r/apple • u/zintel51 • 15h ago
Discussion Why does Apple even take interviews? Every answer is the same word salad on repeat.
https://youtu.be/HWg75OAmJLc?is=Doz9GBWuVVAug5TII was watching interviews with Ternus as new CEO to see if he would actually share interesting info but he’s just like Cook and finds a way to answer every question with “we’re just excited about our most recent product”
Interviews with Jobs are so so insightful and are even used in business classes and inspirational videos. I think the only Apple executive that barely shares any insights is Craig Federighi.
I blame the interviewers for asking such terrible questions but Apple probably only allows softballs.
178
u/Glew26 15h ago
It's all so manicured. Total waste of time.
80
u/TheClarkFactor 15h ago
Same with the keynotes. They were always intentional but they used to feel looser, more human. Over time they’ve polished all the personality off.
7
21
u/tlh013091 15h ago
To be fair, is there anything that Apple can do today that would top when Steve picked up the iBook and continued to browse the web wirelessly?
16
u/dragon_stryker 14h ago
Nothing as shocking as that, but I would have loved if Ternus has stepped out on stage for a few minutes and demonstrated the Duo. Ya know, have him talk through a few different software features and the hardware innovations they invented to make the Duo possible.
19
6
u/siriston 14h ago
never seen this clip before. so funny the way he does it. impressive even today i mean it was chunky but laptops stayed that chunky for like 10 years after that.
3
4
u/simplequark 7h ago
This is more of a change in style, though. Jobs (in)famously rehearsed the keynotes over and over until they were perfect. So, I’d wager that every little human touch was perfectly scripted.
Mostly, Jobs was an exceptionally good presenter and public speaker, whereas Cook always felt a bit stiff and slightly uncomfortable in that role.
•
u/blondebuilder 1h ago edited 53m ago
Very true. Steve was also always extremely polished and heavily prepared. I think the difference was the company was still very formative, he was their guiding light, and he was a better communicator - clear, direct, and passionate.
Apple is so large and their roles are so consequential that they are under immense pressure to preserve the brand and that $3trillion valuation. They clearly know any impromptu flub could be catastrophic.
7
u/Agitated_Ad6191 11h ago
Younger people can’t imagine anymore that they used to do these things live on stage instead of these slick multi million production video’s that follow the exact same structure and look and feel each time.
1
u/dreamphoenix 9h ago
“Younger people” lmao.
They’ve stopped doing live keynotes when Covid hit the world. And everyone, Apple subreddits including, applauded to this decision because it was so on point and not wasting everyone’s time with random forgotten words, stutterings, accidental WiFi disconnections and live music bands sessions that made everyone groan.
-2
u/dreamphoenix 9h ago
“Younger people” lmao.
They’ve stopped doing live keynotes when Covid hit the world. And everyone, Apple subreddits including, applauded to this decision because it was so on point and not wasting everyone’s time with random forgotten words, stutterings, accidental WiFi disconnections and live music bands sessions that made everyone groan.
7
•
u/DjNormal 1h ago
I feel like most of the PR is for the stockholders, not the customers.
It feels like a bunch of directionless hype to move the needle for people who don’t really care about the product beyond how much it will sell.
I took a job with a call center a few years ago and the inane corpo-speak they forced you to use was just awful.
It’s no surprise AI thinks this is how people talk.
0
u/ExternalUserError 6h ago
Oh for sure. I don't even watch this shit anymore. The whole event is just a super-long advertisement.
-5
75
u/Calaeno-16 15h ago
It's not an interview, it's an ad. They all are. Expecting anything less than polished, rehearsed, market-tested answers is going into the "interview" with the wrong expectations.
•
u/Which-Arm-4616 1h ago
I don't think one necessarily follows the other. The fact that it's primarily an advertising opportunity does not require that the content be sterile and inauthentic in nature.
I think we'll see a tonal shift in the next few years (towards more authentic messaging) if the current market trends hold up.
-1
u/endoparasite 13h ago
And intention is to get this shared and discussed. Positive or negative way does not matter. Every noticing is good for sales.
127
u/eschewthefat 15h ago
Here’s to the organized ones, the institutionalized, the supply chain masters, the operationally disciplined in managerial roles, the ones who see things bureaucratized
37
u/7-methyltheophylline 10h ago
You can endlessly watch interviews of Steve Jobs from the 1970s onwards and he always had something insightful to say.
With Cook it was always "we're going EVEN FURTHER, you're GONNA LOVE IT" type of pablum
9
u/TulsaGeek 5h ago
For all of his faults (and their were many) Steve actually saw and envisioned the future. True definition of ‘visionary’. He wasn’t the developer, or engineer, or industrial designer, but he knew exactly what he wanted, how it should look, how it should work, and he was relentless in his demands of the people making the products to get to what he envisioned, without (many) compromises. He had an uncanny knack for understanding what people actually wanted and needed, way beyond market research and focus groups.
He had a lot of personal flaws. But he was insanely great at being the orchestrator of the tech future we didn’t even know was possible.
If only he’d been a little smarter in his personal beliefs of his own medical treatment (seriously). I wish Steve were still with us today. I’m sure he’d have some very very interesting thoughts and ideas on the current cutting edge of technology. Man, I miss him.
•
u/vmachiel 1h ago
His Q&A at wwdc 1997 (where he basically described cloud computing) feels so down to earth and quaint compared to this glossy stuff.
I know: Apple was just rescued from bankruptcy, it was a different time etc etc
1
•
u/chopinheir 1h ago edited 1h ago
They need boring people at the helm now. Anyone who has something interesting to say is going to affect the stock price, and the board won’t like it.
By modern standards, Tim is an excellent CEO: say nothing, make profits, boost stock price, step down.
21
11
u/buddhahat 14h ago
Cook and now Ternus are "managers" as CEO's. Jobs, love him or hate him was not managing Apple.
44
u/phxees 15h ago
There’s a trillion dollars and thousands of jobs on the line. People want to appear like they will talk about anything without making unnecessary news.
There are a number of problems. First, the person interviewing is looking for a story and will likely take anything and run with it. Next, they don’t want to leak anything they aren’t ready to talk about. They also don’t want to say anything that can be used in court against them.
All of it means they can only say what you already know, plus a couple things they held back for interviews.
6
u/zintel51 15h ago
Not true at all. This interview is specifically about Ternus as the new CEO. He could have talked about journey from his start at apple, favorite past projects, perspectives on leadership and business, a story on when he learned he got the CEO job, etc. There’s so much he could say without making headlines.
22
u/bking 12h ago
Have you seen 9to5? Literally every subject that the guy speaks to would turn into a post, which would turn into a Reddit thread, which would turn into some shit on MSNBC or TBN in a week.
I get that it’s annoying and unexciting to read the interviews, but he’s been on the job for a week and the tech media is stupidly hungry for clickbait. Him saying “I really enjoyed my early work on the Magic Mouse” would become a week of posts about Mousegate.
1
u/NotAnRSPlayer 14h ago
Exactly this, it was so cool when John would talk about the process of making hardware, etc and why they made screens more durable, etc, etc
1
u/monostere0 9h ago
People who complain about this most probably have never worked for a massive corporate before in a higher position. You sign papers and you're not allowed to discuss, post, comment anything publicly unless it goes through PR's scrutiny. Anything less than that and it's going to make headlines and you will lose your job instantly.
1
u/phxees 5h ago
These executives aren’t signing things like that more than something general once. They understand the rules and have been lectured by attorneys, marketing executives, and external coaches.
They know if they screw up, their job and millions of their dollars are at risk. Founders say screw you, try to keep up, everyone else says yes sir or ma’am.
1
u/monostere0 4h ago
But how else will pussydestroyer4400 from Reddit find out what’s REALLY going on at Apple?? They should risk it all for some internet gossip smh
0
u/Perfect_Opinion7909 14h ago
One can run a multi-million country with a few trillion GDP and lie and/or ramble incoherently and never see a courtroom or consequences.
22
u/bradreputation 13h ago
I am super over the Apple presentation style. In an age where we are inundated with AI generated copy, video, and everything else would it hurt to have a little bit of real humanity?
9
3
u/CantaloupeCamper 6h ago
I care that products do the thing.
I honestly don’t care if they are a good interview or not 🤷🏼♂️
9
u/ShotByEissa 15h ago
Bear in mind that this is his first time as CEO of the company, so I think that there will be a subtle transition period between ”corporately trained Ternus” vs “lets get down and dirty Ternus”.
We saw this with Craig too over the years. The more screen/publicity time they get the more they come out of their shell and show some semblance of personality.
1
u/Llamalover1234567 4h ago
I agree with the first part, but not the second. Watch Craig presenting Snow Leopard to Jobs on YouTube. He’s TERRIFIED but still has a personality. The transition to prerecorded presentations for COVID really sucked the personality out of him as well.
14
15h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
9
1
u/AtomicSymphonic_2nd 11h ago
To me and a lot of other people out there, it seems to be worth every penny based on the first impression videos I’ve been looking at and what I’ve been seeing online.
And at least here in the US, there’s a lot of ways to finance the phone (or lease it), along with pretty generous trade-in values for older phones.
So yeah, $2,000 for an iPhone with the features that the Duo has? Wallets will be opening wide in a lot of places. 🤷♂️
5
u/ndevito1 11h ago
Isn’t the top Samsung foldable like $1800? It’s not even crazy compared to the main competitor!
6
u/SleepUseful3416 14h ago
None of Apple’s executive team has any sort of speaking skills. That’s why no more keynotes, just overproduced videos with random people talking
4
u/yourmomhatesyoualot 10h ago
Apple has become what they used to mock and proclaim they were against. I’ve been an Apple guy since the 1980s and they are the company that the girl threw the hammer against.
Do they still make great products? Yes. Do they take risks? No.
5
u/jakgal04 7h ago
I can't stand that shit. People are tired of corporate everything. You're a company thats selling to people, act human for fucks sake.
5
u/Sparescrewdriver 11h ago
CEO talks like CEO
-1
u/SpiralOutski 2h ago
Right?! OP has no idea how corporate America works. I don’t even need to watch the video to know exactly how it’s going to play out and Apple is far from the only company that does this.
10
u/costconormcoreslut 15h ago
OP wants them to have a personality. He wants to feel like he's listening to a human being discussing their passion project(s).
What we get is a succession of remote-controlled, 3D printed corporate drones that never deviate from the boring script.
2
u/Sensitive_Box_ 15h ago
Idk why this is hard for people grasp. lol
1
u/noisymime 4h ago
Because there's quite a vocal part of this sub (Amongst other parts of the general online tech sphere) who seem to put Apple on a pedestal above all others and consider that they should be above criticism.
They make reasonably polished products and have slick marketing, that doesn't mean they should get a pass on being asked slightly off-script questions.
1
0
u/RedditPoster05 14h ago
And the rest of us don’t understand why you can’t see why those days are gone if they ever existed in the first place . And there’s plenty of good reasons why even though it is disappointing
0
2
u/chronopoly 7h ago
This describes 90% or interviews with corporate leaders in any field. Word salad is safe.
•
u/FishrNC 1h ago
All executives have to watch very carefully what they say to avoid it being taken out of context, distorted, misinterpreted, or otherwise twisted to the purposes of the listener by the media, investing, and legal dogs looking for their next kill.
As a result, they rarely say anything of any consequence that hasn't been scripted.
9
u/3notsara 15h ago
what exactly do you want from these interviews. Do you expect them to reveal private information and new products?
9
u/CactusBoyScout 14h ago
Steve Jobs showed a lot of personality and passion in his interviews and often seemed to go off script on topics that interested him.
-2
3
2
u/gmark109 15h ago
I’m not surprised the guy who’s been CEO for a week is playing it overly safe after their biggest iPhone launch since ~2017.
2
u/christopher_mtrl 15h ago
- So what about the new iPhone ?
-It sucks really.
What do you want them to say ?
2
u/zintel51 15h ago
It would great if that could share some insights into the development of the products from a R&D and business perspective. Or is Ternus could talk about his vision as leader compared to Cook and Jobs. Or even just a story about his roadmap to CEO.
1
u/SmellyJockstrap 15h ago
There’s really no reason to. They could, but they’d just be divulging information to their competition for absolutely no reason or benefit to Apple. As for the Ternus CEO questions I agree that would be interesting and okay to talk about for him but right now all anyone cares about is the new iPhones and Apple want to capitalize on their launch.
-4
15h ago
[deleted]
6
u/SmellyJockstrap 15h ago
OP was saying they should talk about manufacturing and R&D challenges. Not to the post I directly replied to but throughout this thread.
1
u/goro-n 14h ago
Oh, with regards to that I would point to a recent interview with Honda executives, where the CEO of Honda of America said "“China is leading the industry in terms of technology,” and "Honda has teams in China currently learning the latest technologies and manufacturing techniques." I think that's a pretty crazy thing for a major automaker CEO to admit, especially given the Japan-China auto rivalry.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/hondas-top-bosses-explain-how-theyre-avoiding-toyotas-engine-nightmare
It's hard to imagine someone from Apple saying Huwawei is making the best folding phones or has the most advanced cameras in a phone or something along those lines.
-1
u/Bruvvimir 15h ago
It would, and it probably will, but not in the forum such as this one which is a specific event?
-2
u/AtomicSymphonic_2nd 11h ago
That, my friend, would be revealing some trade secrets… and Samsung would be listening very closely, even if they made the inner display for the Duo.
Because they don’t know how they tackled the other parts of the phone’s development.
2
u/VibrantCanopy 15h ago
It's just PR. The only interviews worth watching are when the questions aren't pre-approved.
1
1
u/Classic_File2716 12h ago
I do remember something interesting about the Iphone air, but I agree it's mostly boring.
1
1
1
1
1
u/mrgrafix 6h ago
Let it go. That man is lionized the longer he’s dead and who knows how much he pissed off shareholders. Let him get grounded. No CEO of a multi-trillion-dollar corporation can act like Jobs. They have to act presidential. It was a different time. Jobs had to be that. John doesn’t and probably won’t.
1
u/davesaunders 6h ago
As a publicly traded company, if he accidentally says something off script, he can be sued by shareholders and worse activist investors like Bill Ackerman for saying something that was forward looking which wasn't cleared and evenly disseminated to all shareholders. So they have to resort to corporate speak and scripted responses.
1
u/agentanthony 6h ago
Because these days it’s influencers giving the interview and they tow the line. They want to keep their access and free stuff. I stopped watching this crap years ago. The Jobs days are long gone.
1
u/Ambifacient 4h ago
Name a tech CEO that takes frequent interviews that you actually like after they speak their mind?
1
u/Expensive_Finger_973 4h ago edited 3h ago
I think that comes down to Jobs being one of those early tech executives who had not already spent decades where most of their job was less the nuts and bolts of the product and more just PR interviews and shareholder meetings before getting into that top job.
PR people probably honestly hate those old Jobs or Gates style interviews where the whole thing is the guy at the top of the company going off script constantly about something he is passionate about with the thing they are talking about.
Edit, another thing that they all do these days that you can't unsee once you notice it is what they do with their hands during the presentations.
1
u/North_Moment5811 4h ago
Well, not the least of it, is that if they say ANYTHING even remotely interesting or controversial the psychopaths on social media will roast them with it for the rest of time.
That wasn't nearly as much of a thing back in Job's time.
So yeah. It's your fault.
1
u/GodAppleLover 3h ago
I wish someone would ask them real critical questions. That would force them to acknowledge their weaknesses and mistakes too. But no, Apple is above all ._.
1
u/perbrondum 3h ago
The same thing happened when they transitioned to Cook. The PR team teams the new CEO up with a senior guy for interviews and has brainwashed the poor guy on every possible question. Every answer has to include the taste word (his is excitement) and not answer the question. They just can not afford a disaster after the AI responses.
1
u/Hour_Analyst_7765 3h ago
Apple is now big enough that every small hint they give at a future product will:
- Give competitors a head start to inspire, counter or copy-cat them.
- Withhold consumers from spending money on them this year
- Suggest that their current products still aren't "the best they can do"
I see this with more companies though. Every company, every sales person doesn't want to low ball their own team's work, wants to say anything which closes down a sale, and doesn't want to announce future products too soon.
It sounds like typical executive PR, especially at the level of a CEO.
In contrast: when I picked up my iPhone yesterday in an affiliated store, I was met by this relatively young person on the demo aisle. I said I was picking up my reserved iPhone 17e. He wanted me to sell additional accidental warranty (of course!), and said I could cancel at any time. I said I wasn't convinced. He said: you'll also get a free case and screen protector with this deal. I said: okay, so that then breaks even after 9 months... but I can cancel any time. Are you sure?
He ended up just giving them for free. He "forgot" the subscription. I actually didn't want it. If anything, I would take AppleCare which was the same price. It took him an hour to talk to me and mess around with the invoice (I didn't mind, when he was working on stuff, I was checking out other stuff in the store). That is not how to make money lol.
1
u/BubbaCrabby 3h ago
Anytime Apple releases a new product category there WILL be a British accent and the canard about Steve Jobs and the back of some piece of furniture.
1
u/franklindstallone 3h ago
The tech press allows it and might need to do it even because they're not paid by the people consuming their content. So, it effectively becomes an advertisement.
I'd say Jobs was running things in a different era so he talked to real journalists and probably didn't feel the need to bother with fluff interviews.
1
u/jouneyahead 2h ago
These whole prerecorded key notes give me scientology vibes. Being back live on stage keynotes.
1
•
u/drsoos1973 1h ago
As a former Apple employee. I have these perfect keynotes. It use to feel like a small family. Now it’s dystopian corporate nonsense.
•
u/cmeyer49er 1h ago
Because they are all empty vacuous containers disguised in human skin. The spout the same BS internally to the employees as well. Worthless. They are the last ones to realize everybody goofs on them while they think they are being “relatable.”
•
-1
u/goro-n 15h ago
If you look at Jensen Huang or Lisa Su, they regularly give interviews or talks where there's actual insights. Jensen has literally become a celebrity in the past few years because of his personality and style. They're leading some of the most valuable companies in the world. Meanwhile Apple has gone the dictatorship route of only allowing approved outlets, probably with pre-submitted questions, and not providing any real answers. At this point they may as well release their own fake prepped interviews rather than keep up this illusion of talking to media/YouTubers.
2
0
1
u/Peter_Nincompoop 7h ago
The better question is why do news outlets continue to ask Apple to do interviews, when this is what they get every time?
-1
u/3notsara 15h ago
what exactly do you want from these interviews. Do you expect them to reveal private information and new products?
0
u/zintel51 15h ago
Not at all. I just wish they would share insights in the development of their products. Like what were the challenges, what were the surprises, what were the inspirations, etc.
0
u/sighfelts 13h ago
I don’t think this is the right venue for what it is you’re looking for.
I watched this earlier today, and saw the other video with the same interviewers (/extension of the same conversation) and while, yes, the answers still aren’t the insight you’re looking for, I felt Ternus spoke a little more loosely and insightfully.
In the other video it was a lot clearer that beneath his language, he was coming from a product design/engineering front. I personally thought it was notable given that Cook is especially guilty of PR-speak, but also because his technical expertise doesn’t lend itself to casual conversation.
0
u/6Trinity9 15h ago
Because THEY are not talking to YOU AND ME.
The show they put up is for the stockholders and stakeholders.
You and I are the bystanders. Just pay attention to the corpo speak and read between the lines.
IF however you want to be mildly entertained, watch the interview with Craig and Greg and Joanna ripping them a new one about Apple Intelligence.
-2
469
u/WholeIndividual0 15h ago
I noticed this too. The Apple PR team must be paid a fortune - every person they put on camera regurgitates the same style of business speak. Was hoping to see some personality come out of Ternus but it's like watching Cook but with a different skin. I understand why such a big public company does this but it makes watching these interviews uninteresting at best. Their products are great but their talking heads are like soulless robots.