It has been three years since Steve passed.
As we today look at our iPhone 6es, our iPad Airs, our new Mac Pros and wait longingly for the Apple Watch, do we remember Apple as the behemoth that bought Beats, stepped repeatedly on tiny has-been Microsoft, and shows the finger to Google? Or is Apple still The Company that Steve Built?
Today Apple is moving at a pace that it has never done before, hiring superstar designers and ex-CEOs at breakneck speeds, and trying to “enter its next chapter” with new product categories – all while forgetting that software excellence can’t scale well.
iOS 7 and 8 looks great and comes with even greater power (to developers), but not a single version of either was as stable as any of the iOSes before it. Ditto OS X and iWork apps. iLife is not even in existence anymore, with iPhoto canned and iMovie and Garageband degraded in order to sell more Logic and FCX.
When former software chief (and arguably software genius) was fired in 2012, most of his software lieutenants eventually left Apple as well, and despite Hair Force One (Craig Federighi)being a great sport, a superb presenter, the quality of Apple’s software under him never did return to what it used to be.
Surrounding himself with superstar designers and ex-CEOs is probably a good thing for Tim Cook, but please do not forget about software. Apple’s software is the reason why Apple’s hardware can shine, remember Steve once saying “People who are serious about software should make their own hardware”(that’s from Alan Kay by the way) during the iPhone keynote? It is no use making your own hardware great if you are not serious about your software in the first place.
We are not looking at you to make Apple way greater than it already is, we just hope that you keep it afloat and working, and not turn it into another Microsoft, Tim.
Let us keep Steve’s legacy alive.