Developing Perspective

00:00:00 ◼   ► Hello, and welcome to Developing Perspective.

00:00:02 ◼   ► Developing Perspective is a near-daily podcast discussing the news of note in iOS, Apple,

00:00:06 ◼   ► and the like.

00:00:07 ◼   ► I'm your host, David Smith.

00:00:08 ◼   ► I'm an independent iOS developer based in Herndon, Virginia.

00:00:11 ◼   ► This is show number 16, and today is Thursday, August 25, 2011.

00:00:16 ◼   ► The format of Developing Perspective is typically that I'll cover a handful of links and articles

00:00:20 ◼   ► and then have a general discussion.

00:00:22 ◼   ► But given the news of yesterday, specifically Steve Jobs' transition from being CEO to Chairman

00:00:27 ◼   ► of the board at Apple, it seemed only right that that really was all I was going to talk

00:00:31 ◼   ► about today.

00:00:32 ◼   ► So the only link in the show notes today will be to the press release stating that and then

00:00:37 ◼   ► the general discussion will take up most of the show.

00:00:39 ◼   ► So yeah, so yesterday evening, after essentially after the markets closed and so on, it was

00:00:44 ◼   ► announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO and asked to be made chairman of the board,

00:00:50 ◼   ► which I imagine has happened at this point.

00:00:53 ◼   ► And Tim Cook has taken over as the day-to-day operational role of CEO of Apple.

00:01:02 ◼   ► As an Apple fan, you can call me a fan boy, you can call me whatever you want, but I make

00:01:06 ◼   ► my living in Apple.

00:01:07 ◼   ► This is where I live.

00:01:09 ◼   ► My desk is currently covered in Apple products.

00:01:12 ◼   ► IMAX, cinema displays, iPhones, iPads, the whole thing is just where I live and breathe

00:01:19 ◼   ► and spend my day.

00:01:21 ◼   ► And so it certainly was sort of startling news, not in the sense that it was unexpected,

00:01:26 ◼   ► but just it's one of those things that you know will happen, but you hope will never

00:01:29 ◼   ► happen all the same.

00:01:32 ◼   ► I guess is an interesting way to say it.

00:01:34 ◼   ► It's sort of it's like anything that you sort of aren't wanting or don't want, but you know

00:01:39 ◼   ► is going to happen eventually.

00:01:40 ◼   ► You know, maybe it's like, when I think about, oh, it's, I know one day my children will

00:01:44 ◼   ► move out, but I, and that day when that day comes, it'll still feel abrupt, even though

00:01:49 ◼   ► So I've been looking forward to it for years.

00:01:51 ◼   ► And so it was certainly a bit of a transition.

00:01:54 ◼   ► I remember last night when I first found the news.

00:01:56 ◼   ► At first, it was sort of the usual stages of grief,

00:01:58 ◼   ► I guess you could say, where I was in denial for a little bit

00:02:01 ◼   ► and thinking about, OK, is this actually happening?

00:02:04 ◼   ► Is this some kind of joke or something like that?

00:02:06 ◼   ► I was remembering the time when the Wall Street

00:02:10 ◼   ► Journal or the New York Times accidentally

00:02:12 ◼   ► posted an obituary for him and so on.

00:02:14 ◼   ► And so at first, I was like, oh, I'm not sure if I'll trust it.

00:02:17 ◼   ► And honestly, an interesting way to say it

00:02:19 ◼   ► is I don't think I trusted it until I read it

00:02:21 ◼   ► on the Daring Fireball.

00:02:22 ◼   ► And that was the-- at that point for me,

00:02:25 ◼   ► it's like, nope, this is legit.

00:02:26 ◼   ► And then I found the Apple PR statement

00:02:30 ◼   ► saying that this is what happened and so on.

00:02:32 ◼   ► And so that's the news.

00:02:33 ◼   ► That's the case.

00:02:34 ◼   ► And while this has been a long time coming in terms

00:02:37 ◼   ► of he's been stepping down and gradually transitioning out

00:02:41 ◼   ► of that role, it's certainly something

00:02:43 ◼   ► that I don't think you ever really

00:02:44 ◼   ► expected to have happen.

00:02:46 ◼   ► Now practically, it's interesting,

00:02:47 ◼   ► because I was thinking about, well, what does that really mean?

00:02:49 ◼   ► What does that change?

00:02:51 ◼   ► And I think the thing that's most remarkable

00:02:53 ◼   ► is that I don't think it'll actually change very much, at least

00:02:56 ◼   ► for the foreseeable future.

00:03:00 ◼   ► Apple is what it is because of what Steve has done,

00:03:04 ◼   ► I think you could fairly say.

00:03:06 ◼   ► He is the embodiment of all of the virtues and values that Apple has.

00:03:12 ◼   ► And that embodiment is a powerful thing.

00:03:15 ◼   ► And it's a focal point that allows

00:03:18 ◼   ► people talking about Apple, people working at Apple,

00:03:20 ◼   ► and so on, to have that singular point where they could sort

00:03:23 ◼   ► of point their direction to.

00:03:25 ◼   ► Say, is this something Steve would like, for example.

00:03:29 ◼   ► But I think so much of what he likes, his style, his flavor,

00:03:34 ◼   ► his tastes, are things that are fairly universal,

00:03:38 ◼   ► that at this point within Apple.

00:03:39 ◼   ► I'd have never worked at Apple myself.

00:03:42 ◼   ► But from what I can understand, his style

00:03:44 ◼   ► and his taste is now sort of indelibly pressed on almost everything that Apple does there.

00:03:50 ◼   ► And so I'd be very surprised if anything changed.

00:03:53 ◼   ► I mean, maybe if we sort of are looking back five, ten years from now, things will have changed.

00:03:58 ◼   ► But for the next few years, I don't expect anything to really be different.

00:04:03 ◼   ► I expect that really the same thing will continue happening.

00:04:06 ◼   ► Apple will continue to innovate, to continue to create excellent products that have quality

00:04:13 ◼   ► and design above affordability or those types of constraints.

00:04:19 ◼   ► And as a result, I think Apple will continue to succeed.

00:04:23 ◼   ► I think they will continue and, if anything,

00:04:25 ◼   ► just continue just destroying their competition in a way that

00:04:30 ◼   ► is just so good to see, to see that quality really can beat

00:04:36 ◼   ► price, that their market share in all industries

00:04:40 ◼   ► is continuing to grow, even though they're

00:04:42 ◼   ► in very few industries, they're the low cost.

00:04:46 ◼   ► They're the cheap thing.

00:04:48 ◼   ► Their volumes and their profits are

00:04:50 ◼   ► competitive with companies that are

00:04:52 ◼   ► selling products for fractions of what Apple sells

00:04:54 ◼   ► their products for.

00:04:56 ◼   ► And that's just encouraging as an entrepreneur,

00:04:58 ◼   ► as a developer, as someone who tries

00:05:01 ◼   ► to make things that are good, that are quality,

00:05:04 ◼   ► that are worth buying.

00:05:05 ◼   ► It's good to know that people are

00:05:07 ◼   ► willing to pay for that if you create the right marketing

00:05:10 ◼   ► and the right product.

00:05:13 ◼   ► I think also it's interesting and important to note about Tim

00:05:15 ◼   ► Cook taking over at Apple.

00:05:18 ◼   ► And I think his role there and his role

00:05:20 ◼   ► in the success of Apple to date is often

00:05:23 ◼   ► played down because of the focus placed on Steve

00:05:26 ◼   ► and the focus that is rightfully his for turning the company

00:05:30 ◼   ► around.

00:05:32 ◼   ► But Tim Cook, before he became CEO,

00:05:34 ◼   ► was the chief operations officer.

00:05:36 ◼   ► And as best I understand it, what his expertise and the reason that he has done what he's

00:05:43 ◼   ► done at Apple is his ability on the logistical front, his skill at executing a vision that

00:05:50 ◼   ► is coming out of product development.

00:05:52 ◼   ► And I think this is often something that's overlooked, but is nevertheless very significant

00:05:57 ◼   ► to the company.

00:05:58 ◼   ► I think if you think about the Apple's ability to produce with such incredible lead, in such

00:06:05 ◼   ► incredibly tight tolerances, very complicated high tech devices on a large scale, ship them

00:06:12 ◼   ► all over the world.

00:06:13 ◼   ► I mean, for example, the most amazing thing I've always thought is whenever they launch

00:06:18 ◼   ► a new product, the as best I can understand from conversations with Apple Store employees

00:06:23 ◼   ► and things like that, the product that they are shipping, so say, for example, when the

00:06:27 ◼   ► iPad 2 launched, or maybe even more strongly when the iPad launched in general, and no

00:06:31 ◼   ► one had ever seen one.

00:06:32 ◼   ► No one had even-- they've just seen it in that keynote

00:06:35 ◼   ► that they gave.

00:06:37 ◼   ► And then, as best I understand, it was the night before

00:06:40 ◼   ► or a day or two before the actual launch.

00:06:43 ◼   ► All of a sudden, iPads arrive at every Apple store

00:06:46 ◼   ► all over the world where it was going to launch.

00:06:48 ◼   ► And overnight, they take that store

00:06:52 ◼   ► and transition it from whatever they were selling before,

00:06:55 ◼   ► say it was the iPhone, all of a sudden now the iPad

00:06:57 ◼   ► is front and center.

00:06:58 ◼   ► And they're selling thousands or millions of them

00:07:00 ◼   ► in just a few days.

00:07:02 ◼   ► And the logistics of doing that, and it

00:07:04 ◼   ► seems to have been able to continually do

00:07:07 ◼   ► that with very minimal hiccups, is just

00:07:12 ◼   ► a truly remarkable thing.

00:07:13 ◼   ► And I think that is a big part of what has made Apple

00:07:16 ◼   ► successful.

00:07:17 ◼   ► Because I think Steve has been able to drive the product

00:07:20 ◼   ► and be able to create these amazing devices that truly

00:07:23 ◼   ► are revolutionary or magical or whatever you want to call them.

00:07:27 ◼   ► But what is, I think, the work of someone like Tim Cook

00:07:30 ◼   ► has done is created a company that is able to actually then deliver on that at scale.

00:07:37 ◼   ► And that is not to be downplayed. And I think it's important to talk and think about that

00:07:43 ◼   ► moving forward, because that's the way Tim Cook's background is. And that's where likely

00:07:49 ◼   ► he will be making perhaps the largest steps forward in the near future with his new authority

00:07:55 ◼   ► and role. Fair enough, he's been acting CEO for quite some time over the last few years.

00:08:01 ◼   ► But I think it's important to note that I think those things will continue to get better

00:08:05 ◼   ► and better and better. And those are, in many ways, the areas that allow for the greatest

00:08:11 ◼   ► immediate improvement in the user experience. They can continue to make the actual logistical

00:08:17 ◼   ► part of buying an Apple product, getting it serviced, Genius bars, all those kinds of

00:08:22 ◼   ► things that are more operational down pat.

00:08:25 ◼   ► I mean, I think iCloud is another good example.

00:08:27 ◼   ► That is very much an operational challenge

00:08:30 ◼   ► in a way that is not as much of a technological challenge.

00:08:33 ◼   ► It's not necessarily innovation that they're doing there.

00:08:36 ◼   ► They're not creating something totally new.

00:08:39 ◼   ► Cloud data storage and all these types of things

00:08:41 ◼   ► aren't necessarily new.

00:08:42 ◼   ► I'm not saying that they're not innovating in them.

00:08:44 ◼   ► But what's really significant for Apple

00:08:46 ◼   ► here is their ability to operationalize and execute

00:08:49 ◼   ► this amazing vision that I think Steve

00:08:52 ◼   ► has put out and I imagine will continue to put out and drive from the chairman role within

00:08:58 ◼   ► Apple.

00:08:59 ◼   ► And I think the last thing I was just going to say is sort of on a personal note, is just

00:09:04 ◼   ► how sort of sad that the situation makes me not necessarily being that he is resigned,

00:09:09 ◼   ► but the reason for his resignation and just sort of on the human level of seeing someone

00:09:14 ◼   ► who is so passionate about what he does, that the only thing that can keep him from it is

00:09:21 ◼   ► being physically unable to do the job that he knows he needs and wants to be able to

00:09:27 ◼   ► do in a way that he can execute at a level that he is comfortable with.

00:09:33 ◼   ► And I think that's part of the challenge of being someone like you him who you see is

00:09:36 ◼   ► such a perfectionist as someone with such talent and skill that the only thing that

00:09:42 ◼   ► can hold him back is when essentially his body is physically not allowing him to continue

00:09:47 ◼   ► to do the thing that he is passionate about doing.

00:09:50 ◼   ► I mean, that's a tragedy in all senses of the word.

00:09:53 ◼   ► And it's just sort of a sad thing.

00:09:55 ◼   ► And all you can say is sort of wish him the best, hope that he sort of gets well, and

00:10:02 ◼   ► that hopefully taking a step back will allow him the rest and time that he needs to get

00:10:08 ◼   ► better.

00:10:09 ◼   ► And you just sort of hope for the best in that situation.

00:10:10 ◼   ► I guess that's really all that you can do.

00:10:13 ◼   ► But otherwise, that's the story.

00:10:15 ◼   ► And that's, I think, an interesting day.

00:10:18 ◼   ► I'll certainly remember, in some ways, they always say for major events, you always have

00:10:24 ◼   ► remember where you were, how you found out.

00:10:26 ◼   ► And I remember, I think I'll remember quite strongly that I discovered this happened,

00:10:33 ◼   ► that Steve had resigned from a tweet by Sebastian DeWitt reading in tweet bot while sitting

00:10:39 ◼   ► in my living room after putting my son to bed.

00:10:42 ◼   ► And that's a very specific moment in time.

00:10:45 ◼   ► And I think that'll sort of stick with me for the foreseeable future.

00:10:49 ◼   ► All right.

00:10:50 ◼   ► Well, that's it for today's show.

00:10:51 ◼   ► Like I said, it's very different than your sort of a typical show with lots of links

00:10:55 ◼   ► and general discussion, but it just seemed appropriate given the news and the situation.

00:11:01 ◼   ► So tomorrow I'll be back to normal.

00:11:02 ◼   ► I think I'll be talking about recording your hours and hourly contracting, those types

00:11:07 ◼   ► of things a bit more an extension of yesterday's discussion.

00:11:10 ◼   ► But otherwise, I hope you have a good day.

00:11:13 ◼   ► Happy coding.

00:11:14 ◼   ► And if you like the show, make sure you tell a friend, tell two, tell three.

00:11:18 ◼   ► So the more people who know about the show, the more motivated and excited I am about

00:11:22 ◼   ► making it.

00:11:23 ◼   ► And if you have any questions, comments, concerns, hit me up on Twitter.

00:11:26 ◼   ► I'm @_davidsmith.

00:11:27 ◼   ► All right, thank you and have a great day.