If you follow tech news, you will observe this pattern.
An Apple employee leaves, company is doomed, or would be so soon. Or something is wrong or fishy.
Google employee leaves, generally with a blog post detailing why he is leaving Google. Generally in the lines of the company is good for some stuff, but it getting stale and bureaucratic etc. I see one such post every few weeks.
If it wasn't for the timing and the fact that mobile me was a complete failure, this wouldn't even be news.
Please - the worst I had with the Mobile.Me migration was some delayed email. Sure, some people had some significant problems and even SJ acknowledged it wasn't their finest hour.
Please - the worst I had with the Mobile.Me migration was some delayed email. Sure, some people had some significant problems and even SJ acknowledged it wasn't their finest hour.
But it was hardly a complete failure
Agreed. MM fits in much more with the service I want. Unless Apple provides some sort of hosting service for iCloud, I'm not going to be a happy camper.
It's never good to see senior staff bolting; you wonder if the winds are changing, especially with SJ's health issues. I imagine a lot of loyalty is direct to him rather than to Apple as a whole.
Still, nobody really scary leaving yet...
This is a very smart observation. Yes, we all believe that below Steve are highly qualified people. But if their inspiration and allegiance is to Steve, and Steve does not return, then Apple's quality can dissipate as the top people leave for other opportunities. that is the real danger.
The Sun traveled over Apple's headquarters today, beginning at around 5:45am in the east and made a full arc over the Cupertino-based company before dipping below the horizon in the east about half past eight.
So it appears that HealthTeacher had a business wire press release about some big honcho coming over from Apple to be a VP of Products with them. It seems like HealthTeacher is trying to get some mileage on the story, which is understandable, but it amazing how AI kind of flips the headline a bit differently!
What I don't understand is why companies like JC Penny think that hiring someone from Apple with the assumption that they will help give them the same sort of success. I mean Apple makes great products, JC Penny sells a bunch of everything, they don't have a brand that everyone in the world wants like Apple does. Hiring someone form apple won't cause your profits to go up because they don't have what Apple has, great products.
From Apple in Cupertino to HealthTeacher in Nashville? I guess there must be some upsides ?
Cash in some stock options and live in an inexpensive (beautiful) city like Nashville. Not entirely a bad idea.
iCloud is still a bit questionable, in my eyes, but as a Free Service it could be useful. As a Paid Service, it needs more functionality and the ability to work with my own domain email for me to use it.
This is a very smart observation. Yes, we all believe that below Steve are highly qualified people. But if their inspiration and allegiance is to Steve, and Steve does not return, then Apple's quality can dissipate as the top people leave for other opportunities. that is the real danger.
The history of companies with strong, charismatic leaders following the departure of that leader is marked by a number who experienced a period of drift, faltering and sometimes near failure or outright failure. There are exceptions, but leadership seems to be both critical and based on the personalities and vision of those individuals - the teams those leaders assemble, and the chemistry of the teams.
A new CEO - whether promoted from within or recruited from without faces a first critical choice - trying to keep the values and directions of the departed chief intact, i.e., cloning what's worked or trusting that they have a vision that's their own, but at least as valid. Both paths have their pitfalls. The first risks a loss of the innovation driving the corporate culture, e.g., while the second inevitably changes the chemistry of the team and generally leads to a series of shakeups and casting about for new directions.
Meanwhile the press, the investing community, the fans, people like us on these forums, competitors, suppliers, ISV's, etc., etc., will have the new management team under under a strong and unforgiving microscope, so the pressure will be intense.
And few companies reflect the personality of their CEO's as much as Apple does Steve's.
Whenever the post-Jobs era happens at Apple, it's gonna be a huge challenge for the company and an effective transition is likely to take years.
All I can think is that 4 years working on a major Apple revolution could be some pretty long and exhausting hours! If the chance popped up that was just what he personally wanted, I guess that might be something of a relief. He might not be hurting for money, after all.
During the last 4 years that he was with Apple, AAPL stock almost tripled in value.
I don't know of a product manager who would leave his baby prior to launch date - unless he had little confidence that it would succeed. I for one think it will succeed - but my money says he started to shat his pants - a common reaction for a new manager with little experience, who has ownership of something really big.
Snr Product Manager in the US is FAR from "Senior" in any sense of the word. He is basically one step above being a graduate hire.
He didn't run the development of iCloud. It sounds like he perhaps "led" the development of PhotoStream - one fairly small element of iCloud. He would have been reporting to a guy who reports to the guy who is running the development of iCloud.
It appears that many folks commenting in this thread have not worked in a multinational corporation.
(Oh, and we used to have a joke about the "Vice-President" title in the US. Basically, the janitor is the Vice President of Sweeping. Title inflation is so rampant is US corporations that terms like Vice President have almost become meaningless. I had friends working in NYC who were VPs but had no direct reports. To have any cred now you need to be either a Snr VP, Executive VP, President etc. Funny but true.)
Comments
From Apple in Cupertino to HealthTeacher in Nashville? I guess there must be some upsides ?
He wants to be a country music singer.
An Apple employee leaves, company is doomed, or would be so soon. Or something is wrong or fishy.
Google employee leaves, generally with a blog post detailing why he is leaving Google. Generally in the lines of the company is good for some stuff, but it getting stale and bureaucratic etc. I see one such post every few weeks.
If it wasn't for the timing and the fact that mobile me was a complete failure, this wouldn't even be news.
Please - the worst I had with the Mobile.Me migration was some delayed email. Sure, some people had some significant problems and even SJ acknowledged it wasn't their finest hour.
But it was hardly a complete failure
Please - the worst I had with the Mobile.Me migration was some delayed email. Sure, some people had some significant problems and even SJ acknowledged it wasn't their finest hour.
But it was hardly a complete failure
Agreed. MM fits in much more with the service I want. Unless Apple provides some sort of hosting service for iCloud, I'm not going to be a happy camper.
It just wasn't reported as much.
It's never good to see senior staff bolting; you wonder if the winds are changing, especially with SJ's health issues. I imagine a lot of loyalty is direct to him rather than to Apple as a whole.
Still, nobody really scary leaving yet...
This is a very smart observation. Yes, we all believe that below Steve are highly qualified people. But if their inspiration and allegiance is to Steve, and Steve does not return, then Apple's quality can dissipate as the top people leave for other opportunities. that is the real danger.
Simply Amazing!
From Apple in Cupertino to HealthTeacher in Nashville? I guess there must be some upsides ?
Cash in some stock options and live in an inexpensive (beautiful) city like Nashville. Not entirely a bad idea.
iCloud is still a bit questionable, in my eyes, but as a Free Service it could be useful. As a Paid Service, it needs more functionality and the ability to work with my own domain email for me to use it.
This is a very smart observation. Yes, we all believe that below Steve are highly qualified people. But if their inspiration and allegiance is to Steve, and Steve does not return, then Apple's quality can dissipate as the top people leave for other opportunities. that is the real danger.
The history of companies with strong, charismatic leaders following the departure of that leader is marked by a number who experienced a period of drift, faltering and sometimes near failure or outright failure. There are exceptions, but leadership seems to be both critical and based on the personalities and vision of those individuals - the teams those leaders assemble, and the chemistry of the teams.
A new CEO - whether promoted from within or recruited from without faces a first critical choice - trying to keep the values and directions of the departed chief intact, i.e., cloning what's worked or trusting that they have a vision that's their own, but at least as valid. Both paths have their pitfalls. The first risks a loss of the innovation driving the corporate culture, e.g., while the second inevitably changes the chemistry of the team and generally leads to a series of shakeups and casting about for new directions.
Meanwhile the press, the investing community, the fans, people like us on these forums, competitors, suppliers, ISV's, etc., etc., will have the new management team under under a strong and unforgiving microscope, so the pressure will be intense.
And few companies reflect the personality of their CEO's as much as Apple does Steve's.
Whenever the post-Jobs era happens at Apple, it's gonna be a huge challenge for the company and an effective transition is likely to take years.
All I can think is that 4 years working on a major Apple revolution could be some pretty long and exhausting hours! If the chance popped up that was just what he personally wanted, I guess that might be something of a relief. He might not be hurting for money, after all.
During the last 4 years that he was with Apple, AAPL stock almost tripled in value.
I doubt he is hurting for money.
He didn't run the development of iCloud. It sounds like he perhaps "led" the development of PhotoStream - one fairly small element of iCloud. He would have been reporting to a guy who reports to the guy who is running the development of iCloud.
It appears that many folks commenting in this thread have not worked in a multinational corporation.
(Oh, and we used to have a joke about the "Vice-President" title in the US. Basically, the janitor is the Vice President of Sweeping. Title inflation is so rampant is US corporations that terms like Vice President have almost become meaningless. I had friends working in NYC who were VPs but had no direct reports. To have any cred now you need to be either a Snr VP, Executive VP, President etc. Funny but true.)