72: Former Apple Executive Mike Bell Talks AirPort, CarPlay, and More

Lucid Senior Vice President of Digital and former Apple Executive Mike Bell joins us on this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show to discuss the iPhone, AirPort, Vision Pro, CarPlay, and more.
Mike worked at Apple from 1991 to 2007 and played a significant role in development of hardware products like the iPhone, iMac, AirPort, and Apple TV, as well as software features like Bootcamp. After leaving Apple, he worked at Palm, Intel, and Rivian, and now leads digital at luxury electric automaker Lucid.

We reflect on the success of the iPhone since Mike’s work to deliver the original model and where it stands today. We also look at Apple’s Vision Pro headset and consider whether it will catch on. Mike discusses AirPort, a personal-favorite product that he led, how he feels about its discontinuation, and whether Apple is likely to return to the product line in the future.

We talk through the process and importance of integrating Apple CarPlay in Lucid vehicles, as well as the challenges involved in bringing new digital features to EVs. We also discuss Mike’s experience of working at Apple as a senior decision-maker in the 1990s and 2000s, how the company changed in the formative period in which he was there, similarities between Lucid and Apple, and more.