[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson 

I get what you're saying, but I'm not talking about old tech that some store is trying to sell out at rock-bottom prices. That may fool some, but most people understand that such stuff might not run the latest and greatest. The iPad mini was being sold directly by Apple as more more entry-level kind of model.

Marketing is marketing. Apple's sales division is still marketing, and (quite clearly) they aren't above "reimagining" older hardware as "entry level," even when it's clear that such hardware isn't up to Apple standards with current software. This itself is, I think, Apple's greatest failing. And yes, it's bad for business, but not on the front end, so the practice continues.

The biggest enemy a "sell it no matter what" salesman has is an educated customer. These are few and far between, so the craptastic sellers of stuff still have their jobs.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Marketing is marketing. Apple's sales division is still marketing, and (quite clearly) they aren't above "reimagining" older hardware as "entry level," even when it's clear that such hardware isn't up to Apple standards with current software. This itself is, I think, Apple's greatest failing. And yes, it's bad for business, but not on the front end, so the practice continues.

The biggest enemy a "sell it no matter what" salesman has is an educated customer. These are few and far between, so the craptastic sellers of stuff still have their jobs.

So, apparently, Jobs had marketing reigned in, whereas it seems Cook doesn't. It's not like a CEO can't do something about a gone-rogue sales or marketing department... he/she is the CEO!

[Steve Wilkinson]

This great article has an interesting paragraph in it... though the whole thing is a really interesting read.

No, WSJ, Apple shouldn't kill off the Mac

But, this is the part I thought was interesting given our discussion:
"While other firms have distinct divisions that become “silos,” in which there’s very little cross-product interaction, one of Steve Jobs’ key managerial missions was to prevent silos from forming. It makes micro-management from the top very easy, but it also means that two or more parts of the company aren’t solving precisely the same problem."

Hopefully this guy knows what he's talking about though... if he's right, it makes me feel *much* better about Apple over the next several years. (executive summary... what we're experiencing now is the effects of all the restructuring of sr. management... not necessarily the Jobs / Cook transition.)

Originally Posted by b9bot 

Because bugs and crashes will happen and if you can't live with that you should not run any Beta's.

Or certain non-betas. For me, ever since using iOS 8.3, Safari just keeps freezing up and crashing. It's annoying when all of a sudden, none of your touch controls work for 2 whole minutes and then the screen resets itself to the home page and you have to start your session over.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson 

iOS 8 has been out of beta for over 9 months now.

But, the point of the original post wasn't even so much about Safari, as it was about Apple breaking core, fundamental user-experience principals they've closely followed since the early days of the company.

Off and on.

There have been countless threads of people complaining about OS X and other products breaking UI conventions for years and years now long before Cook. For example, all of the 3040923849 threads about iTunes, the disparity between Aqua apps and brushed metal, etc. This is not a new thing, at all. I think you just want it to be new to support your narrative?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson 

Hopefully this guy knows what he's talking about though... if he's right, it makes me feel *much* better about Apple over the next several years. (executive summary... what we're experiencing now is the effects of all the restructuring of sr. management... not necessarily the Jobs / Cook transition.)

Basically what I was saying

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson 

So, apparently, Jobs had marketing reigned in, whereas it seems Cook doesn't. It's not like a CEO can't do something about a gone-rogue sales or marketing department... he/she is the CEO!

I think that's pretty much what it is. Cook doesn't want to change how sales works, but he doesn't have the "personality status" Steve did to keep sales from doing "what sells" regardless of how it affects the brand. I have the impression (not based on experience, mind you), that a lot of stuff was self-censored at Apple because "Steve won't like it." Mr. Cook, on the other hand, doesn't have the history of screaming at people because they didn't have his vision...