Steve Jobs, the late CEO of Apple was a free thinker and indisputably a genius. Known for his Zen Buddhist spirituality and his eye for design, Jobs believed that form should follow function.
Apple has changed quite a lot since Steve Jobs formed the ideals that influenced the company’s beginnings. The Balance shares a Steve Jobs quote from before iPhones or iPads.
“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”
iPhone and iPad now dominate the thoughts of Apple engineers, but in the beginning, Apple/Mac was about all sorts of proprietary innovations that were not compatible with IBM PCs. Macintosh had its own separate operating system for PCs. This evolved into the current iOS for iPhone 7.
Steve Jobs was always on the cutting edge of technology and design. In those days, Apple was carving new frontiers and everything was about innovation by design. Slideshare quotes Steve Jobs.
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Father of the iPhone and iPad, Steve Jobs founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976, according to Bio. Jobs took a decade-long hiatus from the company in 1985 but later returned to head Apple and create iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Until his death in 2011, Steve Jobs led a cutting-edge technology company, founded on Steve Job’s vision.
The iPhone has dominated Apple technology since Steve Jobs death. Various upgrades to Steve Jobs’ iPhone and iPad innovations have not been the product of group thought, but rather solitary workers, busy with different aspects of the project, feeding their results into a central management.
iPhones, though, have gotten boring, according to Steve Jobs’ proteges. Scores of top Apple engineers grew tired of secrecy and a lack of team efforts. Apple kept secrets even among their own staff. iPhone engineers, though working on related iPhone projects, could not exchange ideas or even discuss their own projects with one another. This led to discontent.
Seven-year Apple iPhone veteran Rishabh Bhargava, who used to work on various iPhone projects but left Apple Corporation for Pearl, explained his dissatisfaction with the iPhone makers to the New York Times.
“At Apple, there are a few people in the company that decide what needs to be done, and everyone else is executing. Rarely do you get the chance to be the people that decide the problems that need to be solved.”
Apple is losing talent to a new company called Pearl, who work with technological upgrades for cars. More than 50 former iPhone, iPad and iPod engineers now work for the 80-employee Pearl company.
Former Apple engineer Bryson Gardner, who spent seven years developing iPod and iPhone, explains what he likes about Pearl.
“We are looking to decentralize the decision-making. We want to grow a bunch of leaders in our company.”
Perhaps Apple engineers, tired of endlessly tweaking iPhone technology, are truly representative of Steve Jobs’ free and innovative spirit. Jobs dropped out of college to follow his heart and forge his own path.
Later, Steve Jobs left the country to explore spirituality in India as explained in the Inquisitr. Steve even left Apple for over 10 years, though some say he was pushed out.
Today former Apple engineers embark on a new project. Pearl is creating electronic safety features for existing vehicles. While Tesla works to create the cars of the future, Pearl works to give existing cars some of the same advantages.
The former Apple engineers working for Pearl are trying to make life better and safer for ordinary people. Their work for Pearl is far different than simply tweaking iPhones. They are inventing. The current Pearl projects include rear view backup cameras called rear vision that hide away under the license plate and self-parking features.
Initially Apple Corp. wanted to create a car called Titan to compete with Tesla, but opted out in the end. Then Pearl took on a life of its own apparently as the Steve Jobs fledglings left the nest to form a new automotive tech company.
Former iPhone engineer Brian Sander, now working for Pearl, explains how Pearl hopes to help drivers. Are Steve Jobs values reflected in his words?
“Adding safety features to the cars on the road today is a way to make them more useful. We want to help people to modernize their cars without having to buy a new one.”
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Apple Corporation wishes Pearl Auto great success. Far from being angry or frustrated with Pearl’s recruitment of their engineers, they admire the work being done at Pearl. Apple spokesman John Rosenstock explained Apple Corporation’s position to the New York Times.
“Pearl Auto is a great example of the creativity and innovation driving the iPhone ecosystem. We wish them great success with their new product.”
Apple Corporation, maker of the iPhone, harbors no ill will towards Pearl as they quest for new innovations in the spirit of Steve Jobs.
[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]