I wonder if this is related to a problem hiring engineers, Apple seems to be in a full on war to employee software developers in silicon valley. They are competing with hot startups, self employment, and variety of other concerns.

Many of the issues that I'm hearing about Apples software quality appear to be caused by a company who is trying to do too much with too few engineering resources. They are getting stretched thin and having to make more quality sacrifices than their customers are willing to tolerate.

I bet that if they opened an additional engineering office in a less contentious area of the united states they would be able to staff teams more easily, with longer average tenures, and tap into the talent pool and skills that they are currently unable to hire at the volumes they require.

I would suggest Portland, Oregon as I'm a native Oregonian, and because we have some of the best software engineers in the world!