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Did Apple Make a Huge Mistake by Putting Jonny in charge of both Hardware & Software?

W

whocaresit

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 18, 2010
618
10
Think about it.. when he's put in charge of overlooking two entirely separate departments.. wouldn't the quality of work decline? One man should only be in charge of one thing, that is in his area of expertise.

I have a feeling that the quality of hardware is going to decline over the coming years because that is no longer his only primary area of focus due to his new role also as the VP of Software Engineering.
or both Hardware and software (iOS and Mac) are going to take a turn for the worse. :(

A man should only be responsible for one area of work. :eek:
This is basic Business Management 101.

What do you think?
 
parapup

parapup

macrumors 65816
Oct 31, 2006
1,291
49
More than that, putting a hardware design guy in charge of software sounds like a greater problem. Those two things require vastly different skills and tastes. May be Jony will prove us wrong and iOS 8 will be amazingly more useful and pleasant and iPhone 7 will be put the HTC One design to shame but it will take a miracle.
 
thejadedmonkey

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
May 28, 2005
9,234
3,483
Pennsylvania
Given that OS X is stagnating, iOS looks outdated, and Apple's stock prices have fallen 50% from its high, no. Doing nothing would be bad, doing something is good.
 
chown33

chown33

Moderator
Staff member
Aug 9, 2009
10,995
8,878
A sea of green
whocaresit said:
What do you think?
Click to expand...

I think nobody will be able to give an informed or intelligent opinion until after we see the product and actually know how it changed.

But don't let that stop anyone.


EDIT
whocaresit said:
... due to his new role also as the VP of Software Engineering.
Click to expand...

I don't think he was given that title, nor that responsibility. It's certainly not on Apple's leadership bios page:
http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/

Ive is listed as Senior Vice President, Industrial Design.

I can certainly see how the visual and interactive design of software might fall under the Industrial Design purview, but those are not at all the same as Software Engineering. I say this as a software engineer and occasional hardware engineer, with many years of experience working with (and sometimes against) designers.
 
Last edited:
lostngone

lostngone

macrumors 65816
Aug 11, 2003
1,431
3,804
Anchorage
Did Apple Make a Huge Mistake by Putting Jonny in charge of both Hardware & Software?

No.

Next question.
 
eawmp1

eawmp1

macrumors 601
Feb 19, 2008
4,159
91
FL
whocaresit said:
A man should only be responsible for one area of work. :eek:
This is basic Business Management 101.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I think that Ive is not the only person designing for Apple...he is the idea guy in charge of of a stable of designers and engineers.

And as Apple has always touted the interrelationship between software and hardware, having one idea guy at the top is not a bad idea (think Jobs).
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,724
32,184
He's in charge of human interface. Craig Federighi is in charge of software.

----------
parapup said:
More than that, putting a hardware design guy in charge of software sounds like a greater problem. Those two things require vastly different skills and tastes. May be Jony will prove us wrong and iOS 8 will be amazingly more useful and pleasant and iPhone 7 will be put the HTC One design to shame but it will take a miracle.
Click to expand...

It will take a miracle to put the HTC one design to shame? :confused:
 
S

snberk103

macrumors 603
Oct 22, 2007
5,503
91
An Island in the Salish Sea
whocaresit said:
Think about it.. when he's put in charge of overlooking two entirely separate departments.. wouldn't the quality of work decline? One man should only be in charge of one thing, that is in his area of expertise.
....
A man should only be responsible for one area of work. :eek:
This is basic Business Management 101.

What do you think?
Click to expand...
First of all, your theory should be one person in charge of one thing - not 'man'. Second of all.... No, I don't think it's a problem at all. Ive has a whole department of designers to work with him. If he is smart some of them are better designers than he is (or will be with more experience). If Ive's 'one job' is to make sure that the HW and SW designs work well together, then he still fits into your narrowly defined "one person - one job" role.
chown33 said:
I think nobody will be able to give an informed or intelligent opinion until after w:)e see the product and actually know how it changed.

But don't let that stop anyone.
...
Click to expand...

Though you are right, about waiting... I'm sure we wont' stop anyway....
 
parapup

parapup

macrumors 65816
Oct 31, 2006
1,291
49
Rogifan said:
He's in charge of human interface. Craig Federighi is in charge of software.

----------



It will take a miracle to put the HTC one design to shame? :confused:
Click to expand...

Why are you reading half the sentence if all it does is gets you confused? :) I wrote if Jony was to look after HI AND HW and radically redo BOTH, that would take a miracle to do it at once with iOS 8 and iPhone 7. I held the HTC One and it is as perfect as any smartphone design could be today - so to surpass it will take radical redoing.
 
gnasher729

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,566
parapup said:
Why are you reading half the sentence if all it does is gets you confused? :) I wrote if Jony was to look after HI AND HW and radically redo BOTH, that would take a miracle to do it at once with iOS 8 and iPhone 7. I held the HTC One and it is as perfect as any smartphone design could be today - so to surpass it will take radical redoing.
Click to expand...

The day when Samsung starts copying HTC, we know that Apple has a problem :D
 
rdowns

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
whocaresit said:
Think about it.. when he's put in charge of overlooking two entirely separate departments.. wouldn't the quality of work decline? One man should only be in charge of one thing, that is in his area of expertise.

I have a feeling that the quality of hardware is going to decline over the coming years because that is no longer his only primary area of focus due to his new role also as the VP of Software Engineering.
or both Hardware and software (iOS and Mac) are going to take a turn for the worse. :(

A man should only be responsible for one area of work. :eek:
This is basic Business Management 101.

What do you think?
Click to expand...


How could anyone have anything other than an uninformed opinion on this? No one here knows what's coming in the next few months nor do they have any clue as to how Apple works internally. Lastly, I think I'll put my trust in Apple management over you in "basic Business Management 101".
 
adnbek

adnbek

macrumors 68000
Oct 22, 2011
1,584
551
Montreal, Quebec
I say no.
 

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phoenixsan

phoenixsan

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2012
1,342
2
Seems to me.....

not completely bad idea if Apple wants a better integration between interfase and hardware design. Also, we dont know how long this tenure will be or if was prompted by the management shakeup, being only a temporary measure.

Fully agree with another posters when saying we have to wait and see. iOS 7 and the others products coming out the pipeline will show the wisdom or failure in this decission.



:):apple:
 
Shrink

Shrink

macrumors G3
Feb 26, 2011
8,929
1,727
New England, USA
whocaresit said:
Think about it.. when he's put in charge of overlooking two entirely separate departments.. wouldn't the quality of work decline? One man should only be in charge of one thing, that is in his area of expertise.

I have a feeling that the quality of hardware is going to decline over the coming years because that is no longer his only primary area of focus due to his new role also as the VP of Software Engineering.
or both Hardware and software (iOS and Mac) are going to take a turn for the worse. :(

A man should only be responsible for one area of work. :eek:
This is basic Business Management 101.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I don't think...I post on MR!!:p
 
dan1eln1el5en

dan1eln1el5en

macrumors 6502
Jan 3, 2012
380
23
Copenhagen, Denmark
you make it sound as if Mr. Ive will be standing there, in the workshop, carving and molding the design for the next Macbook and then run over to program the corners of iOS....but he is so up high he probably never programs a line nor sitting and sketching designs.
He have been through that, now he runs several sub-organizations (who probably hires their own people, without his presence at the interviews) and he makes sure that the people underneath him do good work, having a good insight into design process and knows good design qualities, to make good decisions.

just speaking from experience from large international company, where engineers move up to never touch engineering tools anymore...
 
Moccasin

Moccasin

macrumors 65816
Mar 21, 2011
1,005
220
Newcastle, UK
I imagine he has some trusted colleagues who are making day to day decisions. Its a bit like the famous architects. No-one really believes that they get involved in the minutae do they? A few broad strokes with a pen to show a concept and then send the team off to make it work. Then get involved in sifting out the best designs developed from the concepts.

With iOS7, I can imagine Ive outlining the changes he wanted and then letting the team get on with it. Once some ideas were fleshed out, would have focused on the desired "look" and then let them go back an implement it.

He's probably a bit more "hands on" than that but can't afford to be much more involved - the art of delegation and the price of seniority sadly!
 
M

Michaelgtrusa

macrumors 604
Oct 13, 2008
7,900
1,821
Apple need to hire more people in the USA to solve issues they may face rather that push for profit and kiss china's ass.
 
V

vrDrew

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2010
1,376
13,412
Midlife, Midwest
No.

It is worth remembering that Ive's main contribution to the success of the entire Apple product line was in creating devices that were aesthetically pleasing. People bought iPods and iPhones and iMacs because they looked and felt significantly better than any of the competition.

If there is one criticism I'd have for Apple products over the last 4-5 years, it would be that the software sometimes doesn't meet the same aesthetic standard. The much derided skeuomorphism of Notepad and iBooks. (Don't get me started on how garish Game Center looks.)

If Ive can bring the same level of aesthetic magic to iOS and the core Apps, then he will have contributed - once again - to Apple's success.

Ive won't be writing the code, and more than he ran the factories, but his contribution to the way Apple software looks is something he is qualified, like probably no one else in the world, to do.
 
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