AppleInsider podcast discusses Jony Ive's promotion, Apple Watch bugs & Pixelmator for iPhone
This week's all-new AppleInsider podcast features Mikey Campbell and Shane Cole as we discuss Jony Ive's promotion, Mikey's Pixelmator review, our Watch Effect series, and Apple Watch news. Also, Shane has a word to say on Apple Watch quality assurance.
AppleInsider staff members Mikey Campbell, Shane Cole, and Victor Marks discuss the top stories:
Jony Ive promoted to Chief Design Officer
Apple Watch owner fined $120 for changing songs from Watch while driving, and separately, a dog with two Edition Apple Watches
Mikey discusses Pixelmator for iPhone
The wheels come off of CurrentC: ApplePay coming to Target
Our AppleInsider Watch Effect series
The show is available on iTunes and your favorite podcast apps by searching for "AppleInsider." Click here to listen, subscribe, and don't forget to rate our show.
You can also listen to it embedded via SoundCloud below:
Show note links:
We'd appreciate your feedback and comments, as well as any questions that we can answer on future episodes. Send your responses to the AppleInsider podcast at [email protected] and follow or tweet at us @appleinsider.
Finally, anyone interested in sponsoring the show can reach out to us at [email protected].
AppleInsider staff members Mikey Campbell, Shane Cole, and Victor Marks discuss the top stories:
Jony Ive promoted to Chief Design Officer
Apple Watch owner fined $120 for changing songs from Watch while driving, and separately, a dog with two Edition Apple Watches
Mikey discusses Pixelmator for iPhone
The wheels come off of CurrentC: ApplePay coming to Target
Our AppleInsider Watch Effect series
The show is available on iTunes and your favorite podcast apps by searching for "AppleInsider." Click here to listen, subscribe, and don't forget to rate our show.
You can also listen to it embedded via SoundCloud below:
Show note links:
- Apple's Jony Ive promoted to Chief Design Officer
- Apple Watch owner fined $120 for changing songs while driving
- Wealthy Chinese man buys two gold Apple Watch Editions for dog, prompts bizarre controversy
- First look: Pixelmator for iPhone is a feature-packed mobile image editor
- Target looks to support Apple Pay once POS system upgrades complete
- All of AppleInsider's Watch Effect series
We'd appreciate your feedback and comments, as well as any questions that we can answer on future episodes. Send your responses to the AppleInsider podcast at [email protected] and follow or tweet at us @appleinsider.
Finally, anyone interested in sponsoring the show can reach out to us at [email protected].
Comments
I've grown tired of an Apple that seems to regard their customers as no different from H. G. Wells' Eloi, of whom Wikipedia says: "By the year AD 802,701, humanity has evolved into two separate species: the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are the childlike, frail group, living a banal life of ease on the surface of the earth...." Look at most Apple ads and you will find that they're appeals to Eloi.
Apple is now large enough that it can create two product lines, one with pretty toys and one with functional tools. And I don't mind if the company spends most of its advertising budget on selling toys to the Eloi, as long as the rest of us get our tools, so we can make a living.
Does your paid profession include complaining? Because you certainly do a hell of a lot of it.
As far as Ive's promotion portending him retiring...one thing no one has mentioned...why would Marc Newson come to work for Apple if Ive was on his way out? In a recent interview Newson said he currently spends about 60% of his time on Apple projects. Also it seems odd that Apple PR would give the New Yorker thumbs up to write a 20 page profile on someone who had one foot out the door. Nothing in Ive's world really changed except two of his lieutenants got promotions and will be taking on more responsibility. To me all that means is Ive has more time now to focus his attention on the future (Cook's memo said he would be focusing on "new ideas and new initiatives").
Here's what Tim Cook said in his all-employee memo. I think you're out of luck.
I do not think I have ever owned a more buggy apple product. Ive been on with apple executive support since i've had the watch. I cant even believe that apple would let such a buggy product out. Dont get me wrong, when the watch works its awesome. Really enjoy using it. But the bugginess is really grating on me. It continues even after the update. im getting to the point where i'm seriously thinking of returning it. Which is bad since i really do like wearing it and using it when it "works" which is sporadic at best.
What problems are you having? It seems like you might be the exception, not the norm.
What problems are you having? It seems like you might be the exception, not the norm.
Health
Resting heart rate is not taken every 10 mins after the watch 1.01 update like it says on this apple support page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204666
Resting calories are wrong. Its showing my resting calories at least 800 calories over based on BMR calculations
Exercise minutes in the activity app do not seem to match my workout minutes
Outdoor workouts seem to work great for me. After I end the workout and save it, some times when i relaunch the workout app it asks if i want to save the same workout again.
workouts randomly sync with activity app. some time it shows up right away, sometimes it hours.
Siri
Hey siri has improved since the update works about 70% of the time now instead of 40%.
Dictation is all over the place. usually misses a couple of words and you have to start over (on the iphone it seems way more accurate)
3RD Party apps.
Most of the time take forever (30-60 seconds) to load if they load at all.
Glances also have this issue. Apples 1st party weather app also has this issue.
apps sometimes just crash
Since the watch update i have noticed that when you have a app loaded put your hand down and watch face comes on, double click crown to open app it has to reload the app all over again even if its only 5 seconds later. (before it would keep the app loaded and on the page it's on for at least a couple of minutes)
Apple Watch iPhone app:
Crashes and hangs constantly on me. When app store is installing updates with watch apps can can Freeze my whole iPhone and watch. This also happens on new installs and uninstalls.
When installing a watch app sometimes it starts and gets stuck and never finishes. Have to reboot apple watch and try installing again. This also happens with uninstalls/updates.
Sometimes the watch app says the app is installed but there is no icon or that its not installed when there is an icon for it still on the watch.
Had my watch randomly reboot on me 3-4 times.
Location aware Passbook passes are supposed to load into watch notifications when you are at the location. Rarely works, so then you need to launch passbook (wait for it to load) scroll and look for the pass (not fun when you are in a line of people and its taking you a minute to show your loyalty card)
Had all my apple pay cards disappear from my apple watch and i had to re add them. Though for the most part apple pay has been the best aspect of the watch,
Sometimes the watch just "slows down", swiping between glances, scrolling on home screen, swiping to another page in a native app jerks around.
Pretty much any time I use my watch some bug happens. Makes the experience very frustrating and not enjoyable its getting to the point where I do not even want to try using my watch to get transit times, change my music/podcast, see the weather forecast, show my loyalty card, see my expended calories. These are primary uses for a smartwatch and if it cant reliably do them what's the point.
I think Jony's made it quite clear he's not interested in ever being CEO. I see this as Tim recognizing how important design is to Apple and how it is one of the biggest differentiators between Apple and its competition.
The more I think about this promotion the less I'm surprised by it. Go read or watch interviews with Cook and Jony is the only executive always called out. Others may or may not get a mention. At the March event the only two executives called out by Tim were Jony and Jeff Williams (I wouldn't be surprised if Williams is made COO within the next 2 years). Cook allowed the New Yorker to do an extensive profile on Jony - 20 pages long. No other executive outside Steve Jobs has ever received that treatment, not even Cook himself. I think this title just cements Jony's position and influence at the company.
Jony Ive is a designer and is about quality as an end in itself: beauty and quality and overengineering. Just look at his products as proof of this. Steve Jobs used to say the inside has to look as good as the outside, even if no-one will ever see it, and that his (adopted) Dad taught him that. In other words Steve was from the same (perfectionist) school of thought as Jony. Tim Cook is about speed, his whole business philosophy is that you win by moving faster than the other guy. Just Google it, multiple sites online mention his favorite book is "Competing against Time." And note how Apple has moved to annual OS releases under his tenure.
Sorry, but quality and rushing are incompatible. And multiple Apple sites (even die-hard fan sites) have mentioned Apple's increase in bugs in recent years, a sure sign of rushing. As soon as Tim took over from Steve it was only a matter of time until Jony left too. And now that time is beginning. But Jony is too responsible to want to spook the shareholders, and so it will happen gradually and in multiple stages, the first of which is other people taking over his practical day-to-day responsibilities and him moving in to a more abstract, advisory role. Which has just happened.
True, definitely among the most prominent executives and I also agree with the sentiments about design being the key differentiator & recognising it
I tend to agree with a lot of what you've mentioned, but I have to wonder a little what you mean by "...abstract, advisory role"? Wouldn't you presume that even as SVP, he would be advising staff and providing general guidance instead of doing it all directly himself? The difference I see is that they've merely beefed up the management structure of the design team while still maintaining overall accountability. C-band executives are hardly just advisors, they're still quite active personnel. Reference is made to Steve Jobs himself as you've mentioned earlier. Perhaps more of the same, but just alleviating the mundane admin duties of SVP's?
I find some of this one foot out the door analysis baffling. Ive was just given a C-suite title. Apple has had very few C-suite executives in its history and Tim Cook doesn't strike me as someone interested in dishing out ceremonial titles. According to The Official Board, Phil Schiller has 9 Vice Presidents working under him. I'm not sure how Ive now adding two VPs under him equates to one foot out the door. If he has one foot out the door these new VPs would be reporting directly to Cook or to someone else.
I listened to the ATP podcast last night and they already have Ive working from England. Which is equally baffling considering in 2011 Ive sold the house he bought in England because he and his family were hardly ever there and in 2012 he bought a $17M house in the most expensive neighborhood in San Francisco and is spending several million to renovate it. Also Ive and his wife became U.S. citizens, If his goal was to slowly retire from Apple and move back to England why would he spend millions of dollars on a mansion in San Francisco and become a U.S. citizen?
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/shape-things-come
Another reason I find this retirement talk baffling is just last year Apple announced Marc Newson had been hired. And recently Newson said he spends about 60% of his time on Apple and travels to Cupertino frequently. Why would Newson decide to join Apple if his buddy had one foot out the door?
If anything Ive's promotion and new title suggests he's not going anywhere anytime soon. And when Tim Cook says he will be focused on all design at Apple including "new ideas and initiatives" that tells Apple has some big plans it's working on that can't be discussed and Ive is a big part of those plans. Some of these plans might be why Ive is now getting involved in Apple retail store design. And if there's anything to those car rumors no doubt Ive is involved with that as well.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/84906352-b3a5-11e4-9449-00144feab7de.html#axzz3bY1LlE75
I can't handle Mike on the podcast. He is monotone, boring, and seems unprepared. Lots of "uh" "um" "yea...". The other 2 guys do a great job (especially the moderator). Keep up the good work. Mike, stick to writing.