Apple without Jony Ive, Services, and Current Macs, with John Kheit – ACM 518
Bryan Chaffin and John Kheit discuss Apple without Sir Jony Ive, why he might have left, and and how it might have gone down. They also discuss the growing role of Apple Services, and the current state of the Mac lineup.
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Show Notes
Purpose. The common goal you’re looking to describe is Purpose. Apple isn’t a Hardware, OS, Apps or Services company. It’s creates things for a Purpose. These things manifest as a combination of all or some of the above but if there’s no purpose, they don’t do it. Why upgrade the iMac Pro if there’s no significant purpose (no new Xeons, limited performance boost for AMD Vega 20). Why release a generic Pro monitor when that market has raced to the bottom already? So the technorati can complain about the price?
If there’s a purpose, a point and a way, they’ll do it.
I’d rather Apple released iCloud Pro + iWork Pro because MS365 is joke, that they release a new Pro Display HDR with internal SSD/GPU/NPU than a new Mac just because.
Great discussion. I agree with John Kheit that Jony was burned the hell out & I think the biggest reason for that was Tim Cook putting the User Interface responsibilities on Jony’s shoulders.
Thanks, mate.
12″ MacBook
The last pure Mac. The original Mac had no fan. MacBook had no fan. The last pure Mac, likely a Jony Ive design, and killed a beat after Apple announced he was leaving.
Great machine. The 2017 MacBook under a decent load (photo/video editing), was 20% faster than the 2018 MacBook Air because of the Air’s thermal limitations. And this is why MacBook was more expensive than Air. It was a better/faster/quieter machine.
And that could not stand. Air was positioned as the “everybody should buy an Air” product, don’t worry about the performance.
But I do wonder if it was still around because Ive thought it to be the purest expression of Mac.
Personally, on one project, I used my 2015 Air, no problems with the keyboard, which took a pounding, as a daily photo/video editor for 3 months. And the single port was not an issue, my Satechi dongle allowed it to run an external monitor, up to 3 external drives plus SD and miniSD cards (big camera and a GoPro) and still charge the MacBook, without missing a beat. All my main files were kept on an external drive that goes from Mac to Mac, again no issue and no detectable speed penalty, in fact that setup with MacBook was just as fast as my 2011 quad core i5 iMac (no speed demon, but a proper desktop). Not the fastest setup, but bearable and reliable, when I was 1200km from home and any other Mac I owned.
Sir Jony
At Job’s death, Jony is shouldered with carrying the Product leadership of Apple.
Add Human Interface design, and pressures of getting Watch out a year too early…
And you get Jony admitting in an interview that he was tired.
Jony is promoted and two underlings get their photos on Apple’s website.
Jony is slowly making his way out the door (add rumours he wants to move back to UK, educate his children there, and very recently his Father’s health).
Jony finishes Apple Park, perfect time to sidle out the door.
Jony gives an interview where he states Apple has heard loud and clear about the MacBook Pro keyboard. Jony is pulled back in.
Jony takes larger role in Design, despite burn-out and other UK pressures.
This year: Rumours Apple will have a new keyboard design in a future update.
Jony makes the break, promising to make Apple his biggest customer.
Jeff Williams, long seen as Tim’s successor, takes on the Design team. Stories surface about Jeff’s involvement in products. Jeff Williams gets his chance to prove that he’s the long-sought-after Product Guy… who could potentially become CEO.
This is really exciting. We get to watch Apple’s future unfold. And the media miss this by a mile, focussing on Jony. Let’s hope the media gets Jony tributes out of the way and focuses back on Apple and Jeff Williams’ further grooming to be not only for CEO, but Apple’s Product Guy.
Wise comments as usual, gGrant. Thanks.