off on design of the thing because of being a CHIEF DESIGNER.

I mean, I've nothing against elephants but one of them IS how a bunch of narcissistic designers might collectively design a coffee table with a built-in butler and hayburner, and what does the average COO know except whom to call when the prototype fails to show up or else poops on the carpet?
 

Colstan

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what does the average COO know except whom to call when the prototype fails to show up or else poops on the carpet?
The average COO doesn't know anything. This one does. Jeff Williams has a degree in Mechanical Engineering, has been with Apple since 1998, and was the lead engineer on the Apple Watch. He's still in charge of the development of the software and hardware for that product.

I think this story is being blown out of proportion and that this is simply Apple streamlining its managerial process, nothing more than that, but the tech press is always looking to write a new "Apple is doomed" article.
 

Herdfan

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I don't blame him specifically for the keyboard design, but I do blame him for instilling a fetish for thinness among his design team. Hardware design has gotten much more practical since he went off to do his own thing.

Was he the one responsible for the bendable iPhone 6(??)?
 

Cmaier

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Was he the one responsible for the bendable iPhone 6(??)?

Designers don’t design the metal frame, so I’m going with “no.”

And as someone who owned three iPhones from that generation, it was essentially impossible to bend unless you tried to bend it.
 

Herdfan

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Designers don’t design the metal frame, so I’m going with “no.”

And as someone who owned three iPhones from that generation, it was essentially impossible to bend unless you tried to bend it.

What generation was it that people who put their phones in their back pockets and sat down were bending them?
 

Citysnaps

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I think this story is being blown out of proportion and that this is simply Apple streamlining its managerial process, nothing more than that, but the tech press is always looking to write a new "Apple is doomed" article.

Spot-on assessment.

As opposed to the views at the other place, where the tiniest mice-nuts change in almost anything relating to Apple causes planet Earth to instantaneously tilt an extra 20 degrees, spawning tsunamis around the world.
 

Cmaier

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What generation was it that people who put their phones in their back pockets and sat down were bending them?
None.

There was a generation where people CLAIMED they put their phones in their back pockets and they bent, but which multiple tests proved actually required significantly more force than that to actually bend.
 

rdrr

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None.

There was a generation where people CLAIMED they put their phones in their back pockets and they bent, but which multiple tests proved actually required significantly more force than that to actually bend.
You forget that we have a few states where it is common to be over 400 lbs. Your BMI is above obese? Okay we'll create a new category called "Morbidly Obese." Oh you want another one, just in case? Okay, let's go with "Super Morbidly Obese."
 

lizkat

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The average COO doesn't know anything. This one does. Jeff Williams has a degree in Mechanical Engineering, has been with Apple since 1998, and was the lead engineer on the Apple Watch. He's still in charge of the development of the software and hardware for that product.

I think this story is being blown out of proportion and that this is simply Apple streamlining its managerial process, nothing more than that, but the tech press is always looking to write a new "Apple is doomed" article.

Ah, so just a variant of the Apple Death Knell. Only the oil and gas industry has suffered more death knells.
 

Herdfan

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None.

There was a generation where people CLAIMED they put their phones in their back pockets and they bent, but which multiple tests proved actually required significantly more force than that to actually bend.

I think I am going to go with a bit more than CLAIMED.


Forbes is just one source of this, but the most mainstream one I found. Most are simply rehashes of what Motherboard found.
 

Cmaier

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