An Apple product launch from soup to nuts

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An Apple product launch from soup to nuts · 1

kleinbl00 · 4464 days ago

thenextweb.com · #apple

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scarp · 4464 days ago · link ·

> The EPM then takes the beta device back to Cupertino for examination and comments, hopping right back on a plane to China to oversee the next iteration of the product. This means that many versions of any given device have been completed, not just partially prototyped. This is an insanely expensive way of building a new product, but it is the standard at Apple. [...] A room in the Marketing building is completely dedicated to device packaging. The security here is matched only by the sections of the building dedicated to new products and to design. At one point before a new iPod was launched there was an employee who spent hours every day for months simply opening the hundreds of box prototypes within in order to experience and refine the unboxing process.

Reminds me of Aperture Science. I remember hearing in the developer commentary of Portal 2 that a lot of the design elements of the Enrichment Center revolved around emphasizing its "inefficient and ridiculously expensive solution[s]" to fairly simple processes.

In particular, the above quote reminded me of this bit regarding turret production at the Enrichment Center:

> "We designed an entire life cycle for the poor, doomed turrets -- from creation, product testing, error detection, packaging, and their ultimate unpackaging prior to being recycled. In fact, the turrets never make it to shipping. As soon as the turret is completely finished and packed in a box, it is immediately sent to the unboxer where it goes on to recycling and begins its life anew. Thus we show Aperture continually building and repurposing its items in the most inefficient way imaginable."

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...

Funny. Aperture always vaguely reminded me of Apple, but I couldn't place my finger on why (it was probably just because the turrets looked like something "designed by Apple in California"). Now I have justification for my suspicion!