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New MP on May 18
- Thread starter Murray M
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This is what I've seen, and I've also gone and checked Apple's career section from time to time. So far, I haven't notice any new hiring going on for development personnel.
Now consider that there's no new people to assist with the workload, existing personnel switch from project to project (rotation scheme), and new products are being added, such as the iPad which will further stretch resources. And we wonder why we're seeing bugs creep into the products?
C'mon Apple, you can afford to hire a couple of additional people in order to keep the quality high enough that users feel justified in the higher prices.The funds are certainly there...
Apple likes to hire out of school and promote from within from what i've seen. They are at our university all the time recruiting and ALWAYS hire at least 5-10 people that vary between iPhone OS to Hardware.
Internally apple is assembled into very small teams. When I interviewed there (woohoo for them forgetting to send me an NDA
) I was interviewing for the OSX update team within the OSX division, which is in the OS division which is shared by both osx, and iPhone OS. Because they set it up this way they can pull people from smaller projects to bigger ones anytime they like. There have been multiple delays due to Apple needing more people on a certain project.In the end it has to do with jobs being anal about every product coming out of there, and until he is replaced you will continue to see product delays and bad refresh cycles, due to jobs needing it to be perfect, and jobs thinking that no matter what people will buy macs. I'm not saying it hasn't done well until now, but over a year for pro users? it's to the point where unless I was coding iPhone and Mac apps i would have bought an i7 workhorse at this point.....for half the money, its just sad.
This is harder to find out, as it's unpublished hiring. But it's still small numbers, and so far, hasn't seemed to improve matters (i.e. reduce the bug count/frequency as of late).
As I figured, the personnel are rotated/shifted to new projects. Not a bad idea in it's basis (could help to prevent burn-out = higher quality, as well as keep them occupied with something = productive). But it won't work that well if you're too short handed.Internally apple is assembled into very small teams. When I interviewed there (woohoo for them forgetting to send me an NDA
Ultimately, they need people, and seem to be slow on the acquisition of human talent. As a result, the products are suffering.
Job's is definitely a narcissistic control freak. But it's gotten out of hand, as the recent products are having more issues lately. So there doesn't seem to be a positive result on QC and integration.
But so long as the company is making the profits to keep the board happy, he will retain his position as CEO, unless a change is on his terms, such as retirement, ...
Ok, so in all of this anticipation angst, some of you *seriously* think that Apple is going to give up the professional market altogether?
Really now...
Really now...
I like it. The angry mob concept might work.
but in all seriousness it's our affection and belief in Apple products that will will help us keep the faith - we've never been let down yet so no reason to suspect otherwise. It's just very difficult!
It seems like years have gone by since that false march 12th rumor was going around. I'd feel a lot better if Apple would leak any sort of news about this refresh. I can make due for a while, but the longer they wait, the shorter the life of the new system. It really is way over due, and yes I really do think that Apple will in fact phase out this end of their business sooner or later. It's just getting beyond frustration.
In a word, YES. What possible logic would a company have to completely stop updating or improving their product except to kill the market slowly? If thats not the plan, theyre really going about it all wrong.
The same logic they had when they didnt update it last November? Stop acting like the last 2 months have passed from "update pending" territory into "OMG UPDATE NEVAR COMMING" territory.
Well, let's see: shake - killed, color - almost killed (with the new
DaVinci Resolve for $995 it's practically killed), fcp - barely updated,
motion - nothing new, macbook PRO - a joke, not a pro laptop,
cinema screens - are you serious?, mac PRO - you know the best...
What am I missing?
For some, Yes.
Switching back may be better for some users, as the software works better under Windows or Linux
eek. But even then, the investment in OS X based software may prevent it, as the software cost can easily exceed the cost of the system.There are others however, who would still be best served by sticking with OS X for their specific software usage.
Things are a bit shaky right now is all, and only time will tell if sticking or switching is the better route over the long haul. And that uncertainty can cause some serious stress, particularly on the financial front, due to the consequences of "backing the wrong horse".
For some, sure. Others, not so much...
The workstation market is going to change in the near future, and Apple can change with it (i.e. based on CPU's on Intel's published road maps) or not, depending on the MP's sales quantities.
That doesn't mean they won't try to introduce a replacement product, but the MP as we know it could very well dissappear (XServe's too).
The issues with the update delays have been discussed before, and there are reasons that could cause it, notably developer time (short handed in terms of personnel). Parts are available, so that's not the viable solution (they could have announced it already, and had a shipping delay if that were the actual case).
The total lack of any information is hurting them though, and it's not unreasonable for people to wonder what's going on, as other vendors are actually shipping systems.
Combine that with low sales numbers, and it will make users question the actual continuation of the MP line alltogether. I know, they're not separated from the computer sales figures, but they can't be that high if they're not willing to break them down.
There's enough factors aligning themselves, that seriously indicate that the MP's days are numbered. But I don't expect it to be this go-around. Not until 2014, when the usable chips will be SP versions only (price & core counts match up for a workstation, as the others are too expensive and core counts too high), and not sold under the Xeon moniker.
Here's a hypothetical question- if you were running Apple and you decided to kill the Mac Pro, how would you do it?
Obviously you wouldn't make a huge announcement and just stop selling it altogether because you would be stuck with bad press and a warehouse full of unsold equipment- you would lose money.
You would probably just stop updating the specs and slowly sell off as many as you can to clear out your backstock..... and if people keep buying them, then great- maybe consider continuing production on a lower scale to just meet the limited demand. No reason to up the specs and offer more, just keep selling what you have as long as you can......... and milk it.
Which is exactly where we are today.
On a related note.... could somebody please tell Apple to remove the headline "Introducing the new Mac Pro" from their store site? jeeez...
Obviously you wouldn't make a huge announcement and just stop selling it altogether because you would be stuck with bad press and a warehouse full of unsold equipment- you would lose money.
You would probably just stop updating the specs and slowly sell off as many as you can to clear out your backstock..... and if people keep buying them, then great- maybe consider continuing production on a lower scale to just meet the limited demand. No reason to up the specs and offer more, just keep selling what you have as long as you can......... and milk it.
Which is exactly where we are today.
On a related note.... could somebody please tell Apple to remove the headline "Introducing the new Mac Pro" from their store site? jeeez...
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The MP line generates a large revenue stream. Riding herd over this product line are several business and product teams. These teams are dedicated to the MP line. They can appreciate the success of the iPad and other product lines, buy their focus and livelihood is the MP. The desktop is not going away anytime soon much less the MP product line. As one waiting for the next update to the MP line it is really disappointing and frustrating not to have more specific release info from Apple and one tends to get a bit cranky from time to time. So why want one of you dedicated MP engineers break ranks and provide this forum with the skinny on the next MP updates!!!!
The MP line generates a large revenue stream. Riding herd over this product line are several business and product teams. These teams are dedicated to the MP line. They can appreciate the success of the iPad and other product lines, buy their focus and livelihood is the MP. The desktop is not going away anytime soon much less the MP product line. As one waiting for the next update to the MP line it is really disappointing and frustrating not to have more specific release info from Apple and one tends to get a bit cranky from time to time. So why want one of you dedicated MP engineers break ranks and provide this forum with the skinny on the next MP updates!!!!
May 18th would be great. But if Apple doesn't update the MP before or at WWDC then the message from Apple is clear: a big middle finger to pro users.
The consumer models were available before the Xeon versions (SP systems, no consumer DP parts). The i7-980X has been out, and the Xeon SP and DP equiped systems are shipping from other vendors. There's always a lag from parts availability to shipping systems as well (aka lead times, which have gotten longer as the systems are typically assembled in Asia these days and shipped en mass to the local distribution point via cargo containers).
What this means, is that vendors that didn't have parts early have managed to get their systems manufactured and are now shipping. Even if Apple didn't have their parts early, they should have been able to have shipping systems now, like anyone else. But something's holding it up, and it seems more and more likely due to personnel shortages in terms of validation IMO, as that's a likely scenario in such a situation (and Apple's increasing their product lines without major hiring to accomodate the development needs to meet usual/historic turn-around times).
Over 400 days since a product refresh? really? When the average product refresh was roughly half that many days? This is really getting annoying.
I really need an Apple engineer to accidentally lose a prototype Mac Pro in a bar or something...seems like the only way we're going to hear anything about them.
I really need an Apple engineer to accidentally lose a prototype Mac Pro in a bar or something...seems like the only way we're going to hear anything about them.
Because after the lost iPhone debacle, I bet every engineer in Apple received a *very* stern warning about leaking future products. One guy got fired for showing a few people (including Woz) the new iPad 3G, hours before the release.