The devil is in the details | Hacker News Reader

The devil is in the details

tnl.net

Where is Steve Jobs?

Two years ago, the iPhone 4 was released and users quickly experienced issues with the antenna built directly into the case. The furor prompted Apple to publicly apologize for the mistake and offer some quick fix to deal with an offering that wasn’t fully there yet.

[...]

In journalism, there is a rule of 3s: 3 similar events are generally seen as making up a trend. So it appears that, with the last 3 releases, Apple has had at least one major issue. In the old Steve Jobs days, products weren’t released until they were considered good enough; in the post Steve Jobs era, it appears that this form of quality control may be suffering.

This article is tripe. Steve Jobs was front and centre at the public event explaining the antenna issues with the iPhone 4 and he was certainly involved heavily in its development. To use it as an example of Apple faltering without him is just ridiculous.

It's a shame, because the Maps update Apple shipped with iOS6 is definitely two steps backward and that's worth talking about, but it's hard to take someone seriously when they start off with something stupid like that.

Edit: minor formatting

At the time of Antennagate, Steve Jobs was already sick and more removed from daily operations. In fact, he was ridiculed for initially claiming that you should hold the phone in a different way.

That's why I argue that the shift started then.

The question should be whether Apple is repeating history once again with a closed operating system and closed hardware. The fact that any hardware maker could use Windows led to Microsoft's dominance in the 90s, and it is roughly the same strategy that Google is following with Android. If Apple continues with missteps like the new maps, it will find itself in the same situation it was in ~15 years ago.

Am I really the first comment? I have beaten the cultish defenders of Apple? Is it because Apple is not in the title?

I will steal their fire: This guy is wrong. He's wrong. He's just wrong. Blah, blah, blah.

OK, now that we have that out of the way, we can hear from persons outside the Apple cult. :)

I second you.

I LOL'd at "...calling Apple an innovator may be a bit of a stretch".

How dare he say that? :)

No stretch is too much for the Reality Distortion Field. We can invent a new reality. We are Apple. Watch as we make the complaints disappear. Poof!

See? Apple does have NFC after all. Just the 'F' isn't quite the type of field that most people think it is :)

Considering the blog post's title, it sure does make some sweeping generalisations.

Why on earth is this on the front page?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com