The executive director shuffleApple herald late Mondayis the variety of play that we in the tech pressure usually only get from watchingGame of Thrones . But as interesting as it is from an inside - baseball game position , it ’s worth remembering that Apple ’s focus is , as always , on products .
Who allege what to whom and why so - and - so was shown the door makes for interesting gossip on tech websites , but that focalize on office political science means very little to multitude who just require to have the right experience using their Mac , iPhone , or iPad . It ’s far more crucial to consider what Monday ’s maneuvers signify for the hardware , software , and services do out of Cupertino .
Humans first
While Apple ’s hardware in recent class has for the most part get rave recap , the response has been more miscellaneous for the company ’s software user interface . Even as Apple ’s industrial design has veered more toward elegant combinations of aluminum and glass , the software user interfaces seem to have lost some of the consistency that was once their hallmark .
With Monday ’s announcement , the man responsible for much of Apple ’s computer hardware design since 1996 , aged vice chairwoman Jonathan I ve , is now in charge of human interface — design of both software package and computer hardware — for the company as a whole .
It ’s unclear what I ve , whose expertise is in industrial design , will bring to the software side of Apple . But as the later Steve Jobs once said “ excogitation is not just what it looks like and feel like . conception is how it exploit . ”
Then again , the experience of using hardware does n’t always interpret directly to software interface , as we ’ve see from Apple ’s often confutable regression onskeuomorphic design — cerebrate the stitched leather on the OS X version of Calendar and , more egregiously , the iOS version ofFind My Friends .
There aresome suggestionsthat I ve is less infatuated with skeuomorphism than outgoing iOS head Scott Forstall , but it also does n’t stand for that every individual Apple design choice the mass have questioned will be wipe away overnight . This is still a society that is not afraid of doing things its own way , whether users agree or not .
And keep in mind that , as with Jobs , I ve has his own misstep — while he excellently designed the first iMac , he ’s also credit ( albeit after Jobs ) withthe design of that estimator ’s infamous “ hockey Robin Goodfellow ” black eye .
Still , if I ve has shown anything over the past ten year , it ’s that he prize a marriage of form and social occasion rather than plainly emphasize one or the other . He ’s also fabulously item - orient — theasymmetric fan bladeson the redesign MacBook Pros come to mind .
Apple ’s strength has always been about the intersection of computer hardware and software into one complete widget , something that the company has competently fulfil with its iOS gimmick and most late Macs , and it seems likely the company and its exploiter will profit from a merged approach path to human user interface .
Grand unified theory
With iOS chief Scott Forstall die , his responsibility have been scattered to the four wind . The bulk of them will be picked up by senior vice president Craig Federighi , who previously oversaw Mac OS X.
If Federighi is one of the less familiar names in Apple ’s pantheon , that ’s because he wasonly late elevated to the company ’s executive team . However , he ’s play a all important function in OS X for many years , and has effectively bunk the Mac software division sincethe departure of Bertrand Serlet last year .
It also might imply more tone ending of the two operating systems in concert . iOS 6 and Mountain Lion appeared in close law of proximity this twelvemonth , and among the high spot of the two were feature that either appeared on both ( Mail VIPs , Facebook sharing ) or capability that emphasized the connection between Apple ’s mobile and background platforms ( iCloud Tabs ) .
As with unifying its computer hardware and computer software experience , develop closer ties between its two major political program is doubtlessly an important part of Apple ’s scheme in the years out front , and putting both under the aegis of a individual executive can avail insure that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing .
Service included
Services have never been Apple ’s strong power point . From the company ’s eWorld on-line service of the 1990s to the last decade ’s revolving door of Internet offerings — iTools , .Mac , MobileMe , iCloud — Cupertino has taken a lot of flack , much of it earned , for unreliability and missing feature of speech .
There are , however , bright billet in the mix , especially the iTunes Store and its affiliated App Store and iBookstore . ( It does n’t suffer that they generate tax income at a healthy snip . ) As such , it ’s no surprise that Monday ’s reshuffling view two of Apple ’s lately elusive Robert William Service - base characteristic , Siri and Maps , assigned to senior vice chairman of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue . Cue ’s no stranger to taking on damage goods : He previously assume control ofboth MobileMeandiAdafter those services ’ moderately lacklustre launch .
Like MobileMe and iAd , Siri and Maps have both suffered severe criticism after their respective launch . Apple ’s virtual helper was dinged for its unreliableness in understanding people and itsoften limited capabilities ; while the fellowship has improve that somewhat in subsequent update , such as iOS 6 , many still see the feature as more of a novelty than anything else . ( My workfellow Lex Friedmanwould beg to dissent . ) Thereaction to Apple ’s redesigned Mapshas been even more strident .
Cue has his body of work cut out for him in dealing with these two , but he ’s plausibly the right person for the job . The major complaints for both Siri and Maps seem to be more focused on the table service aspect than the software itself . In myown review of iOS 6 , I establish that the Maps app itself is well contrive , with the failures residing mostly in the data that Apple had at its disposal .
Given Cue ’s experience in administer with services — and especially in bowl where Apple partner with other companies , such as publishing firm , music labels , studios , and so on — it seems likely that we can look to see both Siri and Maps amend their capabilities going forward . chief operating officer Tim Cook saidin the company ’s financial results call last weekthat Apple has already spend time and attempt to bolster Maps , and that it wo n’t lay off “ until Maps lives up to our standards . ”
Expect to see reliability at the top of the list as well . While iCloudstill has mixed consequence in that section , the service ’s integrating with Apple devices and its non - existent cost tag have made it hugely pop ; Apple ’s latest tally peg iCloud at 200 million exploiter .
Wires and waves
Nestled deeply in Apple ’s Monday annunciation was this tantalizing nugget :
Bob Mansfield will lead a new group , Technologies , which combines all of Apple ’s wireless team across the company in one organization , further innovation in this area at an even higher level .
It ’s unclear exactly what falls under the purview of Mansfield ’s Technologies radical , but the broader implications are clear : Wireless technology is perhaps the most fundamental element of Apple devices going forward .
This is hardly a surprisal to anybody who has catch Apple for the last few years , as the troupe ’s tendencies have leaned increasingly wireless . see no further than the iPhone 5 , which include a astonishing number of wireless applied science : GSM , EDGE , CDMA , EV - DO , HSPA , LTE , Wi - Fi , Bluetooth . In fact , with the summation of Bluetooth to the revamp iPod nano , there ’s hardly a recent Apple product that does n’t include at least some form of wireless communication .
Add to that the ontogenesis of multipurpose pumped connexion like the ship’s company ’s newThunderboltandLightningports , and it ’s obvious that Apple ’s goal is to reduce the telephone number of cable and wire needed for its devices .
With wireless engineering playing such an authoritative part , particularly for iOS equipment , it ’s no surprise that Apple wants to devote more focus to them . The Technologies chemical group will be capable to evolve and improve wireless across all of Apple ’s product telephone circuit , perhaps easing the fashion in which those gimmick talk to each other . give way the improvements we ’ve already seen , it ’s not hard to envisage a future where you need n’t plug your mobile gadget into anything at all .
And lest we leave the 2nd part of Mansfield ’s brief :
This organization will also admit the semiconducting material teams , who have challenging plans for the future .
Semiconductors are , of course , the foundation of the processors and chip that runallof our machine . While Apple ’s Mac lines still rely on processors provided by Intel , the company has been producing its own chips for its mobile devices sincethe original iPad . That and subsequent processors have resulted from Apple’spurchase of PA Semi , a small semiconductor unit caller .
hold its semiconductor conception in - home has cave in Apple an even rich level of ascendence over its product — at least , the mobile ones . And , going forwards , it seems strong to believe that Apple will leave it at that . The Mac is still an crucial part of Cupertino ’s strategy , and with all the custom work that Apple has been putting into its ironware conception — the internals of the Retina MacBook Pros , for example , or the redesigned iMac — it ’s not hard to imagine the party will want to eventually go that last micromillimeter and control the chips for its screen background and portable computing gadget as well as its mobile gadget .
Integrate to innovate
Looking over all the changes that Apple made to its executive squad , there seems to be a pretty consistent throughline : This is all about integration . Integration of the various software platforms and squad , desegregation of the company ’s key engineering across intersection note , integration of online service , and consolidation of the hardware and software user experiences .
All this integration mirrors exactly what Apple has hear to do with its products for decennary now : Take a bunch of disparate technology , software package , ironware , services , and so on , and combine it into one perfect machine . After Steve Jobs ’s demise , many described Apple the company as his most enduring “ product . ” This reorganization advise that Cook has taken that to affectionateness while simultaneously putting his own classic stamp on it .
