Apple shipping delays higher under Tim Cook than Steve Jobs, data finds
During the past six years with CEO Tim Cook, the average gap between Apple announcing and shipping a product has reportedly been 23 days -- more than double the 11 days under the previous six years of Steve Jobs.
Some examples of delays include the Apple Watch -- which was promised for early 2015, but shipped in late April -- and AirPods, which were intended to arrive in October 2016 but were delayed at the last minute, ultimately shipping on Dec. 20, the Wall Street Journal noted. The company was also late in delivering the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro.
Most recently the company missed a December target for the HomePod, which should now ship in the next few months. The delay may have further entrenched Apple's rivals in the smartspeaker space, Amazon and Google.
The discrepancy between Cook and Jobs is said to be at least partly attributable to preferences on when to make an announcement. Jobs normally preferred waiting until a product was ready to ship, according to former Apple workers, the exceptions being more radical products like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.
Other factors are said to include the growing complexity of Apple's products, and more micromanagement of components. Whereas early iPhones used a complete camera from a single supplier, modern ones mix-and-match parts for an ideal technical combination and maximizing profits.
Cook has shipped over 70 products under his tenure. Of these, five had gaps of three months or more, while nine arrived within one to three months. Jobs is said to have delivered roughly the same number of products, but only one had to wait over three months, and only seven came within the one- to three-month window.
Some examples of delays include the Apple Watch -- which was promised for early 2015, but shipped in late April -- and AirPods, which were intended to arrive in October 2016 but were delayed at the last minute, ultimately shipping on Dec. 20, the Wall Street Journal noted. The company was also late in delivering the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro.
Most recently the company missed a December target for the HomePod, which should now ship in the next few months. The delay may have further entrenched Apple's rivals in the smartspeaker space, Amazon and Google.
The discrepancy between Cook and Jobs is said to be at least partly attributable to preferences on when to make an announcement. Jobs normally preferred waiting until a product was ready to ship, according to former Apple workers, the exceptions being more radical products like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.
Other factors are said to include the growing complexity of Apple's products, and more micromanagement of components. Whereas early iPhones used a complete camera from a single supplier, modern ones mix-and-match parts for an ideal technical combination and maximizing profits.
Cook has shipped over 70 products under his tenure. Of these, five had gaps of three months or more, while nine arrived within one to three months. Jobs is said to have delivered roughly the same number of products, but only one had to wait over three months, and only seven came within the one- to three-month window.
Comments
I would like to know this as well... Rushing shit out isn't always the best idea and having a Steve Jobs at your throat all the time isn't always the best either.
I also think Apple is announcing for more advanced products too. We don't know if Steve would have announced AirPods if they would have been delayed as well. Same goes for Apple Watch, etc. These products are very advanced versus what Steve was shipping, which was basically new Macs for the most part. The iPhone came very late into Steve's time at Apple.
But....I guess we should look to let Tim go. I mean after all...this is what everyone seems to want isn't it? /s
As for the current Intel Chip problem, is it better to wait on new products or ship them ?
I want to know if the product is about to change enough to make me wish I should have waited to buy or invest.
O.K. Got it.
*side note, my SO’s right airpod was flaky so we submitted a ticket online. They had a replacement at our door the next day! Sent the old one back. That’s service!
And there exists some gray area, where a far-in-advance announcement causes your customers to delay purchases of your products but also causes your competitors customers to delay or forego purchases of competitor’s offerings, if your calculus is such that you’ll harm yourself less than you’ll adversely effect your competition.
And so it all makes sense. .
Still, it's better to underpromise and overdeliver. Missing so many self-imposed deadlines doesn't look good for multiple reasons. The switch to Intel was an amazing, in no small part, to starting the switch so far ahead of the first stated timeframe.
When you're in Apple's position, just like MS was in the 90s, the promise of an upcoming product can be an shady marketing tactic. I don't think Apple is pulling a MS because, for example, the market for, say, the iMac Pro isn't likely to switch to Windows or Linux. Instead they'll just keep using their current Mac until the product is released… all while bitching about Apple not having a cheese grater tower anymore.
Anyway, the Intel architecture? Allegedly they've always been running/designed for Intel CPU's, beginning with Rhapsody. That's because they intended the OS to run on x86, including DEC Alpha workstations as well as PPC's.
Their transition to APFS is, in my opinion, is a much greater achievement. Pity it doesn't support compression, yet.