Reporting by XinZhiyuan
EDIT: Sleepy
Recently, some Apple employees are a bit confused. Somehow, suddenly there is more money in hand?
2022 is coming, and it is another good time to jump ship!
In order to retain its own employees, Apple has made a bloody investment.
A huge bonus fell from the sky, giving people a whole caught off guard.
Of course, the purpose is also obvious, that is, to hope that these excellent talents do not go to competitors, especially Meta.
Up to $180,000
The additional bonuses were received primarily by engineers in chip design, hardware and some software and operations departments.
The prize money will be paid out over four years in the form of restricted stock, ranging from $50,000 to $180,000. Most of those engineers received about $80,000, $100,000, or $120,000 in stock. The higher ones are almost equivalent to the stocks that some managers can get in a year.
Equity incentives are a matter of opinion, but just look at Apple's 36% share price this year and its market value of $3 trillion soon.
In the hand of this stock, incense or not?
Moreover, this windfall is not only a large amount, but also accounts for 10% to 20% of the total number of people in the relevant departments.
For those selected employees, it is the "first bonus of the new year". After all, these compensation is not part of Apple's normal compensation package (base salary, stock, and cash rewards).
While Apple sometimes pays extra cash dividends to employees, the scale is unexpected and surprisingly timed.
However, some engineers who did not receive the stock were displeased, claiming that the screening process was completely random and unfair.
Fall in love with Meta and kill each other
Apple has long tried to compete with Silicon Valley and other regions and other companies.
However, there is a company called Meta that is not only a hard bone, but also easy to drop a piece of meat when nibbling.
In the past few months, while Apple has taken in some key employees from Meta, Meta has also poached about 100 engineers in Apple's augmented reality, artificial intelligence, software and hardware divisions.
Since changing its name to Meta, the social media giant that runs Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has invested more than $10 billion to prop up its hardware and "metacosm" ambitions, as well as a massive pay raise for its employees.
In addition, Meta's policy is also more relaxed on the issue of returning to the company.
In contrast, Apple wants employees to return to offline, and the attitude is more severe than that of its peers.
Apple says it expects corporate employees to work in the office at least three days a week, while hardware engineers work four to five days a week.
Just some time ago, Apple publicly displayed the internal environment of the headquarters "big flying saucer" for the first time.
Looking out over apple park's outer ring from the corridor on the fourth floor, you can see 9,000 trees planted, as well as multiple light-filled halls.
Designers working in such a fantastic building follow a "intimate" way of working collaboratively.
However, in the face of "safe distancing" and the raging epidemic, the best environment and benefits such as snack bars and masseuses that were once built in offices to recruit talent have become useless.
Therefore, as soon as Apple said that it wanted to return to work, employees said that they wanted to jump ship, and after coming and going, Apple finally canceled the deadline for returning to the office.
After such a toss-up, Apple finally admitted that employees may still stay at home and work remotely for the foreseeable future.
Apple says it will give all corporate, retail and tech support employees a $1,000 bonus so they can buy the devices they need to work from home.
Apple meta-universe, the eight characters are not skimmed
The love and killing of these two families is also intensifying under the similar "metaverse" ambitions.
Not only as potential competitors, but also both companies plan to release and important hardware in the ar, VR, and smartwatch fields in the next two years.
According to the latest forecasts, Apple's AR/MR headset will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2022 and will feature a processor with the same level of computing power as the Mac.
In addition, it will be equipped with 4 sets of 3D sensors to track hand movements, providing users with an immersive experience.
That is to say, in the future, we can also achieve cool gesture operations like Iron Man.
Among them, the upgraded structured light sensor can detect objects and "dynamic detail changes" in the hand.
"Capturing the details of the user's hand movements can provide a more intuitive and vivid human-computer interaction experience", for example, once the sensor detects that your fist is no longer clenched, the virtual balloon in your hand will fly away.
Of course, Meta's Quest headset has similar features, but it's not the core. Quest's hand-to-hand capture technology relies on traditional monochrome cameras.
It has to be said that Apple's enthusiasm for AR technology and hardware development has lasted for many years.
Back in 2015, Mike Rockwell, head of Apple's AR/VR division, built a team of more than 1,000 engineers and began working on two products designed to disrupt VR and AR.
In 2018, according to people familiar with Apple's plans, Apple was developing a headset capable of running both AR and VR technology, and required an 8K display for each eye.
In the same year, Apple released a concept patent for AR glasses.
In 2019, Guo Mingxi predicted that Apple will mass-produce this AR device in the fourth quarter of that year, and may be ready in 2020.
The company has acquired a lot, but Apple's AR/VR devices are still "only listening to the staircase, not seeing people coming down."
Two years later and two years later, every year the news flew everywhere, and every year there was no product.
Netizens are also surprisingly calm about the news that Apple wants to produce AR devices.
Brain drain is severe
For Apple, the brain drain has also impacted other areas, especially the self-driving car team.
In September this year, Apple's auto project suffered a major setback.
Doug Field, the department's top director who rejoined Apple in 2018 and was entrusted with heavy responsibilities, jumped ship to Ford.
Became the fourth executive to leave the year.
Since starting autonomous driving in 2014, Apple has undergone several strategic changes and leadership changes.
In 2021, three executives in Apple's self-driving car division have already left in just half a year, namely Dave Scott, Jaime Waydo and Benjamin Lyon.
Dave Scott led apple car-related robotics research teams and is now CEO of Hyperfine, a healthcare company that develops next-generation MRI systems.
Jaime Waydo, head of the autonomous vehicle safety and regulation team, announced his departure in February to become chief technology officer at startup Cavnue, which focuses on ensuring the safety of autonomous vehicles on public roads.
That same month, rocket startup Astra announced that Benjamin Lyon, a senior executive at Apple's self-driving cars, will join Astra as chief engineer.
Under the internal and external troubles, it is no wonder that Apple has to engage in such a "bonus" so suddenly.
After all, after the Christmas and New Year holidays, you don't know if it's an employee or a resignation letter that comes back.
Resources:
https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-engineer-bonuses-employees-meta-facebook-talent-2021-12