back to article Steve Jobs to supervise iPhone 6 FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

Apple designed the next two versions of the iPhone while Steve Jobs was alive, it has been claimed. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón was told by an Apple representative that the next two iPhone models "preceded Tim Cook", according to a report in The Examiner. He met with Apple’s government liaison Michael …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. jason 7
    Facepalm

    Wow so he knew about all the chip roadmaps.....

    ...etc. going back to 2010 (i'm sure in the last few months the aesthetics of the iPhone were far from his mind)!

    A true visionary!

    (coughs)BS

    Anything to keep the devoted thinking there is still a little 'Job's Magic' left in them.

    It's like Delboy's stock phrase to Rodney "You mum on her deathbed said to me........"

    1. Amorous Cowherder
      Happy

      Re: Wow so he knew about all the chip roadmaps.....

      Just what I was thinking when I saw the title. To quote Rodney from one episode, "Mum always had something to say on her deathbed Del. That woman must have done nothing but rabbit in her last few hours!".

    2. Steve Knox
      FAIL

      Re: Wow so he knew about all the chip roadmaps.....

      1. Chip roadmaps can extend decades into the future. Once you get past a few years, they become less reliable, but...

      2. As mentioned in the article, designs do begin several years before the products are actually built. At the beginning they might no't get into specific details, but are based on the current roadmaps' estimates of functionality. As the release date gets closer, features, functionality, and even the product/release date are adjusted to account for what actually has happened in the supply market.

      A perfect example of (2) is the iPhone 4S. Everyone was expecting the iPhone 5 with Siri, and Apple comes out with an updated 4 with Siri in beta only. Why? Because the anticipated battery life, CPU speed, economics of the larger screen, and development of Siri all came in behind schedule.

      Apple, Samsung, et al. live and die by keeping up with the bleeding edge of technology -- but design, prototyping, and testing can take years. So they have to design based on future specs, prototype with often half-baked silicon, and test on emulators to get the product out the door while it's still relevant.

      So, yes, SJ knew about the chip roadmaps as of 2010, and was actively involved in the first stages of design and development of products extending at least 5 years out. In the archives of any decent tech company there are designs for devices and feature sets we don't even know about simply because the roadmaps were off and the capabilities were either not there or were superseded by something even better.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Boffin

        Secret Jobs iPhone roadmap

        2012 - Attempt to send the entire population of Australia to their deaths in the desert with iOS maps app

        2012 - Tim Cook to apologize for attempting to send entire population of Australia to their deaths

        2012 - Tim Cook to recommend iPhone users switch to Google Maps

        2013 - Offer sub-par warranty service to customers in China

        2013 - Tim Cook to apologize to all of China for Apple's sub-par warranty services

        2013 - Tim Cook to recommend iPhone users in China switch to Android phones by Huawei to get better warranty service

    3. Lusty

      Re: Wow so he knew about all the chip roadmaps.....

      I don't see why he wouldn't have known the chip road maps a couple of years ahead. Especially since they are custom chips made for Apple, I'd have thought Arm would be very open with them.

    4. Snake Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Wow so he knew about all the chip roadmaps.....

      Agreed. What "Dead genius"? Steve Jobs never designed or build anything himself - he was a salesman and stylistic designer, not an engineer. And considering that his stylistic input were all, fundamentally, built on the design principles of others (Henry Dreyfuss' principles, for one, plus of course Xerox) even his stylistic endeavors can be reasonably called into question as being truly 'individualistic'.

      1. ItsNotMe
        WTF?

        Ahhh...@Snake...

        "...even his stylistic endeavors can be reasonably called into question as being truly 'individualistic'."

        Hold on now mister...EVERYONE knows Steve invented "round corners"...'bout damn time you realized it also.

        Me thinks you owe Dead Steve an apology.

        1. Snake Silver badge

          Re: Ahhh...@Snake...

          Only if I don't have to pay him licensing agreement fees for the rounded corners on my old composition note pads, after I "apologize" with a bat, that is.

      2. W.O.Frobozz

        Re: Wow so he knew about all the chip roadmaps.....

        Hey what, didn't you get that memo? It's officially "gush about Steve Jobs" season again, since everyone from Nolan Bushnell to the janitor at Steve Jobs' middle school is putting out dripping love letters about how genius the young Jobs was.

      3. ThomH

        Re: Wow so he knew about all the chip roadmaps..... (@Snake)

        A search for 'genius salesman' (no quotes) returns 'Apple - Jobs at Apple - Retail (us)' as the first hit. So maybe they are looking to get a more direct Steve replacement after all?

      4. toadwarrior
        FAIL

        Re: Wow so he knew about all the chip roadmaps.....

        So he was a designer but designed nothing? That's some great logic there. Are you 10 years old?

    5. Bob Vistakin
      Pint

      You're haunting it wrong

      Jobs: "Siri, can you guide me to the pearly gates please? Yes, using Google Maps of course."

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iPhone 6 and iPhone6s

    Just the same as the iPhone5 and 5s, just a little bit bigger and another row of icons...

    Great job steve.

    1. JetSetJim

      Re: iPhone 6 and iPhone6s

      perhaps an extra column, instead....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: iPhone 6 and iPhone6s

        Extra column- nah, too rad for Steve and not minimal enough for Jonathan.

    2. jason 7

      Re: iPhone 6 and iPhone6s

      I can just imagine Apple shoving every single design idea they had in front of his face in the last couple of days he was in the office, getting him to sign off every one of them so they could say there was a 'little bit of Steve's input' in them.

  3. Rampant Spaniel

    It's not entirely shocking that a company with one phone would have plans for a couple of generations ahead. You can see from google \ motorola that there is a significant amount of lead time and work will begin conceptually well in advance of that point as well. Apple is probably somewhat unique as it doesn't work as closely with carriers on design as others do. Apple builds largely what it wants whereas HTC will speak with networks (there was a video from sprint about the process somewhere on the interweb) to see what they think they need and take that into account to some degree. Quite how much work would have been done on an iphone 6 a year ago is debateable, it would most likely be 3d models and overall design and engineering goals rather than very specific technical details.

    As for phone thefts, I'm sure it helps sales. Whilst a national db of stolen phones may deter some level of theft, phones can have their imei's changed or just be sold abroad. It's not an excuse to do nothing, but any solution needs to be more than a token effort.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Like his coffin.

    Thin, sleek, black, and not much life in the battery.

    I would doubtlessly be more charitable, but he openly admitted he was a slag.

    "I gave my teacher hell [ and I allegedly stole from my business partner. ]"

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Handset manufacturers and network love stolen phones

    Otherwise the already existing ability to blacklist phones would have been used.

    1. Shades

      Re: Handset manufacturers and network love stolen phones

      Blacklisting is used, well, in the UK and Australia it is. All networks here (and in Oz) register the IMEI of reported lost/stolen phones with the CEIR, which then share the list of blacklisted IMEIs with the other networks. Whether or not someone can be bothered to report a lost/stolen phone (especially if its a cheapo PAYG handset with no insurance) and just chalk it up to stupidity/experience is a completely different matter.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Handset manufacturers and network love stolen phones

        It was years before UK operators et al started using the blacklist.

        And even then, phones blacklisted in one country can just be shipped to countries that don't use the list.

        If the system had been correctly rolled-out worldwide in the beginning then phone crime would have been a very minor problem.

        The US only started looking at doing this last year. (And only at a national level. )

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Handset manufacturers and network love stolen phones

        So, we are to infer that implementing the blacklist in the UK & Oz has dropped mobile phone thefts to zero? And carrier and handset company sales & profits are lower in those 2 countries because of this? And their shareholders & Board of Directors are asking, "WTF?"

        Puh-lease.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. Silver
    WTF?

    This is not unusual

    I've launched a few handsets in my time and there is absolutely nothing unusual in having a roadmap that goes out two years. Not all of the details my be finalised at that point, but that doesn't mean you don't have a good idea of where you want to go.

    Get yourself an NDA with any chipset manufacturer and you'll get two years of roadmap, reference designs, schematics and (if you're important enough) engineers will come onsite and help you get the thing working. All that effort takes time.

    Anyone who is remotely surprised by this has no experience in any kind of product development.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: This is not unusual

      We were told on our product design course that car manufacturers would have several design teams; working on the cars to be released in one, three and five years time. The constraints for phones are different, and the time-scales probably shorter, but yeah, there's nothing surprising here.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. jason 7

      Re: This is not unusual

      You are right it's not unusual but in this instance it does have an air of "Hmmmmm" about it.

      The guy was really ill for sometime and no matter what marketing BS they gave I bet his input was minimal for quite a while. If I was terminally ill with a family and several hundred million in the bank I know I'd rather be doing something else than discussing the whatnots of the 2015 iPhone 7. If he was working on that days before he died then that makes it all the sadder and weirder.

      The thing is I'm sure I read in a few place that the iPhone 5 was listed as the 'last Jobs mobe' or 'the 5 had little input from Jobs'.

      So if the next two STILL have input from him (really) I can only imagine it will be stretched out till at least the iPhone 9 by the time we get to the 7's release.

      And maybe even beyond.........

  7. Dana W

    oh yes, people are dumping iPhones for Windows phones all day long. SURE they are.....

    1. fishdog
      Meh

      oh yes, people are dumping iPhones for Windows phones all day long. SURE they are.....

      Sure they are: it says so, right there in the article ...

      "... as growing numbers of global smartphone users switch to Android or Windows phones."

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: oh yes, people are dumping iPhones for Windows phones all day long. SURE they are.....

        Which is wrong. Just because iOS market share in SMARTPHONES is decreasing doesn't mean that people are switching from Apple. Apple market share in the overall MOBILE phone market is still (slowly) growing. It's just that the smartphone market is growing very quickly these days thanks to the low end (since most of those who can afford a high end smartphone and want one already own one) and while Apple sells more phones in a given quarter than they did in the same quarter previously their growth rate is well below that of the smartphone market so their share of that market drops.

        1. Daniel B.

          Re: oh yes, people are dumping iPhones for Windows phones all day long. SURE they are.....

          While dumping iPhones for Winblows Phones is iffy at best, the iPhone->Android migration does seem to ring true. Not all iPhone users are fanbois, and those who aren't might actually switch for many reasons.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: oh yes, people are dumping iPhones for Windows phones all day long. SURE they are.....

            I wasn't saying there are no people leaving iPhone, just that the claim that iPhone is "losing share" is based on the idiotic obsession with looking at smartphone market share rather than mobile phone market share. In a few years there won't be a such thing as a feature phone, they'll all be smartphones.

            Almost all of those smartphones replacing feature phones will be low end Android devices so Android will continue to see its market share climb to nearly 90% - unless something else comes in on the low end like the FirefoxOS, or Samsung goes its own way with non-Android phones in significant numbers.

  8. Steve Evans

    Ummm...

    "Horace Dediu, who once worked for Nokia and now runs the Asymco consultancy, pointed out that long production cycles were normal in the industry."

    And we all know how well that Oil-Tanker of an R&D operation did against the competition don't we... Even under Microsoft's control, sorry, I mean Elop's, HTC released Windows based phones before Nokia.

    1. nichomach

      Re: Ummm...

      Perhaps, but Nokia's are a *lot* better.

  9. Ted Treen
    Facepalm

    And of course...

    ..any post - no matter how reasonable or sensible - which DOESN'T heap vitriol on Apple & Jobs collects a mass of downvotes.

    A clear sign that the teenies are not at school...

  10. wolfetone Silver badge
    FAIL

    iPhone Sales Point

    iPhone development has been stagnant for years, it's desperation to try and stick a "Designed by Jobs" label on to the new iPhones just to make consumers think they were designed by a visionary rather than a committee.

  11. ukgnome
    Trollface

    It is well known that Steve Jobs was into homoeopathy, so it's not unreasonable to state that a tiny part of Jobs is in every forthcoming device.

    ***If you actually believe that kind of bullshit!

    1. Geoff332

      If you take homeopathy seriously, then everything is (literally) diluted bullshit - which makes it more powerful.

    2. Kebabbert

      Homeopathy??

      ukgnome

      "...It is well known that Steve Jobs was into homoeopathy,..."

      Have you read the Steve Jobs Biography?? Jobs never mentioned homeopathy. Where did you hear this? Any links?

      In the book, it says that Steve was uncomfortable with someone cutting his body, that is the reason he did not want to undergo surgery. Also, Steve had a very strong will and a habit of ignoring problematic things. That is the reason he did wait for surgery. Nowhere it is said that Steve tried diets or homeopathy to battle his cancer. Steve was into diets, but he did that his whole life and it had nothing to do with cancer.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No wonder why iPhones are so far behind.

    They're trying to stretch Job's ideas as far as they can go before they run out.

  13. Philip Lewis

    Haters and cynics, diminishing difference

    Oh my, so many pathetic small minded haters in one spot. Rather sad that so many comments do nothing but heap vitriolic bile on someone who is no longer with us. And they do so while demonstrating that they are totally clueless about product development cycles.

  14. Lars Silver badge
    WTF?

    What ever we do

    is based on the society, education, prior art and so forth. Jobs was good at that, so what, I do give him credit.

    Bricking a stolen phone, I would consider a "no-brainer" so what is up and why.

  15. JaitcH
    Happy

    You can see it now, Ives and Cook, in the boardroom ...

    and they even have a Apple confidential manual for the process:

    1.Assemble the Cook, Ives and company. The number of participants must be divisible by three and, obviously, no fewer than three people should attempt the séance.

    2. Choose the medium amongst the participants.

    3. Either an oval or round table can be used. Some proponents suggest in the middle of the table should be placed some simple, natural aromatic food, such as fresh bread or soup, or Jobs favourite odour (money?).

    4. Illuminate three candles (or a number divisible by three), the better. Job will like warmth and light after being in the box for so long.

    5. Seated around the table equidistantly, the participants must all join hands.

    6. Summon Jobs. The participants must speak words together: "Our beloved Jobs, we bring you gifts from life into death. Commune with us, Jobs, and move among us." Wait for a response. If no rsponse, repeat the chant until the Jobs responds.

    7. If and when the Jobs responds, usually through the chosen medium - ask your questions. Basic, simple, first. Yes and no questions at first, one rap for no, two raps for yes, After Jobs finds his voice, you may ask any kind of question.

    8. If the séance seems to get out of hand, end the session by breaking the circle of hands, extinguishing the candles and turning on the lights. Jobs has no control!

    9. When you're done with your questioning, thank Jobs for joining you and tell him to go in peace. Break the circle of hands and extinguish the candles.

    1. Tom 35
      Coat

      Re: You can see it now, Ives and Cook, in the boardroom ...

      "Either an oval or round table can be used."

      Not rectangular with rounded corners?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You can see it now, Ives and Cook, in the boardroom ...

      One rap for no, two for yes. Even the iHereafter UI is in bad need of a refresh.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: You can see it now, Ives and Cook, in the boardroom ...

        "One rap for no, two for yes."

        In other words, single click or double-click.

  16. Wang N Staines

    sure sign

    of things are not going well over the garden wall - the last PR stunt on the day of the launch of the S4 and this desperation of design by Steve crap are a sure sign of shit hitting the proverbial at Apple.

  17. That Steve Guy
    Stop

    Apple still milking the cult of personality?

    Looks like Apple are still trying to boost their new device sales (and more importantly boosting their flagging share price) on the back of Job's personality cult.

    Old habits die hard I guess.

  18. Naughtyhorse
    Joke

    and...

    If it turns out the phone is shit....

    then you must be channeling it all wrong

    :-)

    1. John L Ward

      Re: and...

      Maybe they're using SpiritPad to get his design feedback...after all it is made by Mad Monkey Militia.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    of course it's "to stop theft".

    when a government finds it convenient and necessary to have a one-stop location for a communications kill-switch, the proper answer is always "NO!" regardless if it's "for the children" or not.

    Camera phones and the ability to realtime digital images and audio all over the world before government/corporate/etc can react is the biggest threat to the status quo since the printing press. Makes totalitarian regimes' fears of the fax machine pale in comparison.

    Besides, SF and most of CA law enforcement has shown almost zero interest in actually going after criminals when the GPS location of stolen smart devices is known and imagery of the perps is recorded. If concern of theft was truly the motivation of SF's ruling class, a campaign of perception showing "thou shalt not get away with it" (the 11th Commandment) using existing technology would be sufficient. But call in with the IMEI of your stolen phone, the GPS location of the device, and having some sort of audible alarm playing from your device and the police (under guidance from their political leadership) will be hard pressed to even take a report-and that's only for your insurance claim. Not to retrieve the device and make crime less profitable.

    Anonymous cuz the biggest threats to freedom are often those claiming the opposite ("Don't be evil!")

  20. Dadz
    Pirate

    stolen phones

    There's a great way for Apple to monetize stolen phones; license the OS per user, not per device. When you buy the phone you have to "activate" it; you get one free license. If you wipe, upgrade or jailbreak the phone you lose the license. The iPhone's carrier lock is already crytographically protected by Apple-controlled servers; you can't permanently unlock a phone without your carrier accessing Apple's servers; as soon as you upgrade the OS on the phone, the carrier lock is defeated. It's only a small extension of the carrier lock to a whole-phone lock.

    It's already done with used computer games. You have to pay $10 to "activate" certain used games for online play.

    1. Armando 123
      Big Brother

      Re: stolen phones

      Problem: iPhones are often handed down to poorer relations (such as children or those with an liberal arts degree) or resold, and charging more for "wiping" will make the iPhone even MORE expensive. Besides, that's treating the symptom, not the disease. They used to hang horse thieves, and I say it's high time we extend this to all thievery. Not that the politicans would do it, they'd essentially convict themselves ...

  21. Richard 45
    Thumb Down

    Re: 'Poll' position

    Will we shortly be told that Jobs' birth was heralded by a double rainbow and a shooting star in the sky? And that he scored 11 holes-in-one during his first and only round of golf?

    1. Rukario
      Joke

      11 holes-in-one?

      I heard it was 19.

      (Seeing as it's now 8:20 pm on the east coast of Canada...)

    2. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: 'Poll' position

      >Will we shortly be told that Jobs' birth was heralded by a double rainbow and a shooting star in the sky? And that he scored 11 holes-in-one during his first and only round of golf?

      Kim Jong Un is becoming the new Chuck Norris...

  22. ElReg!comments!Pierre

    "Competitors are nipping at the heels of the once unassailable Apple"

    You mean "Competitors massively outsell Apple and have been for quite a bit of time", surely?

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/15/idc_smartphone_sales/

    69 % of the market for Android vs 19 % for iOS is hardly "nipping at the heels" of Apple.

    Oh, and of course, if you want a single manufacturer:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/26/samsung_ships_two_smartphones_for_every_one_apple/

    1. gujiguju

      Re: "Competitors are nipping at the heels of the once unassailable Apple"

      Except in Economics 101, if you don't make any profit selling your widget, you will eventually go bankrupt.

      No company other than Apple & Samsung make any profits on their handsets. (And Apple's profits are 250% of Samsung, so you do the math...)

      It's hilarious to keep reading these comments about zero-profit, market share numbers. How will these company stay in the mobile business without any profits? (Maybe Microsoft can fun Nokia for another 5 years, but who else?) Only Apple, and to a lesser extent Samsung, have any non-zero profits...

      1. Gazman
        Stop

        Re: "Competitors are nipping at the heels of the once unassailable Apple"

        "No company other than Apple & Samsung make any profits on their handsets."

        EFSAP (Evidence for Sweeping Assertion, Please) as my Economics 101 lecturer used to scrawl on my essays...

  23. Neoc

    Hmmm...

    Now, I generally don't place myself in the middle of an Apple/Everyone-Else discussion but...

    ...it sounds like Apple is trying to spread the Jobs cachet over their products for as long as they can. Let's face it, Jobs *was* Apple in the public eye and his passing has robbed Apple of their biggest icon (pun intended).

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Marketing Gimmick via Rumour mill.

    Apple feeding the rumour mill, since, as we hear, there's gonna be a summer launch/upgrade cycle event and current sales are not too terrific.

    So if they start this, expect fanboys to start wetting their pants and queue up to empty their pockets. Nothing new here. Wont be anything revolutionary or groundbreaking.

    I can imagine the advertsing headlines " Designed by Steve when alive", "In memory of Steve", "St. Jobs last wish" , "Steve's wettest dream", "will make your coffee the way Steve liked it" etc.

    Just like when Sony milked James bond since Olympic days "As preferred by James bond". WTF ?

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like