The demands of manufacturing hardware at the scale Apple does reward methodical discipline. A pure software operation like micro.blog is liberated to be more spontaneous and creative about release cycles.

That they combined it with more access to executives, especially on podcasts where a lot of their truly fanatical following is to be found whether listening or producing, was interesting. Not that they'll ever actually say anything of substance but the baby steps of trying in the first place are a good sign for the future.

Sometimes I wish Apple would decouple their software a bit more from the hardware. I think it would improve their ability to produce software. They will definitely need to figure out how to do that if they are going to survive in a web services world.

I also like that Apple has been breaking patterns a bit more lately. Keeping us on our toes. Lately, it's been far too easy to predict Apple's next move. This is helping bring some excitement back into being an Apple enthusiast.

@fgtech Agreed. I think Siri in particular (but anything services-related) needs to be free to ship whenever improvements are ready, not just once a year.

@joec I hadn't thought of it that way. Makes sense!

Amen. The power of secrecy, beneficial for competing in hardware, is greatly diminished in the software and services world as well. Services are, by their nature, enhanced by an ongoing dialogue with customers. My thanks to you and micro.blog for being a shining example.