Bloomberg has uncovered details of what went wrong at Apple and who is to blame for the botched release of the iOS 8.0.1 update yesterday, citing sources who point to a quality assurance manager in charge of overseeing iOS updates who also managed QA for the Apple Maps project before its launch. To quote Bloomberg:
The same person at Apple was in charge of catching problems before both products were released. [redacted], the mid-level manager overseeing quality assurance for Apple’s iOS mobile-software group, was also in charge of quality control for maps, according to people familiar with Apple’s management structure.
According to the report, this was also the individual responsible for hunting down any crucial bugs in the iOS 6 Maps software, which debuted to a chorus of negative reviews and bad press.
The mid-level manager was reportedly taken off of the Maps team when the bugs became public, but he was left in charge of general iOS bug testing, where he leads a team of over 100 people in making sure that each release is up to snuff. These updates are often in development before new devices even come off the assembly line, but because the quality assurance teams don’t always have access to them, they’re unable to test the software with the new hardware.
Bloomberg also provided a few additional details about how Apple’s software QA works. Issues are divided into categories based on priority, with the most critical issues being able to actually halt production of a device so that they can be fixed. Teams responsible for checking certain aspects of the software may also give the software a passing mark even when other issues that arise in other areas, leading to delays and more problems in testing.
Internal turf battles also can impact quality testing, according to a former senior manager. Teams responsible for testing cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity will sometimes sign off on a product release, then [Josh’s] team will discover later that it’s not compatible with another feature, the person said.
As Apple works on an emergency fix for the issues, it has informed users that they should downgrade to the previous version of iOS 8 and await the 8.0.2 release.
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He gone!
Good Luck dude… Guess you are gonna lose your job…
Ya think? his name just got trashed on a public (and popular) online blog…
As opposed to those crappy offline blogs.
Lol
Which one?
9to5mac. DUH!
So what purpose was there in citing this individual by name?
To ensure that Apple doesn’t give this guy another shot at screwing Apple users over. Samsung should give him a big fat salary for all the damage he has done.
I’m reasonably sure that Apple or any other concern of its size doesn’t pursue either policy or punitive action on the basis of postings on this site or ones like it. And I believe that is a common understanding. But publicly scapegoating one of its employees on the basis of more or less no evidence is uncalled for. And even were the facts of the matter air tight there is no reason to impugn a person’s character like this.
@Richard Harrison
I agree. Especially after this quote:
“Internal turf battles also can impact quality testing, according to a former senior manager. Teams responsible for testing cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity will sometimes sign off on a product release, then [Josh’s] team will discover later that it’s not compatible with another feature, the person said.”
Just goes to show that the bigger Apple gets, the more they look and act like Microsoft.
You have absolutely no fucking idea what you’re talking about.
@RH: There is no longer accountability at Apple, so we the users must tamp down bozo eruptions. Steve Jobs didn’t shuffle bozos around to different departments, he FIRED their sorry asses.
This was not his first major screwup. Apple Maps was a disaster, which is why they took that away from his responsibility. Now, he oversees a release that disables people’s phones right when Apple is trying to build momentum for their most important product launch. There was no reason that 8.0.1 had to go out right away. They should have done proper testing and seeded it out to developers and found the bug. This bug didn’t impact some old phone like the 4s, this impacted the phone they just released. Samsung, Android and the media are having a field day at Apple’s expense. The stock has dropped 5% since this release came out which is equivalent to about $25 billion in market capitalization.
I would love to work for you. I could screw up all day long and never be held accountable.
It’s poor top level management. The fact that someone else was allowed to sign off on it before he even looked at it? Top level idiocy.
“Internal turf battles also can impact quality testing, according to a former senior manager. Teams responsible for testing cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity will sometimes sign off on a product release, then [Josh’s] team will discover later that it’s not compatible with another feature, the person said.”
I must admit I’d love to have you as an employee – for at least one day
he should loses his job after maps and now this audio’s
And while he retained his post, Forstall was compelled to fall on his sword.
Life sucks…
I suspect it was more like Tim Cook stuck him with HIS sword with the support of other key people at Apple.
Is that a euphemism?
@Avenged110
Not at all. Now that I’ve reread that I notice I misspelled “struck” as “stuck”. I’m saying I don’t think Forstall took responsibility for iOS 6/Maps and resigned. Rather I suspect Tim Cook effectively fired him and from what I remember hearing, some key people at Apple weren’t exactly sad to see him go.
Let speak clearly: Ive wanted him gone, the same Ive who can’t create a durable iPhone due to his design anorexia.
@OneOkami I know, it was a joke. Nonetheless, yea apparently he didn’t take responsibility but I’m not overly fond of the people who wanted him gone. I was a big fan of Forestall. Ive and Cook have since effectively ruined Apple for me but that’s beside the point.
He didn’t lose the job the FIRST time… I guess he has friends in low places…
Or they realize that Tim Cook is the person who has to take all responsibility at the end of the day. ANd maybe top level management knew about this:
“Internal turf battles also can impact quality testing, according to a former senior manager. Teams responsible for testing cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity will sometimes sign off on a product release, then [Josh’s] team will discover later that it’s not compatible with another feature, the person said.”
I would love to tear this guy up too, but I think that it is highly inappropriate to identify him by name. Talking about the senior execs is cool – that is their job. But this dude will probably get bomb threats. Yes, he is a fucking jackass moron, but he is a human too.
We don’t know what this QA Manager’s responsibility was in this fiasco. Maybe the wrong build was pushed by the team that distributes it. Maybe it was inappropriately pushed out without this guy’s sign-off. Maybe this isn’t even the guy responsible for this particular release due to a medical leave. Maybe this guy was obligated to follow flawed procedures that were outside of his realm or knowledge. And maybe the build team screwed up the build resulting in QA focusing on the wrong thing.
Regardless of the reason, Apple is at fault. The buck stops with Tim Cook. It takes a team to succeed, and a team to fail.
Throwing someone under the bus is the ultimate way to disavow responsibility. Not cool at all.
Yup, throwing underlings under the bus is a sign of weak leadership. Tim needs to step up quick and diffuse this and take full responsibility or he’ll lose all respect from those who work for him.
It is unlikely that executive management is doing any bus-throwing – you aren’t on the executive management path in hi-tech if you throw your people under buses to defend yourself. Instead, you’re barely holding onto your job at Geek Squad.
This guy’s subordinates, peers, or so-called friends could be the bus-throwers. Or their may be no bus-throwers at Apple at all – maybe they’re all on-line.
People around the world are very good at assigning blame without understanding the whole picture. Think of them like vigilante mobs – idiots that make the world awful.
“Yes, he is a fucking jackass moron, but he is a human too.”
Yeah? Do you know for a fact he’s a “jackass moron”? Really? Somehow, I suspect this guy is infinitely smarter and more accomplished than you, since he has survived thus far 14 years at Apple. But good on you for calling his intelligence out when you don’t really have a shred of the facts. Its pretty disgusting.
Scott Forestall for Apple Maps, so why didn’t this guy get booted? Well, I guess he is now!
Yeah, I am not sure it is right to ridicule people in public for doing a less than stellar job, or more properly an alleged less than stellar job: because frankly no one publishing this stuff really does know. Nameless ex managers can say what they like, but this leaves Bloomberg open for law suits. Frankly, I would like him to sue.
If he broke the law, one thing. But this is an internal matter. You just helped crucify a guy and you don’t have all the facts. I wonder if Bloomberg’s and 9to5’s lawyers signed off on this one. If so, maybe they should get fired.
Legally debatable. Morally, this was very wrong.
Yea, Apple can spend 1.2 billion on advertising how much better they are than EVERYBODY and can’t expect to catch a WORLD of shot when they let out a screw up like this? Sue? I think not!
You are an idiot. You are either a stupid kid, or you have never been responsible for a professional work place.
Apple screwed up this release, not this one guy. It’s easy to assign root cause of a fault onto an individual player, but it is almost always wrong.
This wasn’t just an Apple sucks story, it was aimed straight and center for one individual and there is no fact here, it is all hearsay and inuendo. That is what has people riled up, the injustice of crucifying a guy on blog sites like this where people already call him moron etc. How does anyone here know if any of this is true? Any hungry lawyers out there? Please feel free to jump in and sue! 9to5 now helps wrech careers on inuendo. That’s low.
why cite his name?
This article is a disgrace. You should be ashamed of yourselves for pointing out an individual like this.
If you’re going to fire the guy from Apple, I’d say fire the author of this article while you are at it.
Isn’t this re-writing history a bit? I don’t remember any “bugs” per se in the Maps app.
I remember everyone hated it and criticised the inaccurate data, and they still do today, but those aren’t bugs and weren’t the guy’s responsibility. What gigantic show-stopping bugs were there?
Doesn’t Apple submit their releases to carriers before the general release? If that is the case, why didn’t the carriers find this issue?
I believe they do but I’m not 100% sure. Even if they did, OS bugs are ultimately on Apple. I can see this issue with cellular connectivity, but you can’t really blame the carriers for Touch ID not working.
I agree with you. Just thinking if carriers were testing, they should have caught the carrier issue as well. In stating this, I’m not trying to take the heat off of Apple. Just wondering why I have not seen that mentioned anywhere.
How ironic
Dude. You f*cked up here 9to5…
And this is why you need Steve J.
Yeah, cause there were no bugs or issues during Steve’s time, right? Steve personally went over every line of code in every 0.01 release, right?
F off with that bullshit.
Why don’t you try to imagine the reaction of the late Steve Jobs had someone pushed out an OTA update that left iPhone users unable to call anyone.
You removed his last name out of the article, but it’s still fully readable in the URL. Come on, do we really need to do this? If he’s doing a bad job I’m sure Apple will take care of it.
Hey Mike! It’s nice that you redacted his surname from the article, but his name is one of the tags! ;)
If you’re going to attempt to [redact] a name, please look at everywhere you use it.
His name is still in the 2nd quote.
Actually, the above person is right.. it’s everywhere on this page, including the URL. Such sad.
Wow. Really not cool to use his name.
Mr. Beasley:
I am glad the commentator consensus is that this article is a massive mistake on behalf on Bloomberg and 9to5. This isn’t just defamation, it is crucifixion.
Why don’t you apologize for splattering the name of your alleged ‘failure’ since even the URL of this page has his name spattered on it ?
Very unprofessional. If there is an issue it’s an internal matter at Apple. The CEO and VPs are paid to take the blame. Digging up stuff like this with inuendo about conflict in departments and other vagueries is shocking.
Why don’t you delete the entire page ? Put up an apology. Be honest if you see that YOU made an error, but most of all, be responsible! That is what good journalists are supposed to be.
You cannot prove much of what was written but you maligned him and likely ruined his career.
Very, very, very wrong.
If it’s the truth it’s not libel.
Considering your other comments on here Sad Herb, I can attest that it can indeed be libel even if it is true. If there was nothing to gain by stating what they say apart from destroying his career, then yes it can indeed be libellous, more so because there’s no facts here. I don’t expect you to get that Sad Herb because you are just trolling, as is usual for you.
It’s called a reckless disregard for the facts. You can do that with celebrities and government officials and senior company officials. You can’t do that with others.
You know I’m sick of Bloomberg, this is supposed to be a “respected source for accurate reporting”, they are nothing of the sort. That amateur bending video was a total sham and should never have received any press whatsoever, but Bloomberg was right there to provide credibility. Bloomberg is moving in with the National Enquirer. I don’t believe a thing they say anymore………..
Bloomberg. That’s the company that published Steve Jobs’ obituary prematurely, correct?
Thanks for this article. I am a new blogger so this is very helpful. It’s hard to know how long it takes to make a successful blog, so “being patient” is among some of the best advice you can give. It’s easy to get discouraged when you don’t see movement, but this give me some encouragement.
Totally not cool to blame this on a single person (and probably the last one that has anything to do with the issue!)
It’s not fair to put all responsibility to only one QA manager. Timing to release the fix or software update is crucial so the guys in Apple must know who’s put this through QA devision and want it to release public asap. Shame.
The thing is though, Maps app’s problem wasn’t QA, it was content. Maps app wasn’t buggy in anyway. So this article doesn’t make much sense.
Why redact the name even though its in the URL of the article. Very bad form.
I think Josh [redacted] will be posting on Monster.com and talking with headhunters today.
. . . Unless, of course, Josh doesn’t really exist in Apple – just a straw man for this whole fiasco.
Paranoid – who’s paranoid? ;)
Listen to all of you taking Bloomberg as gospel! They could report a goat started singing the star bangled banner and the only thing you’d question is what color the goat was.
HIT THE BRICKS PAL, you are going out!
This is hilarious.
Take the guys name out of the f-n url. I mean really?
@MikeBeas – You really ought to remove this article. It’s shoddy journalism and borderline slander for some poor guy whose name you’ve now splashed across the internet. You’re clearly not a former QA Manager, nor do you have enough knowledge of how software development at large companies works to make statements like “The quality assurance manager responsible for iOS 8.0.1 also oversaw—you guessed it—Apple Maps.”
Do yourself, and your employer, a favor and take this down before you get sued for defamation of character.
Snort. Why the fuck wasn’t he fired already? Steve Jobs would have canned his sorry ass after the maps debacle, which wouldn’t have happened under The Steve in the first place because he would have demanded excellence!
What is Cook running, some kind of bozo play-skool?
As an IT professional for the last 12 years this recent event comes with little surprise. Apple has slowly been regressing to the mean in terms of putting profit first over customer experience and quality. This QA manager was likely given a hard date by someone above him in order to quickly right the wrongs of 8.0. This is enivitably what happens in software when you put schedule first.