Linked List: January 25, 2021

Monday, 25 January 2021

Apple Exec Shuffle: Dan Riccio Takes Secret Position; John Ternus Now SVP of Hardware ★

Apple Newsroom:

Apple today announced Dan Riccio will transition to a new role focusing on a new project and reporting to CEO Tim Cook, building on more than two decades of innovation, service, and leadership at Apple. John Ternus will now lead Apple’s Hardware Engineering organization as a member of the executive team.

My quick take, after asking around a bit: This is nothing but good news for Apple. Riccio and Ternus are both all-star A-Teamers — very smart, very effective, and well-respected and liked. This is not an easing-out-the-door of Riccio: he really is taking over something big and new. And Ternus is incredibly well-suited to take over as SVP of hardware for all existing product lines.

I still don’t know which project Riccio is heading, but my guess is that it’s the headset, not Titan, simply because I’m certain the headset is closer. I think it’s a sign that the headset is ready to get real, and Apple wants someone as capable as Riccio to lead it with nothing else on his plate.

‘Why iPhone Is Today’s Kodak Brownie Camera’ ★

Om Malik:

Neither device was necessarily built for the sake of disrupting the art of image taking. The Brownie was built to sell film. The iPhone’s camera was built, improved, and advertised to sell the phone. But Apple quickly realized that photography, as something that connected with humans at an emotional level, was the killer app for the iPhone. That insight has paid off handsomely. Brownie certainly hastened the demise of the old-fashioned photography, but the smartphone cameras really made a meal of the demand for consumer standalone cameras. Erstwhile giants, such as Nikon and Canon, have been left to fight over scraps.

Towards the end of my first on-stage interview with Phil Schiller, I asked him something to the effect of, “With the iPhone, do you consider Apple a leading camera company?” And he replied instantly and emphatically, “The. The leading camera company.”

Rudy Giuliani Sued by Dominion Voting Systems Over False Election Claims ★

Nick Corasaniti, reporting for The New York Times:

The 107-page lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court in Washington, accuses Mr. Giuliani of carrying out “a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion” made up of “demonstrably false” allegations, in part to enrich himself through legal fees and his podcast.

The suit seeks damages of more than $1.3 billion and is based on more than 50 statements Mr. Giuliani made at legislative hearings, on Twitter, on his podcast and in the conservative news media, where he spun a fictitious narrative of a plot by one of the biggest voting machine manufacturers in the country to flip votes to President Biden.

I’m sure Giuliani can cover $1.3 billion, easily, once he gets paid by Trump for his services.