I am not an engineer, but from my non-technical POV, this seems ridiculous. Is the cult of building new software really so much more attractive than making the software actually work? I mean, I think this attitude perfectly encapsulates why Apple has problems. Is bug fixing much harder than building the systems from the beginning? Is the difficulty in reading and checking code for errors really hiding the fact that this "unsexy" work of bug fixing involves the actual difficulty?
If, in any other field you found people that only wanted to make first drafts, you'd call them copywriters and designers, not engineers. And even if it is totally normal to eschew bug fixing in favor of drafting, isn't there a salary that would cause people to do it? If so, Apple should just pay that and hire those people - it'll still pay off in the long run.
