Apple"s Mac Studio Wachiwit/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Ten years ago, I posted an article on SA titled The Void Within Apple , in which I pointed out that the death of Steve Jobs had left a vacancy at Apple Inc. ( AAPL ), the Product Architect, which hadn’t been filled. Arguably, it never really has been, as demonstrated by various product misfires over the years, such as the cylindrical Ma...
Apple"s Mac Studio Wachiwit/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Ten years ago, I posted an article on SA titled The Void Within Apple , in which I pointed out that the death of Steve Jobs had left a vacancy at Apple Inc. ( AAPL ), the Product Architect, which hadn’t been filled. Arguably, it never really has been, as demonstrated by various product misfires over the years, such as the cylindrical Mac Pro and the Apple Vision Pro. Apple has mainly succeeded in carrying forward Jobs’s vision, as in Apple Silicon. But AI arrived too late to enter into Jobs’s long-range thinking, and now a new void has emerged at Apple: the AI Architect. Apple's product struggles after Jobs First, let me recap what I mean by a Product Architect, as I wrote ten years ago: Product architects are generalists, not specialists. They may have a technical or engineering background, but they also have a wide range of interests beyond that. The key role of the product architect is to figure out how to turn innovative technologies into successful products. First and foremost, there has to be an understanding that innovative technology doesn't guarantee a successful product. Products that feature innovation for its own sake often fail in the marketplace, because they don't address a need of the consumer. On the other hand, product architecting is not simply a matter of doing a market survey, asking consumers what they need, and then giving it to them. Invariably, such surveys fail to identify unmet needs or opportunities for new technologies to create needs where none existed. The ability of Steve Jobs to see the product nascent in a lab experiment was his true genius, but he also had the ability to guide product development efforts (such as the development of the Mac, iPod, iPhone, etc.), making crucial technology decisions along the way. I think Jony Ive was intended to assume that role, and he may even have thought he was doing that. But when I look back on the products developed during his tenur...
Apple"s Mac Studio Wachiwit/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Ten years ago, I posted an article on SA titled The Void Within Apple , in which I pointed out that the death of Steve Jobs had left a vacancy at Apple Inc. ( AAPL ), the Product Architect, which hadn’t been filled. Arguably, it never really has been, as demonstrated by various product misfires over the years, such as the cylindrical Ma...
Apple"s Mac Studio Wachiwit/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Ten years ago, I posted an article on SA titled The Void Within Apple , in which I pointed out that the death of Steve Jobs had left a vacancy at Apple Inc. ( AAPL ), the Product Architect, which hadn’t been filled. Arguably, it never really has been, as demonstrated by various product misfires over the years, such as the cylindrical Mac Pro and the Apple Vision Pro. Apple has mainly succeeded in carrying forward Jobs’s vision, as in Apple Silicon. But AI arrived too late to enter into Jobs’s long-range thinking, and now a new void has emerged at Apple: the AI Architect. Apple's product struggles after Jobs First, let me recap what I mean by a Product Architect, as I wrote ten years ago: Product architects are generalists, not specialists. They may have a technical or engineering background, but they also have a wide range of interests beyond that. The key role of the product architect is to figure out how to turn innovative technologies into successful products. First and foremost, there has to be an understanding that innovative technology doesn't guarantee a successful product. Products that feature innovation for its own sake often fail in the marketplace, because they don't address a need of the consumer. On the other hand, product architecting is not simply a matter of doing a market survey, asking consumers what they need, and then giving it to them. Invariably, such surveys fail to identify unmet needs or opportunities for new technologies to create needs where none existed. The ability of Steve Jobs to see the product nascent in a lab experiment was his true genius, but he also had the ability to guide product development efforts (such as the development of the Mac, iPod, iPhone, etc.), making crucial technology decisions along the way. I think Jony Ive was intended to assume that role, and he may even have thought he was doing that. But when I look back on the products developed during his tenur...
Iran is continuing to load millions of barrels of oil onto supertankers, an activity that will only become increasingly difficult if the US keeps up a blockade on Tehran’s shipping. Images from the European Union’s Sentinel 1 satellite, captured on Monday, show one very large crude carrier that’s capable of hauling about 2 million barrels of oil, moored at the jetty on Kharg Island. An earlier ima...
Iran is continuing to load millions of barrels of oil onto supertankers, an activity that will only become increasingly difficult if the US keeps up a blockade on Tehran’s shipping. Images from the European Union’s Sentinel 1 satellite, captured on Monday, show one very large crude carrier that’s capable of hauling about 2 million barrels of oil, moored at the jetty on Kharg Island. An earlier image from Saturday showed no ships moored at Kharg. With no evidence of large volumes of oil circumventing the US blockade, the loaded crude is likely filling up tankers Iran has available in the region. Monday’s image shows 13 ships, most of them VLCCs, anchored to the east of the island. An image from the day before the blockade started on April 13 shows about half that number. The US said its maritime barrier in the Sea of Oman has stopped almost three dozen Iranian vessels from passing, keeping crude from the Islamic Republic reaching customers. As President Donald Trump’s administration tries to slash oil revenue that’s crucial for Iran, market watchers are looking for evidence on how long Tehran can maintain production. Iran has attempted several times to break the American blockade. The US Navy says it intercepted at least two supertankers in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea this week. It has forced those and other ships to turn around and head to an Iranian port, with a build-up of oil tankers and other vessels seen off the Iranian port of Chabahar, close to the border with Pakistan. US forces also boarded a tanker called Majestic X that was carrying Iranian oil in the Indian Ocean this week, days after targeting the Tifani carrier when it was mid-way between Sri Lanka and the Strait of Malacca. Both vessels are sanctioned by the US and their seizures show the blockade is extending far beyond the Gulf of Oman. Iran has been the only major oil exporter out of the Persian Gulf since the war in the Middle East started in late February, after Tehran effectively closed...