Apple's Plans For Delaying Features To Focus On Security Detailed

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rgMekanic

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Last month we reported on how Apple plans to delay new iOS features to instead focus on security and performance. Today Bloomberg has detailed some of the upcoming plans. Instead of keeping to an annual schedule, Apple plans to focus on the next two years of iOS updates. While there will still be a yearly update, engineers will have more discretion to push back features that aren't as polished.

It's tough to say how this will affect Apple in the long term, especially if engineers get a little lazy and features start to get pushed further and further. I will say I think it's a good strategy overall I would rather wait for a finished product that have something that doesn't work pushed out to meet a deadline.

Finding a new balance between speed and quality will be tricky. On the one hand, spreading feature updates over a longer period could hurt Apple’s competitiveness in the fiercely contested smartphone market. On the other hand, sticking to what Troughton-Smith calls a “ruthlessly ambitious” upgrade cycle risks rushing out features before they’re ready and undermining Apple’s vaunted reputation for quality.
 
My opinion? Good strategy for security and overall reputation. I wish other companies would have such an image... However, the problem is with cell-phones pre-pubescent people have attention spans that span micro-seconds.. .That leads me to...

Bad strategy for attracting young and stupid millennials to purchase devices on-the-fly with pre-orders for mass market appeal.

Just my 2-cents though, I'm not an Apple investor so it doesn't matter to me.
 
Why are you using Archives today, instead of linking to the Bloomberg Article?
 
This is a long overdue move by Apple. They have had a lot of bugs that slipped through. Focus on quality, performance, and battery life. Xcode has nice tools to help with all of this.
I know someone that was working for Apple's development team (not sure if it was iOS or macOS) - he said it was crazy hours and a constant push. 80+ hour weeks were the norm.
I've done that kind of time before. For a while, you can do it and get stuff done. After a while, your productivity and creativity drop. You become a drone. After I did a few 80+ weeks and dropped down to 60, I felt like I was on vacation. I hope other software companies follow suit and focus on quality over features. (I also hope they really limit the 80 hour weeks - sheesh.)
Google did this a few years ago - they improved animation quality, battery life, etc for Android. It made a lot of sense and everyone in the Android world benefited.
The other thing - do we really need a crap load of new features every year? I just want something that works. Also, quit changing shit around. I get mad when something worked and you broke it.
 
Cyraxx said:
My opinion? Good strategy for security and overall reputation. I wish other companies would have such an image... However, the problem is with cell-phones pre-pubescent people have attention spans that span micro-seconds.. .That leads me to...

Bad strategy for attracting young and stupid millennials to purchase devices on-the-fly with pre-orders for mass market appeal.

Just my 2-cents though, I'm not an Apple investor so it doesn't matter to me.
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There’s a lot they can do hardware wise that would require little innovation that would attract folks back.

Namely - Give folks an updated SE with the latest hardware.

Maybe also offer more customization of the shell like a 5c, etc

I do think more and more folks are turning back to Apple anyways due to not wanting to give Google any revenue via Android.

So more hardware choices + improving iOS is about all they can do at this point to bring customers back. I think they kind of knew this anyways and the battery fiasco will hopefully bring the change.
 
I wish developers would go on a alternate performance/security then features type rollout.

Microsoft could do with a major release that just concentrates on performance/security. I have more than enough VR/3D Printing/Game Recording tools that I never use as it is.
 
daglesj said:
I wish developers would go on a alternate performance/security then features type rollout.

Microsoft could do with a major release that just concentrates on performance/security. I have more than enough VR/3D Printing/Game Recording tools that I never use as it is.
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I've been preaching the same since the first build updates start rolling out and screwing up various drivers. Every six months I cringe and then spend a month or two having to manually find drivers for various printers/devices at my job. Every time they brag about new features all I can think about is how long till someone discovers the new exploits those features have created.
 
lostin3d said:
I've been preaching the same since the first build updates start rolling out and screwing up various drivers. Every six months I cringe and then spend a month or two having to manually find drivers for various printers/devices at my job. Every time they brag about new features all I can think about is how long till someone discovers the new exploits those features have created.
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Yeah all of a sudden 4 customers of mine have major issues connecting to Seagate BlackArmor NAS boxes. They have worked solid for 6-8 years and now all of them are dropping on and off the network like crazy. All separate companies getting the same issue at the same time.


Now do we replace kit that's doing its job (or was) or wait for another 'agile' update fix in a week or four.
 
The iphone X release was a shitshow. The hardware was rushed, and the OS release to go with it was a steaming pile, likely because it was changing directions every 5 minutes to keep up with the moving target that was the X's hardware. Having an OS that didn't get solid TLC since what? version 7? probably didn't help. Making version 2 of the X a matured sequel without trying to stuff more crap in it, and polishing the OS to get along with that and their other product offerings without drama will likely make the next 3-5 years a lot smoother for them.
 
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