Someone Who Used to Work at Apple Just Said Something Controversial About Apple ⇥ qz.com

Christopher Mims, Quartz:

Hartmut Esslinger knows a thing or two about industrial design and what it’s done for Apple. He worked directly with Steve Jobs to establish a “design language” that was used on the Macintosh line of computers for over a decade. Esslinger’s iconoclastic firm had already designed over 100 products for Sony when he signed an exclusive, $1-million-a-year contract with Apple in 1982. […]

As early as 1982, Jobs had already conceived of a “book-like computer,” though the project was not discussed outside the company. That vision eventually led to the Apple Newton, a tablet that failed, and the iPhone and iPad, which made history. That kind of vision is now lacking at Apple, Esslinger says.

How much does Esslinger know about what is currently being worked out in secret at Apple, which may not be realized for a couple of years yet?

That’s what I thought.

By the way, I have no idea either. But assuming that Apple can keep designing great products doesn’t make headlines; guessing that they’re going to crash and burn, on the other hand, does.