The Information is reporting that Apple’s efforts to build out its own cloud infrastructure are being held back by company politics. Apple wants to overhaul its cloud services backends to rely on new technologies built in-house but is facing several roadblocks, attributable in part to power struggle between the Siri group and another group handling other Apple services like iMessage and iTunes.
According to The Information, one engineering manager has already resigned with more likely to follow.
The crux of the issue, apparently, is that Apple wants to build further on the cloud infrastructure that currently powers Siri and extend it to more services. This means that the Siri group’s work threatens the significance of the iCloud group, as if the Siri backend can be expanded, parts of the iCloud team (with over a thousand engineers) would become unnecessary and irrelevant.
As reported last year, Siri runs off an open-source stack called Mesos. The plan is for Apple engineers to expand Mesos to accommodate more of Apple’s services with a view to deploy into shipping products later this year.
The report cites Game Center, CloudKit and Apple Maps as likely candidates to adopt the new stack first. Internal estimates indicate the project will be ‘completed’ by mid-2017. This project runs adjacent to another development project to build a replacement infrastructure for iCloud, the largest Apple web service. The codename for this is Project McQueen, as reported last month. Right now, iCloud relies heavily on Azure and Amazon Web Services. This project would replace those dependencies and result in a truly in-house solution.
Apple is expected to rely more heavily on revenue from internet services in the future, as sales growth from hardware slows. A recent report by Gene Munster estimated Apple currently rakes in a 60% profit margin from its services businesses.
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Beyond my comprehension how “over a thousand engineers” could become “irrelevant” at a company that’s as resource constrained as Apple is.
Because while the company may need the same number of engineers, they wouldn’t necessarily need the same ones they have now, or at least not in the same roles. It’s probably line management who is most threatened.
Gotta love the office politics at a big organization.
I can’t even imagine what it’s like there…
Well, iCloud isn’t all that reliable so I would welcome a new platform and maybe a new engineering team.
Yes, and iCloud drive is the worst. Tried once, files didn’t sync over, switched to dropbox and google drive and everything worked flawlessly.
Hopefully the new spaceship compass helps Apple restructure and better organize so they can start making better products and services.
It doesn’t matter what the damn campus looks like if Apple is loosing talent to other companies, keep overworking and underpaying their employees. None of the recent team shifts have seems to helpadvanxe the company.
Hopefully Apple is spending time and energy planning on how the different teams can be more productive and work smoother together with all the teams within Apple.
iCloud has been brain damaged for a LONG time and it’s getting worse. My email has been screwed up for over 18 months and the engineers are too lazy or incompetent to fix it and ever since Apple music came out, my iTunes library has been a mess. I actually had to involve customer relations just to get things moving at a snails pace.
There’s a lot more screwed up at Apple than just iCloud. Customer service is the worst I’ve ever seen it, the computer lineup is stagnant and the only products getting any attention are the iOS devices. The board of directors seems to be just whistling past the graveyard. Apple desperately needs new management.
Apple has the best customer service ratings and have for years and years…lol.
Not to mention the other 500 things you mentioned that are off topic :)
The least rotten piece of fruit in a bag of rotten fruit is still rotten. Apple customer service is miles beyond Dell, Sony and Microsoft but that doesn’t mean that it’s as good as it used to be. It’s all relative.
In over 30 years with Apple, I’ve never had to get the customer relations department involved in order to get a technical problem resolved. I’ve been having serious iCloud related problems for over 18 months, none of which have been resolved despite my account having been put into troubleshooting mode 7 months ago.
Jobs never would have let the company go in this direction.
*raises hand* I really like iCloud. :\
Too complex of an issue with too little info for me to grasp.
But i know one thing:
Icloud, itunes, siri need major paradigm shif and massive rethinking to bring them into one cohetent whole…. They are a mess… From ios, to TVos to osx..
Its a jumbled mess of fragmented and erratic thoughts and poor implementation , synergy and ui mess.
Agreed. But to be fair, with an organization of this size, with this much popularity, it’s almost to be expected.
Why not just merge the groups?
Is that a stupid question…?
Reliability is Job 1. You’re not there yet – either of you.
Get off your asses, stop fighting and make it reliable. Only then think about adding features.
Apple is Atari all over again. History is cyclical and Human Nature unwavering.