By John Moltz
August 23, 2024 2:00 PM PT
This Week in Apple: Truth in section headings
The App Store team gets shook up like a Boggle set, an App Store favorite finds greener fields, and GM’s software ambitions are not so much stalled as they are stuck in neutral and rolling backwards into the reservoir.
App Store shuffle
The biggest news of the week is a reorganization of the App Store team. Facing its changing reality, Apple has decided to split the team into two: one team to handle the App Store and another to handle alternative app distribution. Presumably these staffers will be let in through the back of Apple Park. Which is going to be hard since it’s a circle.
App Store vice president Matt Fischer, meanwhile, is leaving the company, presumably to spend more time rejecting submissions from his family. “Your request for mac-n-cheese for dinner is rejected, Billy. We have had mac-n-cheese many times for dinner, your request provides no additional functionality.”
The App Store is still overseen by Apple Fellow Phil Schiller, so expect any changes to continue to be made very grudgingly and with a lot of sighing and mumbling of sarcastic comments every time the EU turns its back.
That game you like is going to come back in style
If you loved Monument Valley and adored Monument Valley 2, well, you’ll are going to love having to get a Netflix subscription to play Monument Valley 3.
“Monument Valley 3 coming later this year, but only for Netflix subscribers”
You probably knew Netflix had mobile games, having noticed them as you quickly scrolled past to find out where they’ve hidden your watch list this time. But now Netflix has poached one of iOS’s signature games. According to John Gruber, Apple is blowing it with Arcade.
The general gist among game developers is that Apple is a hard-driving partner with whom, most likely, you’ll break even at best.
Wow! Who wouldn’t want to sign up for that?
Well, it’s not like this is getting around the gaming industry and could be a problem for Apple when trying to attract more devel-oops.
One indie developer alleged that they had to wait up to six months to get paid, “which almost put them out of business”.
Apple wants Arcade to be an attractive feature for its subscription services to feed Tim Cook’s insatiable need for services revenue, but it doesn’t seem to realize that it also has to be attractive for developers.
Dunking on GM
When I write these columns I often start with snarky, descriptive section headings and then go back and change them at the end to something hopefully more clever. Like the previous one was just “Monument Valley 3” and now is something that’s at least a little clever. “Game” sounds a bit like “gum”. But this time I’m just going to leave the original because let’s just call it what it is.
Let the dunking begin!
Remember how GM sagely decided to leave CarPlay by the curb in order to make its own glorious infotainment system that was beautifully integrated into its driving software in a harmonious experience that would surprise and delight its customers? And probably also scrape up all their data?
It got off to a rather disastrous start, but surely it’s smooth sailing now so let’s just check in and see how-
“GM to Cut More Than 1,000 Software Engineers, Mostly in US”
Now, I don’t know much about the software development process, but I suspect the way to fix your busted-ass software is not to lay off most of your software engineers (Elon Musk’s views notwithstanding). Former Apple exec Mike Abbot left the company back in March after less than a year on the job for health reasons, so the software group has faced some upheaval. But don’t worry, this is all part of the plan.
“As we build GM’s future, we must simplify for speed and excellence, make bold choices and prioritize the investments that will have the greatest impact,” GM spokesman Kevin Kelly said in an emailed statement.
Should you be using the term “greatest impact” when talking about car software?
See? “Dunking on GM”. That’s what this section is. Am I proud of it? Eh, maybe a little.
[John Moltz is a Six Colors contributor. You can find him on Mastodon at Mastodon.social/@moltz and he sells items with references you might get on Cotton Bureau.]