Lance Ulanoff, Mashable:
Mashable recently sat down with Schiller and other senior members of Apple’s executive team including SVP of software engineering Craig Federighi, SVP hardware engineering Dan Riccio, and VP of user interface design Alan Dye for a wide-ranging discussion about how they built what is perhaps the most eagerly-anticipated smartphone since Apple’s founder Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPhone more than a decade ago.
Too much to quote, but a very enjoyable, informative read, all the way through. Well worth your time.
This just confirms how bogus Bloomberg’s and others’ reporting were on the iPhone X. The hardware was locked down a year ago. The rumors about nearly every aspect were all nonsense.
What I find frustrating is how much Apple fans picked up on this nonsense and spread it further. Marco Arment became nearly hysterical in the ATP before preorder, basically saying (paraphrased) “no one will manage to get one this year,” excoriated executives and said “I’m really worried about Apple since they won’t be able to keep up,” and then realized his hysteria was completely wrong when plenty of people got launch day shipping, and others got 3-6 weeks. I really wish he would apologize; it’ll be interesting what they say about this on this week’s ATP. (John Siracusa and Casey Liss, by comparison, are far more level-headed.)
I have railed against these pronouncements of constraints for several years.
Anybody familiar with device production knows that “last minute” changes are virtually impossible, and that suppliers and components are certified by Apple LOOOONG before launch dates, certainly well before the rumors surface.
I view all such constraint pronouncements as spurious crap, just as I do the credibility of Ming Chi Kuo. Kuo makes dozens of statements and the media conveniently only remembers the ones he gets right (which is far below half) then anoints him with titles such as “well connected”, “respected” and other such crap.
Interesting and somewhat humorous line:
“the phone can periodically check, ‘Oh, someone’s still looking at me,’ so don’t go dim the phone away, but if no one is looking at the phone, the phone can be can be more aggressive about dimming down and saving power.”
Great ideas.
“Marco Arment…then realized his hysteria was completely wrong…” Seems to be a pattern with Marco, doesn’t it?
Would be interesting to monitor post-launch delivery estimates, see if the estimates actually shorten, or somehow manage to maintain the 6-week window. We know demand is always strong so it’d be trivial to rule out lack of demand.
It’s a shame, because he is extremely smart, articulate, and picky about nice things, something I think many Apple fans share as they appreciate Apple’s attention to detail. And he knows he was wrong: https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/923924775541538822
I’ve debated sending feedback about this to ATP (“Marco’s rants are frustrating and make me want to stop listening”) but I haven’t yet had the energy to phrase it usefully and ensuring it doesn’t come across as a personal attack.
Analysts and rumor sites have long ago realized no one remembers the misfires, and so being provocative is like going for a hole-in-one every time, and the .01% time it works you get amazing press. I mean, just look at how long Rob Enderle’s “career” was! The Macalope spent many a week writing columns painstakingly taking him apart, to no avail.
Marco Arment is very, very smart but is far too much an intellectual absolutist in my opinion. This results in some odd (counter-productive) conclusions and compulsions, such as when he wrote one of the best defenses of ad-blockers I’ve ever read, then pulled his own ad blocker because he couldn’t handle the moral ambiguity he felt about it.
I spent a year cataloging every Apple rumor. The best any site or person did was 50% and most did much worse. I sent out a press release about my results and not a single Mac “news” website was interested in the results.
What’s interesting is that pre-order has become available again—for a while, it was “unavailable,” but clicking through today shows a 5-6 week delivery window, i.e. STILL before Christmas. That’s really impressive, given how many people probably want to buy it before the holidays. It might be better than what the 6+ or 7+ was.
(I’m not in a rush—I spent way too much money on an iPad Pro this year—so I’ll buy it next year when the fully-unlocked, non-carrier version comes out. I thought it would probably be April or May, but if they manage this demand rate, it might be earlier than that.)
Very much the same thing as market prognosticators, those in the media and elsewhere (tip sheet writers, etc) who make predictions about (stock and other) markets all the time, knowing it really doesn’t matter how often you’re wrong or how many lives’ savings you cause to be lost; the attention comes from being right in an important way just once.
Marco is definitely worse than many, but whatever thinking flaw leads to ridiculous, wrong-headed rants based on little information and gross assumptions is very, very common in the Mac developer community. It’s hard to handle many days.
…and yes, I’m aware I rant about bugs sometimes. They’re not a Doom and Gloom, just an emotional purge. 🙂
I remember that site. I was disappointed when you stopped updating it, but it was clearly not getting any returns. 🙂
Part of it is the fact that Apple doesn’t release details in between nor do they give hints to their strategy. So, people tend to overthink it. That, paired with the fact many Apple fans are passionate, seems to result in this rant-y behavior.
That just goes to show the below average intelligence level of readers on these sites.
I guess its easier to publish bullshit, than it is to do genuine research. This is why I have stop paying access fees. I have yet to find a site that engages in research, as opposed to becoming a rumor regurgitation site.
What’s really sad, is that those that would pay for genuine research have become so jaded by the sloppiness ,of even the best of sites today, they refuse to support legitimate sites.
Maybe if legitimate sites made a point of outing crap “research notes”, vs engaging in professional courtesies in order to reprint the crap.
It’s a mix of intelligence and confirmation bias. Many otherwise-intelligent people claim to seek advice, but are just looking for validation, and so analysts can always find an audience.
Stratechery is the only site I pay for as I really appreciate Ben Thompson’s work; I don’t bother with most of the others. I’ve considered Ben Bajarin’s Tech.pinions, as some of their work is very good, but I’m still skeptical of some of their columnists and so haven’t.
Thanks for the recommendation. Since 2004 the only equity I have invested in is AAPL (specifically options). They have been VERY good to me.
Because of my investment strategy I avoid sites that cover multiple firms.
IMO, Stratechery’s reporting does not directly convey into investment advice. On the other hand, it does provide good insights that many other folks don’t, which can lead to understanding long-term directions better. For example, Ben Thompson called foul on Blue Apron way before everyone else and explained why… and now everyone else is realizing it, too.
He has some free content you can poke at to see if it aligns with your interests.
I don’t suppose the fully unlocked unit will give me any meaningful difference – it still won’t give you that “missing” new T-Mobile base band, and I don’t travel as much anymore for the extra LTE/CDMA bands to matter. I know I’m going to be satisfied with my launch-day GSM model.
The biggest difference with the unlocked unit, for Verizon at least, is you pay no $30 activation fee, and in general don’t need to deal with the carrier for upgrade eligibility etc. I’m happier just getting a phone as a retail item, unencumbered, just like I buy an iPad.
In reality, I’m mostly using it as an excuse to wait a bit longer, because I spent too much money already 🙂
Enjoy your new phone!
I wasn’t aware that VZW charges $30 activation fee for a new device while staying on their network.. Why would they make clients pay extra to keep doing business with them??
Because they can. 🙂
If I get a fully-unlocked phone without a SIM, I can just pop in the SIM and transfer it without that $30. I’m willing to wait for that.