Tripp Mickle, Wall Street Journal:
Of the three major new products since Mr. Cook became chief executive in 2011, both AirPods earbuds in 2016 and last year’s HomePod speaker missed Apple’s publicly projected shipping dates. The Apple Watch, promised for early 2015, arrived late that April with lengthy wait times for delivery. Apple also was delayed in supplying the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, two critical accessories for its iPad Pro.
The delays have contributed to much longer waits between Apple announcing a product and shipping it: an average of 23 days for new and updated products over the past six years, compared with the 11-day average over the six years prior, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Apple public statements.
Apple has shown enormous, unparalleled growth during Tim Cook’s reign as CEO. The demands on the supply chain and the complexity of production have increased dramatically during that same period. And while there have been cracks in the armor, they are far less than I would have expected given the sheer scale of this growth.
Of the 70-plus new and updated products launched during Mr. Cook’s tenure, five had a delay between announcement and shipping of three months or more and nine had delays of between one and three months. Roughly the same number of products were launched during Mr. Jobs’ reign, but only one product was delayed by more than three months and seven took between one and three months to ship after the initial announcement, according to the Journal’s calculations.
I would argue that Apple during Steve and Apple during Tim are two different stories. The supply chain mechanics are vastly different. The competitive landscape is different as well, not to mention the growing complexity of Apple devices like the iPhone X and AirPods.
Apple’s large and global customer base also add to logistical and manufacturing challenges, former employees said. The company now has an estimated 1.1 billion devices in use world-wide, about triple the 400 million in early 2013, according to market-research outfit Asymco.
Former employees also cite the increasing complexity of Apple’s devices as a contributing factor in the delays. AirPods feature lasers that detect when the device is inserted into an ear, which has made manufacturing more difficult. With the facial-recognition camera on the iPhone X, Apple had production issues partly because its miniature, infrared laser was so sensitive that it could easily be knocked out of alignment, a person familiar with the production process said.
Interesting read.
AirPods, HomePod and even Watch delays are meaningful how? The game tape demonstratively shows these products – HomePod excluded, of course – went on to become category killers because they are well-conceived, well-constructed and are backed with world class customer support.
Publishers need content. Apple’s their evergreen Giving Tree.
Yep. More FUD from a writer whose name sounds like a medieval Scottish curse.
The Mac has obviously suffered over the past few years, but I don’t see a problem with the iPhone or iPad. Apple has released a great new iPhone on schedule every year (the X’s slight delay being the one arguable exception). The iPhones of Cook’s era are vastly more sophisticated than the ones of Jobs’s era, and Apple sells 10x (?) as many of them. That it only takes an extra week and half on average to ship products is actually remarkable if you think about it.
Something did go wrong with the Airpods… much delayed, and didn’t they sell out of them this year too? And the HomePod pre-announcement looks bad. Apple usually doesn’t stoop to the vaporware game.
“Apple has shown enormous, unparalleled growth during Tim Cook’s reign as CEO.”
To be fair, so did Steve Ballmer for Microsoft and look where that got them. As such, this metric in and of itself will not prove the point.
Nobody stays on top forever.
Cook has been CEO for over 6 years, and was largely in charge for years before that. At what point does he start to get credit for Apple’s success?
Seems like he never will. At least among the old Apple faithful who think Steve Jobs was the sole think-tank within the company.
Tim Cook has led some important pivots during his time as CEO that Steve Ballmer would never even dream of doing. So the comparison is null. Cook has shown time and time again that he is capable of taking risks.
Who the fuck names their child Tripp? Oh, yeah. That idiot from Alaska.
The WSJ is ALWAYS full of Bull$h*t
The Mac has suffered is nonsense. The desire for Mac enthusiasts to have shiny new hardware has suffered. We have not missed a deadline, gotten bogged down, or were stopped from accomplishing our deadlines because of Mac Hardware.
In the modern era, it is dubious to suggest that new hardware is more than incrementally more efficient in performing its tasks.
The Mac Pro is awesome. Who needs a GPU from the last 4 years? Or 5K? Or Thunderbolt 3?
The mini is awesome. Who needs a new starter/consumer computer that’s less than three years old, anyway?
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pro-troll dreck. the WSJ and Joanna Stern (not her piece i realize) have been out to hate on apple for a long time.
not interesting. irrelevant.