In the past few years, a major Apple story (especially in the age of AI) has been that the company isn’t moving fast enough in the space to keep up with competitors. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, new Apple CEO John Ternus is reportedly pushing on software chief Craig Federighi to ‘accelerate’ Apple’s roadmap for software.
At the moment, there’s no indication that Apple’s well known software SVP Craig Federighi will be leaving the company. In fact, Craig has made it a very low priority of his to develop a succession plan in any sense, per Mark Gurman. That said, Ternus still wants to see change in how Craig Federighi thinks about Apple’s software strategy:
In recent weeks, Ternus held a closed-door meeting with Craig Federighi, who became Apple’s AI czar following last year’s dismissal of its former AI leader. Desiring more and frustrated by what he sees as a reluctance to embrace AI with the same urgency as competitors, Ternus pushed his software chief to accelerate the company’s road map and move quickly beyond merely making necessary improvements to Siri.
A large part of Federighi’s approach has been how hands-on he is, resulting in his viewpoint shaping how Apple’s software development goes to a large extent. That’s left team members feeling that they have ‘limited influence’ over what happens:
Federighi is known for taking an especially hands-on role in meetings and major decisions, with some employees describing a management style that can leave little room for competing ideas to gain traction. He is also known for vigorously debating opposing viewpoints, using his command of technical details and ability to argue his position to push back against proposals he disagrees with. That approach has at times frustrated members of the software engineering and design teams, some of whom believe they have limited influence over the direction of products.
Another part is that Federighi reportedly only plans for a 12-18 month timeframe, versus the years-long roadmaps used in hardware engineering. These are some of the gaps that Apple may want to bridge in the coming years.
Mike Rockwell also considering leaving
Separately, Vision Pro and Siri AI leader Mike Rockwell is still seriously considering stepping down. He’s currently vice president of Siri engineering:
The management concerns go beyond Federighi. Mike Rockwell, who created the Vision Pro headset in addition to leading the development of Siri AI, continues to seriously consider stepping down. That could mean leaving his role as vice president of Siri engineering — or Apple altogether — next year. Such a move would be a major blow, given his role in bringing the new Siri to market after an embarrassing two-year delay.
In the same report, Gurman also reported that Apple is experimenting with a new development pipeline, giving engineers 50% more time to code and explore more, and spend less time on integration, as coding agents have improved.
It remains to be seen what else might change at Apple to enable faster development timelines, though it seems likely that Craig Federighi may have to release his ‘firm grip’ on the software engineering org, and instead allow some other leaders to blossom and act on their own accord.
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