512 Pixels

The company cut 4,500 jobs as a result. Terrible, but not surprising.

NASA’s biggest challenge isn’t money; it’s fuel.

Two interviews with Apple executives have popped up this morning.

The first, at Business Week, includes Tim Cook, Jony Ive and Craig Federighi. It paints Apple’s executives as sure-footed. Here’s a section discussing the cry of some for a cheaper iPhone:

To Cook, the mobile industry doesn’t race to the bottom, it splits. One part does indeed go cheap, with commoditized products that compete on little more than price. “There’s always a large junk part of the market,” he says. “We’re not in the junk business.” The upper end of the industry justifies its higher prices with greater value. “There’s a segment of the market that really wants a product that does a lot for them, and I want to compete like crazy for those customers,” he says. “I’m not going to lose sleep over that other market, because it’s just not who we are. Fortunately, both of these markets are so big, and there’s so many people that care and want a great experience from their phone or their tablet, that Apple can have a really good business."

The article goes on to outline how Apple views Android and the comparison some draw between it and Windows:

You could say that Apple’s approach in mobile ignores history, specifically the Mac/Windows wars of the 1990s, which Apple clearly lost. In this scenario, Android is Microsoft’s Windows—available to all kinds of manufacturers—while iOS is on only Apple devices. Microsoft made money by charging Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), and others to put Windows on their PCs, and Apple’s market share shriveled. Google gives Android away for free, but the thinking there is the more people you can get online via mobile devices, the more they will search and consume Web content, which helps the online ad market. As Google handles more online advertising than anyplace else, a rising online tide benefits its bottom line. Cook finds the Microsoft analogy misleading. “Microsoft kept things the same, and the level of fragmentation wasn’t as much,” he says. “There weren’t so many derivative works out there with Windows.”

Over at USA Today, reporter Marco della Cava sat down and talked to Jony Ive and Craig Federighi:

“When we sat down last November (to work on iOS 7), we understood that people had already become comfortable with touching glass, they didn’t need physical buttons, they understood the benefits,” says Ive. “So there was an incredible liberty in not having to reference the physical world so literally. We were trying to create an environment that was less specific. It got design out of the way.”

[…]

Federighi says iOS 7’s new look is inextricably linked with technological advances.

“This is the first post-Retina (Display) UI (user interface), with amazing graphics processing thanks to tremendous GPU (graphics processing unit) power growth, so we had a different set of tools to bring to bear on the problem as compared to seven years ago (when the iPhone first launched),” he says. “Before, the shadowing effect we used was a great way to distract from the limitations of the display. But with a display that’s this precise, there’s nowhere to hide. So we wanted a clear typography.”

While the timing of these interviews is pretty obvious — have you noticed the lack of Apple PR information about 5c pre-sales? — I think they serve a much bigger purpose than just as a distraction.

Take this nugget, from the USA Today article. In talking about the iPhone 5s’ finger print scanner, Ive said:

“This right here is what I love about Apple, this incredibly sophisticated powerful technology that you’re almost not aware of, it absolutely blows me away,” he says. “You can’t get this without working cross-functionally.”

And this one, from Businessweek:

While the partnership between the two men was made official last fall, Ive and Federighi—whose desks are a one-minute walk from one another—have been working together for years. “I don’t think we ever talked about our roles,” Ive says. “We talked about how can we most effectively extend the collaboration that always existed.”

Here’s the first paragraph from Apple’s press release about Scott Forstall being shown the door, dated October 29, 2012:

Apple today announced executive management changes that will encourage even more collaboration between the Company’s world-class hardware, software and services teams. As part of these changes, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will add more responsibilities to their roles. Apple also announced that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim.

At the iPhone event earlier this month, Cook pressed this point home again.

There’s almost nothing left of his influence in the UI. While the APIs and behind-the-scenes technology will carry his influence for years to come, Forstall is the elephant in the room when it comes to iOS 7.

While Forstall is still underground — and there’s no word on where or when he may pop up again — Cook and company are working hard to reinforce to the public and shareholders that the call to can the software lead was the right one to make.

I think it may be working.

With Myke on holiday at XOXO, Federico and I talk about iOS 7, the deluge of new iOS apps and iOS in the car, with the help of a special guest.

Sponsored by Squarespace (use code TALLYHO9 for a special 20% off) and Hostgator (use code PROMPT9 for 30% off)

Greg Scown over at Smile:

When you update to iOS 7, you may find that TextExpander doesn’t work in some apps which did work on iOS 6. Due to a change in iOS 7, those apps no longer have access to shared snippets. We have communicated with developers whose apps support TextExpander, and we’ve provided them an updated SDK with a new way to share snippet data. Many developers are working hard to ensure their apps are updated. Bear in mind that review times and other issues are beyond their control.

Today’s a big day.

With iOS 7 rolling out now, most iOS customers are seeing a deluge of app updates on their devices. I’ve seen 17 so far today, and that’s just on my iPhone.

In thumbing through these apps today, it’s amazing how much work and care the developer community has put into these updates.

Last month, I wrote about how I feared many apps would lose their personality thanks to the changes in iOS 7’s UI:

I’m looking forward to see what sort of creativity iOS 7 sparks within designers. Until then, I suppose, things will be a little more uniform than what we’ve all gotten used to over the last couple of years.

While a lot of apps I’m seeing today are staying close to the default look created by Apple, many, many developers have taken their existing look at personality and tweaked things to closer match the new aesthetic.

The result is that apps I’ve used for years suddenly feel new. Things that were once bound into boring lists are now free and bouncy.

I like it.

What’s really crazy is that Apple unveiled iOS just three months ago. It’s been a mere 100 days since developers saw the new UI, got their hands on the new physics engine and first encountered iOS 7’s font changes.

I mean, this GIF really tells the whole story:

Many of my developer friends have been up to their elbows in Xcode since, working to modernize what was perfectly acceptable code up until June 9.

I’m lucky enough to know many of the people behind my favorite apps. Over the last 100 days, I’ve installed countless beta builds of apps, watching developers change UIs and add features, racing to go public today.

(The developers behind Whisper even put a sticker in their app for my son, which is really, really cool.)

In addition to updates, today marks the introduction of many new apps to the iOS App Store. These apps are almost all iOS 7-only. Clearly developers believe that if they take advantage of some of the new technology available today, they may be able to take a foothold in what may have been a market previously locked-up by a competitor.

Their work has paid off. Today, iOS 7 shines not only because of the work put into it by Apple employees, but the army of third-party developers who make their living on Apple’s platforms.

While some developers have release updates as paid, separate apps, many people are giving away their hard work for free. I know Apple probably isn’t going to add paid upgrades to the App Store at this point, but the company should. While I have no problem with paying for an app update, I understand I’m in the extreme minority. Looking at my revised home screen today, I think that’s a shame.

What is it with search engines no one uses using logos no one wants?

Leading off a week of lots of app news, Perfect Weather has launched. It’s been on my home screen since the first beta, and it’s great. The animations are smooth and the data is accurate. It’s a winner all around.

Forgive the cliche, but coming to work for Booking.com has been one of the best decisions. Within a week of arriving to the Netherlands, I had already created two UI experiments and pushed code to the live site. It was intimidating and thrilling at the same time. Those feelings haven’t left. I’m constantly humbled by the more than 300 super intelligent colleagues of 51+ nationalities! I learn every day. If there’s a day I don’t? It means I wasn’t in the office.

The warmth and acceptance of new hires is brilliant. I was invited for chess, football, drinks, and even knitting, within a fortnight. Friday after work drinks can easily evolve into an adventure anytime. There’s always something to do in this city. And at Booking.com, there’s always someone who’s willing to join in. The many parties are just something that has to be experienced. Come join and I’ll show you around! Sponsorship by The Syndicate.

Mike Wehner:

Once the tissue is dead – which, in the case of someone chopping your finger off without your consent, should happen within a matter of minutes – two things will happen. First, the finger will lose all electrical charge and will fail to even activate the sensor, and secondly, if by some chance the sensor could be artificially activated, the RF reader that is searching for a print will find no living tissue and fail, leaving the device locked.

I’ve had several people ask me about this topic. Usually, it goes like this:

“Won’t thieves just steal my phone and then cut off my thumb?!”

I wonder how Apple’s engineers tested this while developing the iPhone 5s. I know internships can be rough, but still…

Silly America.

Apple:

The OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5 Update is recommended for all OS X Mountain Lion users. It improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. This update:

• Fixes an issue that may prevent Mail from displaying messages

• Improves AFP file transfer performance over 802.11ac Wi-Fi

• Resolves an issue that may prevent a screen saver from starting automatically

• Improves Xsan reliability

• Improves reliability when transferring large files over Ethernet

• Improves performance when authenticating to an Open Directory server

• Addresses an issue that prevented a smart card from unlocking preference panes in System Preferences

• Contains the improvements included in MacBook Air (Mid 2013) Software Update 1.0

Check Software Update now for the update.