Making Apple Watch sensors with Jony Ive
Bob Messerschmidt's company was acquired by Apple and Messerschmidt ended up working on the heart rate sensor for the Apple Watch. That involved interacting with Jony Ive and the Industrial Design team, and learning how Apple builds products.
Apple thinks about feature sets, not chipsets. That's a subtle but fundamental difference when it comes to their products. If you take a piece of technology and try to figure out what to do with it, the product always feels like an afterthought. If you take the product and figure out what technology you need to realize it, then the product feels realized.
(Arguably, Apple Watch struggled with that in the first generation.) In a perfect world, every product, Apple and otherwise, would have an executive ruthlessly cutting for its realization.
Messerschmidt also shares some thoughts on aspects he didn't like as much — including secrecy. Well worth a read.
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Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.