eddycue
Latest
Recommended Reading: Fixing Apple Maps
Apple is rebuilding Maps from the ground up Matthew Panzarino, TechCrunch It's no secret that Apple Maps has lagged behind other options like Google Maps and Waze, but that may not be the case for much longer. TechCrunch has details on how Eddy Cue and his team are giving the app a complete overhaul -- one that begins with the company using its own map data.
Eddy Cue said everything you'd expect about Apple's video strategy
For a session about "Curation in Media," there wasn't a whole lot of talk about Apple News at Eddy Cue's SXSW panel today. Instead, moderator and CNN senior reporter Dylan Byers steered Apple's senior vice president of internet software and services through a wide range of topics, from today's acquisition of magazine platform Texture through Apple Music (it now has 38 million subscribers), free speech, live TV, health care and the company's recent foray into video content.
We're live from SXSW 2018!
We have arrived in Austin, Texas for the 2018 edition of SXSW, the festival that showcases some of the best things in the tech (interactive), film and music industries. This year, we'll be taking a look at HBO's Westworld installation here on the ground, which promises to be one of the most exciting events at the show. We'll also attend panels featuring Apple's Eddy Cue and YouTube's CEO Susan Wojcicki, among others, as well cover new gadgets like Bose's audio-focused augmented-reality glasses. You can keep up with all the news from SXSW by bookmarking this page here.
Apple's OS chief is taking over Siri from Eddy Cue
Apple's Eddy Cue has been in charge of Siri since software chief Scott Forestall left the company in 2012. Now, the executive has handed Siri over to Craig Federighi -- and it might be a bigger deal than your usual shuffling of responsibilities. See, while Cue heads Apple Music, Pay, iCloud and iTunes, Federighi is in charge of developing iOS and MacOS. As Reuters noted, handing the voice assistant over to the operating system chief could mean that Apple is looking to integrate it more deeply into both platforms.
Apple's negotiation tactics might be hurting its TV plans
We're nearly a year into the era of the newest Apple TV, which packs plenty of power, access to apps and a reworked remote with Siri voice control. Despite the new hardware, rumors of a big Apple push into TV still haven't turned into anything real. A report from the Wall Street Journal may help explain why by claiming negotiations with companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable fell apart over things like how much the cable companies would pay Apple and how they would share customer information.
Apple's Eddy Cue doesn't view Netflix or Comcast as competition
When it comes to Apple's plans for TV and streaming services, senior VP Eddy Cue is the guy with all the answers. Cue, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, revealed some interesting tidbits behind the company's philosophies regarding plans for original content, the possibility of Apple providing a streaming service and more.
Apple's Eddy Cue on FBI iPhone feud: 'Where does it stop?'
Apple continues to make its case in the court of public opinion about its ongoing dispute with the FBI. In a Spanish interview with Univision, Senior VP Eddy Cue says that if the agency forces Apple to create software to unlock San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook's iPhone, it would only benefit the bad guys. "If we make a key that opens all phones ... terrorists, criminals and pirates would find it," he says. Furthermore, Cue thinks that if its petition is successful, the FBI might make more sinister requests of Apple. "For example, one day they may want us to open your phone's camera and microphone."
Apple doesn't know how many people are using its News app
Apple has admitted that it has no idea how many people are using its News app, according to the WSJ. The confession doesn't put the company in too bad a light, because Apple believes it has been undercounting its users. VP Eddy Cue said that, "We don't know what the right number is. We're in the process of fixing that, but our numbers are lower than reality." He added that was better than being too optimistic, but some publishers are concerned. Atlantic Magazine CEO Bob Cohn, for one, said that his organization needs precise figures for Apple's audience, "and that's still an open question."
Apple says it will pay artists during Music's free trials (updated)
Taylor Swift has a lot of clout in the streaming music world, it seems. Just hours after the singer railed against Apple for declining to pay royalties during Music's 3-month trials, Apple's Eddy Cue has promised that his company will pay musicians "even during [the] customer's free trial period." That includes indie artists, he says. It's not clear what prompted the apparent change of heart (beyond the obvious public relations problem), but it wasn't hard to see turnaround as a possibility. Apple has been positioning Music as a sort of anti-Spotify that courts the artists who don't like the streaming status quo, such as Swift -- it wasn't going to succeed if those same performers jumped ship, whatever the reason. Update: Cue tells Recode that Swift's letter, and pressure from other artists, prompted the change. He reached out to Tim Cook to make the change, and told Swift herself about the new policy. As for how Apple is compensating artists during trials? Cue isn't divulging the exact rate, but he says that it's a per-stream payout rather than the usual revenue percentage. About the only thing up in the air is whether or not Swift and indie labels will offer their full catalogs to Apple Music. If you ask Cue, it's simply too soon to know.
Eddy Cue gives acceptance speech as Steve Jobs is inducted into Bay Area Business Hall of Fame
Last Thursday, November 7, Steve Jobs was posthumously inducted into the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame. Accepting the award for Jobs was Apple's SVP Eddy Cue, who has now tweeted a link to a video of the event. As TechCrunch notes, Cue's speech was at times very emotional and talked of the deep friendship he and Jobs had: "He was a colleague, but most important, he was my friend. We talked every day, we talked about everything," Cue says. "Even in my darkest days, he was there for me. When my wife had cancer, he was there for us. He helped me with the doctors and the treatments, he told me a lot about what he was going through, and her. And in many ways, she's here tonight because of him, so thank you, Steve." Cue also told this story of Jobs' precision in deciding how the light should hit the original iMac on stage when it was first introduced -- a level of detail that we are all so familiar with from Jobs now: He taught me many things but none more important than '"do what you love." That's what he did every day. It wasn't about fame; it wasn't about fortune; it was about creating great products. And not accepting anything less than perfection. As I was coming in today, I was trying to remember a story of the first time I learned that from Steve. We were launching the iMac, in Bondi blue ... we were doing this at the Flint center in Cupertino. Unfortunately we couldn't get the venue, Stomp was there the night before, we were launching it the next day and we could only get in at midnight. So we come in at midnight, we were going to do rehearsals ... one of the things we wanted to do was have the iMac come out from the stage as he was introducing it. And we'd shine some lights. I was sitting out in the crowd ... and the iMac comes out and the light comes on it and I said "wow, that is so cool!" Steve stops the whole thing and says "stop, this sucks!" He says, "it should come out at the side where you can see the color, the light should be shining at this side and when it turns to the front that's when it should turn on ... 30 minutes later we do the whole thing again and when I see it come out I said, "Wow, he was absolutely right; it's incredible." He had that level of detail for everything he did, and that's what he taught us. You can check out the video montage of the event below.
Eddy Cue intros new Apple internal iTunes channel to tout work by employees
In-the-know blogger Mark Gurman is reporting that Eddy Cue, Apple Senior VP of Internet Services, recently sent out an email to Apple employees informing them of a new employee-only section on iTunes. Cue's letter, obtained by Gurman, describes the new iTunes section thusly: Team, One of the things that makes Apple special is that every person here, no matter where they are or what they do, shares the same deep passion for creativity and innovation. We see this passion most noticeably in the products we make and in the experiences we create for our customers. But it's in other places, too. For instance, in addition to their work here at Apple, many employees have helped create some amazing books, songs, movies and TV shows on iTunes. In celebration of their achievements, as well as the creative pursuits of everybody at Apple, we're launching a new internal website today. It's my pleasure to introduce you to our very own Employees on iTunes. Eddy It's certainly nice that Apple is taking steps to highlight the varied creative endeavors of Apple employees. Indeed, iTunes new Apple-only section reminded me of a Steve Jobs quote from Triumph of the Nerds where he describes the team who helped develop the original Mac. Ultimately, it comes down to taste. It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done and then try to bring those things in to what you're doing. Picasso had a saying: good artists copy, great artists steal. And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas, and I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians and poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.
Eddy Cue also attending Sun Valley Conference
Yesterday we reported that Tim Cook is attending the Sun Valley Conference that takes place in Idaho this week. This year's conference has a heavy focus on content deals and cable television. Given that both those things are extremely important for a future Apple television, it is perhaps telling how significant this Sun Valley Conference is, because not only has Tim Cook shown up, but now Eddy Cue has been spotted as well. Apple's Tim Cook & Eddy Cue arrive at Sun Valley. Big week ahead? "We'll see" says Cook #sunvalley13 pic.twitter.com/QGIRExpMGQ - Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) July 10, 2013 Bloomberg reporter Jon Erlichman spotted Cue, who is Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, along with Cook yesterday. If any content deals are in the works, Cue would be the one leading them on Apple's side. The Sun Valley Conference runs until Friday, but if there are any content deals struck, it would be unlikely that they would be announced publicly just yet.
Eddy Cue: Steve Jobs picked 'Winnie the Pooh' as the iBooks freebie, also came up with the idea for 'page curls'
While testifying in court last week, Apple executive Eddy Cue had a number of interesting tidbits regarding the origins of the iBookstore, namely that Steve Jobs was initially opposed to the idea, but quickly hopped on board after Cue convinced him that the iPad would make the perfect e-reader. Today, Cue took the stand once again where he divulged some more interesting tidbits regarding Apple's foray into the e-book space. At one point during today's proceeding, an Apple attorney asked Cue a number of questions about Jobs and his involvement in Apple's iBooks initiative. Once again, All Things D was there covering the trial and relayed the following nuggets of information. The "page curls" in the iBook app, which show up when you flip an iBook's page? That's Steve Jobs' idea. It was Jobs' idea to pick ""Winnie-the-Pooh" as the freebie book that came with every iBook app. Not just because Jobs liked the book, Cue said, but because it showed off iBook's capabilities: "It had beautiful color drawings, that had never been seen before in a digital book." Jobs was also specific about the book he used to show off the iBook during his initial iPad demo in January 2010. He picked Ted Kennedy's "True Compass" memoir, because the Kennedy family "meant a lot to him," Cue said. Indeed, Cue's testimony serves to underscore that you'd be hard-pressed to find another CEO in the annals of tech that was as product- and detail-oriented as Jobs. Apple's trial with the DOJ is slated to end this week.
Steve Jobs didn't want an iBookstore until Eddy Cue convinced him
During Apple's e-book price-fixing case on Thursday, Apple executive Eddy Cue testified that Steve Jobs initially wasn't interested in getting into the e-book market at all. Lucky for us, All Things D was on hand to capture all of the courtroom details describing the backstory behind Apple's eventual foray into the e-book market. Cue explained that when he first approached Jobs and broached the topic of getting Apple into the e-book business, Jobs wasn't on board. "He wasn't interested," Cue explained. "Steve never felt that the Mac or the iPhone were ideal reading devices. In the case of the phone, the screen was smaller, and in the case of the Mac, you had this keyboard and device, and it didn't feel like a book." The iPad, however, was a game changer. When Cue first began using the iPad in the months before Apple publicly unveiled the device, he immediately recognized the potential for it to become a wildly successful and popular e-reader. So with the iPad unveiling steadily approaching, Cue in the fall of 2009 said that he approached Jobs yet again with the idea of getting into the e-book market. And so I went to Steve and told him why I thought [the iPad] was going to be a great device for e-books ... and after some discussions he came back and said, you know, I think you're right. I think this is great, and then he started coming up with ideas himself about what he wanted to do with it and how it would be even better as a reader and store. Cue noted that Jobs finally came around to the idea of an iBookstore in November 2009. Now bear in mind that Apple first introduced the iPad in January 2010, meaning that Cue, Apple's chief content negotiator, was left with little to no time to secure deals with major publishing companies as Jobs wanted to demo Apple's new e-book initiative on stage for the world to see. Of particular interest was Cue's testimony detailing how he was especially motivated to secure content deals ahead of the iPad's introduction on account of Jobs' worsening health. Steve was near the end of his life when we were launching the iPad, and he was really proud of it. He was working hard on it. I believed that iBooks was going to be a tremendous feature of the product. People were going to love it; our customers were just going to go wild about iPad and iBooks, and I wanted to be able to get that done in time because it was really important to him ... I like getting my work done and I pride myself on being successful, but this had extra meaning to me. Now aside from the usual intrigue typically associated with discovering what goes on behind the scenes at 1 Infinite Loop, I find this whole story noteworthy for two reasons. First, this isn't the first time we've heard a story about Cue successfully convincing Jobs to move Apple in a particular direction. During last summer's Apple / Samsung trial, emails came to light which revealed that Cue had been pushing Jobs to release an iPad with a smaller form factor as early as 2010. In a January 2011 email sent out to members of Apple's executive team, Cue wrote: I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one. I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time. I found email, books, Facebook and video very compelling on a 7''. Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable. Apple would of course go onto announce the iPad mini in October 2012. Second, the story provides further proof that Apple is teeming with talented employees and that the company is poised to succeed even in the absence of Jobs. While Jobs was a visionary without compare, the stories above illustrate that Jobs sometimes needed a bit of convincing before deciding where the "puck was going." In short, the notion that an Apple without Jobs is destined for failure is ridiculous. Indeed, one of the reasons Jobs was able to successfully bring Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy was precisely because he surrounded himself with top-tier talent. To that end, this old quote from Jobs regarding his hiring philosophy is worth a mention: ... you're well advised to go after the cream of the cream. That's what we've done. You can then build a team that pursues the A+ players. A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players. That's what I've tried to do.
US Justice Department makes opening arguments in e-book price fixing case
Apple's e-book price fixing trial began yesterday in New York and the US Justice Department wasted no time painting a picture purporting to show that Apple, along with five publishing houses, colluded to artificially raise the price of e-books. In a series of 81 slides released on Monday, the Justice Department laid out its case as it attempts to prove that Apple and five publishing companies violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The five publishers at issue include the Penguin Group, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, the Hachette Book Group and MacMillan. Notably, all five publishers have since settled, thereby leaving Apple the only company actually taking the case to trial. Front and center in the DOJ's case are emails sent from Apple executive Eddy Cue to publishers in an attempt to get them to sign up for the agency model as it pertains to e-book pricing. The DOJ also alleges that Cue routinely told some publishers what other publishers had already agreed to, thereby greasing the wheels for collusion. The entire slidedeck can be viewed below. U.S. v. Apple Et Al Opening Slides Apple, for its part, claims that its dealings simply served to increase competition in the marketplace and break Amazon's monopolistic grip on the e-book industry. Last April, Apple had this to say regarding the DOJ's allegations: The DOJ's accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from e-books that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we've allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore. The result of Apple attempting to foster "innovation and competition," however, is that the price of e-books rose significantly in April of 2010. The chart below is rather telling. Covering the trial, Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports that Apple, as one would expect, countered that the DOJ's case lacked merit. Specifically, Apple's lawyers said that the company merely used the same approach it used when first getting music publishers on board the iTunes bandwagon. The end result, Apple noted, was an influx of billions of dollars into the US economy. "Apple should be applauded, not condemned," an Apple attorney stated. Well, this will certainly be an interesting trial. While Apple does settle legal disputes from time to time, this doesn't seem like one of those cases. During his recent All Things D interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized that Apple has done nothing wrong, and out of principle, will refuse to admit to doing something it did not do. In any event, Eddy Cue is slated to testify during the trial on June 13. I guess he'll be missing Bill Nye The Science Guy.
Eddy Cue sells $8.76M in AAPL stock
Bob Mansfield recently sold 35,000 shares of Apple stock and now it is Eddy Cue's turn to cash in some of his holdings. According to a filling with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Cue sold off 15,000 shares of Apple stock for approximately US$584 per share. He walked away with $8.76 million from the sale, says a report in CNET. These shares are just a small portion of the Apple stock that Cue owns. The senior vice president of Internet Software and Services and several other Apple executives were each given a bonus of 100,000 restricted stock units in November 2011. This bonus was meant to keep the executives with the company for the next several years. The first block of these restricted stocks will vest in September 2014. [Via CNET]
The Wall Street Journal profiles Eddy Cue
With the recent shakeup of Apple's executive leadership, all eyes are now on Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet Software and Services. Cue was known for negotiating deals with media moguls that brought new content into iTunes, but now the 48-year-old executive has taken on the high-profile role as the new overseer of Siri and Maps. The Wall Street Journal has a lengthy article that sheds some light on Cue and his behind-the-scenes role at Apple. The article gives us a brief insight into Cue's personality and discusses some of the challenges Cue faces as the man in charge of iTunes, iCloud, Siri and Maps.
Report: Eddy Cue tasked with setting Maps right
More details concerning the aftershocks of last month's executive shakeup at Apple are beginning to surface, focusing on yesterday's revelation that Maps manager Richard Williamson had been shown the door. Bloomberg now reports that Senior VP Eddy Cue is now personally heading up efforts to overhaul Maps in the wake of the app's frigid reception alongside iOS 6 in September, which led Tim Cook to issue a public apology. Apple isn't saying anything publicly about Williamson's departure or Cue's efforts, but that hasn't stopped sources from leaking some details. Specifically, Bloomberg's report states that in addition to bringing fresh staff on to the project, Cue is said to be asking the company's Maps partners, including TomTom, to make improvements to the data they're providing. Previously we'd heard that Apple was enlisting its retail employees in reporting Maps data errors, and Cook indicated in his apology that user reports would help improve Maps over time. Cue's role as a "fixer" on Maps isn't unprecedented. In 2008, he was tasked with turning around MobileMe, which suffered from a host of problems following its troubled launch.
Apple's Eddy Cue reportedly fires Richard Williamson, who oversaw the iOS 6 Maps team
We aren't apt to ever hear this in official fashion, but Bloomberg has it on good authority that Apple's newly-promoted Eddy Cue has just fired the guy who was unfortunately leading the Maps team at the time of iOS 6's release. If you'll recall, Cue was placed in charge of both Siri and Maps during an executive shakeup back in October, and it seems that he's clearing the runway in order to make things better in the months to come. The report also mentions that Cue is "seeking advice from outside mapping-technology experts and prodding digital maps provider TomTom to fix landmark and navigation data it shares with Apple." It's assumed that the goal here is to install a new leadership team within the Maps group, but it's unclear if it'll happen prior to Google's own standalone iOS app becoming available. For those curious as to why such a drastic move had to be made, head over to Apple's Cupertino campus and use iOS 6's Maps app to search for "convenience store." Evidently, the closest one is some 1.5 hours north in San Francisco. True story.
Daily Update for November 8, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
