A recruiter emailed me and asked if I was interested in talking to the core OS team. Once I said yes, she set up a phone screen with the hiring manager. The phone screen was mostly a behavioral interview. Questions included: 'What do you want to do in five years?' and 'Why do you want to work for Apple?'

After that phone screen, they went silent, and I had to probe them to check if they were still interested. Two days later (after sending an email asking for status), they set up an on-site interview. Initially, it was supposed to be a three-hour interview but was later cut short to two hours. I thought the interview went well because they mostly asked about my previous projects and patents, and there weren't really any hard technical questions.

After the on-site interview, there was no response. Upon probing further, I was told they went ahead with another candidate without providing feedback as to what exactly they didn't like about me (which is not uncommon, I guess).

The people (recruiter, hiring manager, and the team) were very nice and polite, but they were very slow in communicating. It's quite possible they were overloaded. However, it was very frustrating to deal with them because of that.

It was also not clear what exactly they were expecting from the candidate, as they didn't seem to articulate it well. It's confusing when the interviewers agree with every answer you give, saying, 'That's a good point,' but you still don't make the cut. I agree that they are not required to provide detailed feedback, but some pointers would have really helped me prepare better for the next time (if there is one). Now, I have no clue what I need to correct if I were to interview at Apple again next time.

My negative feedback has to do with this aspect more than any.

What is the difference between designing a product for the enterprise market compared to a consumer product?