Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Product Delays Have More Than Doubled Under Tim Cook's Watch, Says Report (wsj.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the day-late-and-a-dollar-short dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source): 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. Longer lead times between announcement and product release have the potential to hurt Apple on multiple fronts. Delays give rivals time to react, something the company tried to prevent in the past by keeping lead times short, analysts and former Apple employees said. They can stoke customer disappointment and have cost Apple sales.

8 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Was I supposed to take that as a negative? by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The world is filled now with products that ship fast and suck until v2.0.

    So why am I supposed to find it a negative that Apple will delay shipping products until it feels they are ready? Doesn't that imply the products they DO ship are relatively more stable than competitors, and will be more usable out of the gate?

    The iPhone X did not ship until a few weeks after the 8. Yet FaceID works great, the screen works really well (Apple's first OLED), and generally the finish of the software and hardware is really good. Would I have preferred to have a shakier release earlier? Not really.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Was I supposed to take that as a negative? by imgod2u · · Score: 2, Informative

      I think the point is that it's not comparing Apple vs its competitors but Apple under Cook vs Apple under Jobs.

      When major form factor changes for, say, the iPhone 4 or iPhone 5 first occurred, there wasn't nearly as much of a wait compared to the iPhone X or even iPhone 7+.

      Part of this can be attributed to the fact that there are simply more buyers of iPhones now than there were before. But the job of a good supply manager (and CEO, especially if that CEO used to be head of supply chain) is to make sure manufacturing can scale such that it lead times don't increase with increased demand.

      To say nothing of the difference in innovation speed under Cook...

    2. Re: Was I supposed to take that as a negative? by backslashdot · · Score: 2

      Eh I dont know about the software, the UI is measurably slower than the iPhone 6 running an old version of iOS. One example to measure this .. go to the home screen and place your finger on the screen and slowly start to swipe. The UI reacts after your finger moves an eighth of an inch. Try it on the iPhone 6 with an old version of iOS detect your swipe intent and react faster.

    3. Re:Was I supposed to take that as a negative? by farble1670 · · Score: 2

      Well, Microsoft didn't even add support for directories until version 2 of DOS, so this isn't a new problem.

      Thanks for this timely, relevant addition to the thread.

    4. Re:Was I supposed to take that as a negative? by chispito · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think the point is that it's not comparing Apple vs its competitors but Apple under Cook vs Apple under Jobs.

      So, comparing Apples to Apples.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
  2. Two things by jenningsthecat · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One, perhaps new products are reaching the point of diminishing returns, where it takes more and more effort for a seemingly incremental bit of progress, simply because the bar is already so high and we're already so close to the limits of what existing technologies can provide. Two, maybe Cook isn't the tyrant / asshole that Jobs is reputed to have been? If so, then it's a refreshing change from the 'at any cost' bullshit mentality that is sucking our souls dry and robbing our descendants of their chance at a good life here on Earth.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  3. Boohoo. by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 3, Interesting

    First-world problems are so tragic.

  4. Who cares, the new products aren't that great by Proudrooster · · Score: 2

    Seriously, the iPhone 7&8 are more of the same minus a headphone jack and two new expensive and easy to lose bluetooth devices that need charging called airpods.
    The new MacBook Pro is a step backward without any USB ports and a near useless touch bar.
    The new iMac is actually pretty sweet but at $5K+ I will be editing video on a Hackintosh.
    The new iPad Pro is pretty sweet but the price point is premium along with some Pro iPad Apps requiring a subscription instead of a one time purchase. The"Pro" gives away the fact that you are consumer with extra money.
    I am not sure what is up with the MacPro (2012 Diaper Genie) edition, but that is another innovation I can live without.
    The Apple watch is a solution in search of a problem, plus it gives you one more thing to charge each day.

    Until something new and amazing comes out, I will stick with the iPhone 6s (with headphone jack), MacBookPro 2013 (with USB ports and magsafe charger), and iPod 4th Gen (upgraded to 128GB of flash memory).

    If Apple wants to innovate try this:

    1. Create a phone that only needs to be charged once per week.
    2. Create Modular laptop called the Phat Book Pro that can be tweaked for the pro user, just make it fat on the bottom and that is where option hardware can live (extra battery, I/O ports, more storage, etc....)
    3. Reassign Johnny Ives to cafeteria lunch menu management at the new HQ and stop making everything so flat. Flat is cool to a point where I lose all useful ports.
    4. Make your products serviceable and upgradable. If we are going to pay double for your stuff, we want to cascade it to the next person on the family pecking order and being able to max out RAM, CPU, and Storage before the handoff is very nice.
    5. Maybe get really crazy and combine the iPad with the MacBookPro. Maybe even make them complimentary products like the iPad could be a portable second screen or integrated touch surface/drawing pad.
    6. If you are going to take all the ports and buttons off of the phone, it better be waterproof to 50ft.

    Instead we get...
    1. Magsafe power adapter ... Gone
    2. Headphone jack ... Gone
    3. USB 1,2,3 ports ... Gone
    4. Thunderbolt ... Gone
    5. Firewire ... Gone
    6. RAM ... soldering in, not upgradable
    7. SSD/M.2 storage .. soldered in, not upgradable
    8. CPUs .. soldered in, not upgradable
    9. Expensive iPhones with useless new features and missing old features.
    10. Bring back the iPod clickwheel and 8-Track Tapes, and get off my lawn.