Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Apple's 'Fanatical' Attention to Detail Revealed in Apple Campus 2 Report
Reuters on Tuesday published a revealing insider report on the Steve Jobs-approved design and ongoing construction of Apple's new "spaceship" campus in Cupertino, California, which is expected to be finished this spring.
The write-up draws from interviews with nearly two dozen current and former workers involved in the $5 billion project, and focuses on the "fanatical" attention to detail demanded by Apple managers throughout the development which is said to have delayed the original 2016 completion date.
According to the report, Apple's in-house construction team enforced many strict rules. For instance, no vents or pipes could be reflected in the surrounding structures, despite the fact that the campus features the world's largest single pane of curved glass.
In another example of the stringent demands that construction workers were subject to, the guidelines for the special wood used throughout the building is said to have run to some 30 pages.
The article ends with an anecdote about the back and forth between construction workers and Apple managers over the design of a door handle for offices and meeting rooms. Discussions apparently went on for a year and a half – the door handle is reportedly still unfinished to this day.
You can read the full Reuters report here, and be sure to check out the recent drone footage of the Apple Campus 2 construction site we featured late last month.
The write-up draws from interviews with nearly two dozen current and former workers involved in the $5 billion project, and focuses on the "fanatical" attention to detail demanded by Apple managers throughout the development which is said to have delayed the original 2016 completion date.
According to the report, Apple's in-house construction team enforced many strict rules. For instance, no vents or pipes could be reflected in the surrounding structures, despite the fact that the campus features the world's largest single pane of curved glass.
In another example of the stringent demands that construction workers were subject to, the guidelines for the special wood used throughout the building is said to have run to some 30 pages.
Tolerances, the distance materials may deviate from desired measurements, were a particular focus. On many projects, the standard is 1/8 of an inch at best; Apple often demanded far less, even for hidden surfaces.According to architect German de la Torre, who worked on the project, many of the building's proportions were directly inspired by Apple products, from the curve of a rounded corner, to the elevator buttons, which struck some workers as resembling the iPhone's home button.
The company's keen design sense enhanced the project, but its expectations sometimes clashed with construction realities, a former architect said.
"With phones, you can build to very, very minute tolerances," he said. "You would never design to that level of tolerance on a building. Your doors would jam."
One of the most vexing features was the doorways, which Apple wanted to be perfectly flat, with no threshold. The construction team pushed back, but Apple held firm.This obsession with minute features is said to have set back other parts of the project. For example, Apple wanted all the building's signage to reflect a sleek minimal aesthetic, but the emergency services' overriding concern was to ensure the property could be easily navigated if they were called to an incident. Discussions on the topic are said to have extended to 15 meetings with fire department representatives.
The rationale? If engineers had to adjust their gait while entering the building, they risked distraction from their work, according to a former construction manager.
"We spent months trying not to do that because that's time, money and stuff that's never been done before," the former construction manager said.
The article ends with an anecdote about the back and forth between construction workers and Apple managers over the design of a door handle for offices and meeting rooms. Discussions apparently went on for a year and a half – the door handle is reportedly still unfinished to this day.
You can read the full Reuters report here, and be sure to check out the recent drone footage of the Apple Campus 2 construction site we featured late last month.
Tag: Apple Park
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34 months ago
If only they had the same attention to detail for their own products. It's been months now that I cannot simply turn on Bluetooth on my iPhone without the need to redo it two or three times because it simply doesn't work the first time. There are many, many othere examples of obvious bugs that go unrepaired for far too long.
34 months ago
If only they had the same attention to detail for their own products. It's been months now that I cannot simply turn on Bluetooth on my iPhone without the need to redo it two or three times because it simply doesn't work the first time. There are many, many othere examples of obvious bugs that go unrepaired for far too long.
And most people don't have that problem. Therefore you should probably get your phone repaired.
34 months ago
If only they had the same attention to detail for their own products.
I came here to post this exact sentence.
34 months ago
But that doesn't negate my general point: attention to detail in Apple products is often lacking.
It absolutely does negate it. How old is your phone? A few years old? Brand new? What would 'attention to detail' help with a strange Bluetooth issue a few years after purchasing? If it's brand new, then you could just get a replacement from Apple.
Attention to detail in Apple products is frankly the best in the industry. I work for a reseller and the sheer volume of junk PCs and junk phones/tablets that I see and have tried are astonishing. If people have any perspective or knowledge on what you get from other OEMs, I honestly can't see how people come to the conclusion that you have.
That's not to say an Apple product is the absolute best you can always buy. But they're a far cry from being anything less than pretty damn good. And certainly they're leaps and bounds above the Fisher-Price criticisms that get flung around here.
34 months ago
If only they had the same attention to detail for their own products. It's been months now that I cannot simply turn on Bluetooth on my iPhone without the need to redo it two or three times because it simply doesn't work the first time. There are many, many othere examples of obvious bugs that go unrepaired for far too long.
Of course the same person responsible for fixing bugs in iOS is also in charge of supervising construction of the new campus.
34 months ago
Why even bother with this when they are going to make the Campus 2S thinner...
34 months ago
"With phones, you can build to very, very minute tolerances," he said. "You would never design to that level of tolerance on a building. Your doors would jam."
I hope the construction engineers won this particular argument. If not, there are going to be a ton of pissed off employees either stuck in offices or unable to enter an office. All buildings have "wiggle room" because they behave like a living, breathing organism. Expansion, contraction, and shift are all parts of the "life" of a building. It's good to push boundaries, that's how we get progress. But sometimes, you gotta know which boundaries to push. That particular boundary ain't the one.
I hope the construction engineers won this particular argument. If not, there are going to be a ton of pissed off employees either stuck in offices or unable to enter an office. All buildings have "wiggle room" because they behave like a living, breathing organism. Expansion, contraction, and shift are all parts of the "life" of a building. It's good to push boundaries, that's how we get progress. But sometimes, you gotta know which boundaries to push. That particular boundary ain't the one.
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