The Verge summed it up perfectly in their post “Apple’s had a shockingly bad week of software problems”. Apple have had to twice fix a glaring bug with macOS allowing access to machines, and also date related reboots on iOS. It’s something that is becoming increasingly hard to stomach for users that have come to rely in the robust nature of the products coming from Cupertino. Unfortunately it also appears to be getting much worse.

It seems as though inherent traits appear the larger and larger that Apple become, and isn’t a uniquely Apple situation. The deterioration of Software standards and hardware filled with compromises resembles those of early 2000 Microsoft. Mix one large corporation with shareholders to satisfy, remove strong leadership and the result is a company that is removed from its user base. When you become more and more insulated from the outside world, and more and more people around you are simply employed to do as they are told, then you get less and less feedback.

Studio Neat have spoken about simular issues when talking to Myke Hurley. They used Kickstarter successfully to not only fund products but also gage the reaction to them. Outside input is detrimental to making products that people actually want and not those that the team thinks they want. This will have been further impacted by Apples attempt to “double down” on security which no doubt asks for much less external input due to the fear of leaks.

As a slap in the face, the vast majority of hardware leaks have come from inside Apple. I have no doubt that Apple listen to feedback, but how much can they really implement when the culture is so closed. Such is the trade off with using Apple hardware that you MUST be beholden to their decisions. If they begin to make wrong decisions, or those that are removed from what the user base really needs, then they have a serious problem.

There is a lot to be said about bugs being reported on social media and the actually severity of them, but these two bugs are inexcusable errors. I am one of the lucky ones, none of these issue have plagued me yet. However if I rely on my phone and the fact someone coded the wrong date won’t allow me to make important calls, I will soon be looking for an exit from the ecosystem.