Apple's week November 15: Danger Zone

A new Apple Immersive Video takes us to the flight deck of the USS Nimitz, Apple is done with MLS, and Jeff Williams leaves Apple Park for the last time.

Here's the news of the week:

• USS Nimitz Apple Immersive Video
• Apple's expensive iPhone socks
• PSVR2 controllers now available at Apple
• Apple and MLS parting ways
• Jeff Williams officially retires
• John Ternus could be next Apple CEO

Immersive Video can teleport you anywhere

I've enjoyed Apple's various Immersive Videos since the Apple Vision Pro launch. They're few and far between, but most leave me with a sense of awe and excitement after viewing.

The format is difficult to describe. It goes beyond simply surrounding the viewer with a screen. Apple put a lot of thought into subject proximity, sound, and perspective, and the directors take care to ensure you really feel present.

Every shot takes time, planning, and effort. It isn't as simple as plopping one of the $33,000 cameras down and pressing record. And this is evident yet again in the USS Nimitz video.

I've never seen a rhino in real life, I've never walked across a tightrope over a canyon, and I've never been in a hot air balloon, so I can't speak to those experiences' authenticity in the headset. They're stunning to say the least, but I couldn't tell you if that's because of the content, or if they actually captured what it was like to be there.

Even Mike Wuerthele could speak to being on a submarine when Submersed came out. I did some training on a decommissioned sub, but never dived in one.

So finally, Apple gave me something I could speak to directly – jets taking off from an aircraft carrier. Sure, I was no pilot, but I spent a lot of time watching flight operations from the Crow's Nest while out to sea.

I was very amateur as a photographer at the time, but I enjoyed taking my Sony RX10 up there to snap some photos. Seeing each takeoff and landing was exciting, as every person on the flight deck had a role to play.

The Apple Immersive Video did a great job showcasing the sound and even the intensity of each launch. I believe the only thing it failed to show was just how quickly they line up the jets and launch them one after another, though that may be secret.

The only thing it couldn't capture is the smell of oil and the heat pouring off of the surface. You had to wear hearing protection to be outside, and even then, it was quite loud. Every launch of the steam catapult could be felt throughout the ship.

I slept a few levels below one of the steam catapults, so I learned to sleep even when flight ops were going on. Night flight ops were wild too, as steam pipes going through our barracks would heat things up, and the volume of the catapult could wake anyone.

However, you learned pretty quickly what to sleep through. Steam catapults launching fighter jets could rock a sailor to sleep, but the second an alarm went off, you'd be awake, dressed, and running to your station in under five minutes.

Apple's media moves

I explained before that we should be expecting more Immersive Video in the near future, so I'm not worried about that medium or Apple's support of it. The problem this week seems to be Apple's push into sports.

I'm a proponent of Apple trying to get sports rights. The company doesn't perfect every industry it touches, but it usually does a better job than whatever was being done before. MLB looks great, MLS was a smart move, and I think F1 is going to be huge for Apple TV.

However, there are cracks already showing in Apple's strategy. For whatever reason, and it seems to be both parties wanting a separation, Apple and MLS are going to end their deal years earlier than their original contract.

Major League Soccer will explore new partnerships in 2029 and leave Apple behind. I'm not a soccer fan, and I understand the US league isn't exactly popular, but it is odd that Apple is giving up what was basically Eddy Cue's exact desire – total control over a sport.

This news arrives after we already knew Apple was giving up MLB Friday Night Baseball to NBC.

Perhaps Apple wants to become the "we stream F1" company. Honestly, that's fine. The brand synergy is there and the elite global sport fits Apple's whole deal.

I hope this doesn't mean the company has given up on sports rights entirely, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it does. Sports rights owners profit from breaking up rights between streamers, and they won't take anything but a significant fortune from Apple to hand over full control.

This greed prices Apple out, since the company isn't interested in streaming only small selections of a sport. So, unless Apple decides to start streaming bowling or poker, I think it is happy just sticking with F1.

Meanwhile, since Apple is no longer a competitor with sports streaming, perhaps they could work out some deals with ESPN and others to make streaming better on Apple TV. I'd love to see the MLS tab in the Apple TV app turn into "sports" and have it be the single destination for discovering and following all games.

Though, given Apple's historic preference for itself, there's no doubt that undeletable tab will become F1 instead.

Jeff Williams retires

We knew that Williams would finish his tenure as COO by the end of 2025, and that time has finally come. He's left Apple Park and moved on to retirement so he can enjoy his golden years with his family and his fortune.

I don't have much to say here. Williams was great for Apple, but Apple has never been one person. Even under Steve Jobs, Apple wasn't Jobs. No matter how much the worshipers want you to think so.

Inevitably, the conversation has already turned to who might replace Cook in the next few years. Don't let these conversations fool you – Cook has made no mention of leaving anytime soon. He may be 65 next year, but Cook will likely stick around until 2030 for multiple reasons, and one is orange.

We all know there's at least one publication out there that fawns over every Apple departure from its highest executives to its lowest-level coders. They're seen as turmoil and failures, or at least framed that way for the drama and clicks.

At the end of the day, Apple is what it is because of the culture. There's good and bad in Apple, but thankfully the good far outweighs the bad. It is an excellent company and I don't fear for its future.

As a fan and as someone that writes about Apple for a living, I expect the next decade could be its most interesting as a company yet. The 2000s were punctuated by multiple innovations brought about by Jobs' triumphant return, the 2010s showcased Apple's strength in supply chain efficiency and rocketed it to be one of the biggest companies on Earth, while the 2020s are exemplary of Apple's willingness to expand into new areas (at least so far).

As we enter 2026 and beyond, I wonder what will truly define this decade. Some will say it is Apple's willingness to avoid upsetting the US administration, some will say it is Apple's failure to break into AI early and dominate the market, but I'm not so negative.

I believe the 2020s will be defined by Apple's patience and ability to skate to where the puck is going – with AI, with smart glasses, with spatial computing, and whatever is next. I have no doubt the company will still be interesting to watch for years to come.