Apple lays off 100 employees from Apple Books app team

[andhra_jp]

In Short

• Apple laid off around 100 employees from its services division,
• The move is part of a broader strategy shift, with Apple Books no longer a priority despite upcoming updates.
• Apple News remains a key focus, and recent layoffs are part of a larger trend, including earlier cuts in 2024.

Apple has recently laid off around 100 employees from its services division, marking a rare move for the tech giant. The layoffs, which took place on Tuesday, primarily impacted employees in Senior Vice President Eddy Cue’s services group. These cuts were spread across several teams, with the most significant impact on the team responsible for the Apple Books app and Apple Bookstore.

As per Mark Gurman's report on Bloomberg, the decision to downsize these teams comes as Apple shifts its focus within its services division. While Apple Books is still expected to receive updates and new features, it is no longer a priority for the company. Despite the layoffs, Apple News remains a key focus for the company, and the cuts in that team are not seen as an indication of reduced importance.

Apple has not publicly commented on these recent layoffs, but it's clear that the company is realigning its priorities within the services division. Some employees affected by these layoffs worked across multiple teams, meaning that other areas within the services group have been indirectly impacted as well.

[andhra_jp]

This is a new phase for Apple: iPhone sales revenue is down, Google search deal is gone, no more easy days where they would show profit growth even during S-years and Mac updates missing for years. They have a shortfall of like 30 billion and most of it from their profit margin!

They're not going to make this up by optimizing their headcount or strong-arming the few holdout developers that can pay "mere" 8+ digit fees like Patreon and WeChat, so hopefully they are going to blow us away with new hardware very soon...

[jpismahatma]

Stock is up