I know a lot of the comments are saying what a bad example. And how trivial it is. But it’s a clear illustration of Apple’s lack of attention to detail now. I dare say there was a time when Apple would never have published such an advert. Likewise there was a time they would never publish software with the embarrassing bugs we have seen through macOS and iOS.
> Likewise there was a time they would never publish software with the embarrassing bugs we have seen through macOS and iOS.
When was this?
Remember Snow Leopard? The release The Internet likes to parade as the Last Good OS X Release? It had a bug where your all user data will be deleted if logging into the Guest account. Here's a headline from the time: Snow Leopard Bug is a Doozy, How Did Apple Miss it? [1] Sound familiar?
Or in 2010 (and all the times after) when they couldn't get DST right and would screw up people's alarms.
That bug didn't appear in an advertisement. The point isn't that Apple is making mistakes (they always have), it's that they're bad enough at even noticing the mistakes that one was able to slip into an ad.
i quite agree with this. I don't remember a single os release that didn't have some kind of embarassing bug. Yet there are a few differences :
1/ ios used to be new and evolved a lot. So having mistakes were understandable. iOS11 new feature is the larger navigationbar and some drag n drop. Compare that to adding autolayout (iOS 7) or ARC (iOS4).
2/ very shortly after the release, apple would quickly update the os and after just a few months the os started to work a lot better with few if any noticeable issue. iOS 11 is close to a year old and hasn't improved by any noticeable margin.
3/ iOS lag was expected because new feature would consume more cpu. User interfaces became more complexe (few people remember the time when the official UIKit guideline said that one screen should have only one view controller). Hardware was still a bit short, and they came with brand new interactions , fancy animations and twice the image resolution. But now that the hardware is pretty much as powerful as a regular laptop,and the UI has basically stayed the same, having a new OS version making your phone lag becomes unacceptable.
I agree here but to be fair that was a time when as a company Apple produced one single operating system. That type of attention to detail comes with such singular focus.
If you’re an Apple VP right now, your concerns are about branching into new industries like driverless cars or heads-up displays. A graphical bug on one OS isn’t going to perturb you.
A lot of the flack going Apple’s way should be directed at the lack of innovation in the rest of the industry. If Apple felt their smartphone dominance was actually threatened, you can be sure the focus would be put there.
This is the price of the success Apple fans like myself were hoping for through the OS X era.
So because they have 2 operating systems, they're allowed to be sloppy now? And indeed they're focusing on expanding into other industries, rather than refining their products, I think that's the point.
macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS, embedded systems on AirPorts & AirPods, and more in the oven I’m sure.
Apple is “allowed” to do whatever they choose but their decisions are likely constrained by the reality of organizing so many complex products.
Not necessarily the wrong strategy or even a bad strategy. If there are enough people out there willing to pay in money and effort to switch ecosystems, there is space in the market for a smartphone with more simplicity and attention to detail.
If not, which I think is most likely, this is just what we’re stuck with.
Their advertising has always been top notch, but I don’t really care about that.
I can’t disagree more with regard to their product bugs. I’ve been around Apple software and hardware for a long time, since the beginning, and they’ve always had terrible bugs and design mistakes. Always.
I think you have to be a certain type of user to see this. You can’t be one of those people who has ever fallen victim to their reality distortion field.
I think that's only partially true. There are two types of quality. There is defect free quality and quality that delights. Apple under Jobs really shined with quality that delights.
The keyboard started missing keys and typing 2 characters per keystroke after two months. Then, the shift key started working only once ever three times. Battery would last 2 hours at the most.
I brought it to the Apple store. They ran tests and found out the battery was defective. So, they replaced the whole bottom case since the keyboard wasn't working, either.
After 3 days, the logic board died. All data was unrecoverable (sure, _I_ have backups, but not everyone does).
Went back to the Apple store, they replaced EVERYTHING. I put an ad and sell the laptop. The guy calls me 3 days later that the laptop died again (logic board).
Bad unity? Perhaps, but then again lots and lots of people compain about problems with the keyboard. They also replaced every single component, and it still failed.
That was my main computer, so I had to buy a shitty laptop while I was waiting days for them to repair it. The Asus worked GREAT. I could finally type, at least. I just sold it and in 6 months it never gave me one single problem. Battery was 5-6 hours under heavy load.
I just don't think Apple sells defect-free computers, or at least not what you'd expect after spending USD 2000. Of course, quality that delights comes after the thing actually working (tes, it's a computer so it's not acceptable to me that it barely looks pretty, I also have to use it for work).
I am now using a Chinese lqptop that I bought for 500 with hidpi touchscreen, fingerprint recognition, etc., and it actually works. I will buy the Surface Book as soon as I have some money to splurge.
My experience is the same with the new keyboards. My friends, too. It's like nobody tested them longer than a week or two. My computer is 3 months old, various keys stick/misfire, and my T key stopped latching. It comes right off. My Macbook Air didn't have this problem in 4 years of use, it has to do with these new tiny-action keyboards.
The action of the keys is so small that a tiny grain of dirt will stop the key. So the testers must've only tested it for a week inside a cleanroom.
I can't recommend the new Macbook Pro. My next computer will be an Air (if they don't "upgrade" the keyboard), a 2015 Pro, or something else entirely.
I’ve heard numerous complaints like this, yet I’ve never once had the problem despite owning multiple 12” MB and new generation MBPs all under heavy usage. I really wonder how I got so lucky or if it’s that your somehow usage is just really that different.
Their USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter is a small detail. If they paid attention to it, they would stop selling it. It's an insult to customers that they even continue to sell it.
> But it’s a clear illustration of Apple’s lack of attention to detail now
Others might call that setting the right priorities. With attention to infinitesimal detail comes infinitesimal increase in battery use, to paraphrase the old spidey.
