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Apple Q4 2013 earnings call liveblog scheduled for 5 PM today
Apple announces its Q4 2013 earnings for the period of July 1 to September 30 today at 5 PM ET, and TUAW will be presenting a liveblog with analysis and commentary at the same time. Join us as we talk about the good -- or bad -- news, skewer some analysts as they ask CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer stupid questions, and otherwise try to make dry financial news fun. As usual, you can listen in on the exciting financial and accounting banter as Apple provides a streaming webcast of the event. We usually have "the numbers" about 30 minutes before the call, so be sure to visit TUAW to take a look at sales and earnings prior to the liveblog.
Apple Campus 2 model unveiled by CFO Peter Oppenheimer
Photo credit: Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group The San Jose Mercury News today posted exclusive photos of a detailed model of Apple's new corporate headquarters campus. The model was unveiled by Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and Director of Real Estate and Facilities Dan Whisenhunt, and provides an amazing look at what the campus will look like when completed in 2015. The model shows how the company plans to take a former Hewlett-Packard campus that is about 80 percent asphalt parking, and turn it into one that is about 80 percent open space and parkland. The 175-acre site features the iconic ring-shaped headquarters building, an above-ground parking structure covered by photovoltaic solar panels, a round on-site theater for presentations, a fitness center for employees and more parking underground. Not surprisingly for a company that prides itself on green initiatives, the main headquarters building is designed to be naturally ventilated, with radiant cooling that will eliminate the need for air conditioning about 70 percent of the year. Whisenhunt told the Mercury News that the building will not only use 30 percent less energy than typical Silicon Valley office buildings, but it will also use 100 percent renewable energy -- much of which is produced at the campus. While the images cannot be shown here, we recommend that readers visit the Mercury News site to view the slideshow. The campus is up for final approval on October 15 at a Cupertino city council meeting.
Join us for a TUAW liveblog of the Apple Q2 2013 earnings call
This afternoon, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer will host Apple's Q2 2013 earnings call to discuss the company's financial fortunes for the quarter ending March 31, 2013. As always, TUAW is hosting a liveblog of the event, during which we'll be providing commentary on the actual results, questions from the financial community, and how the results are likely to affect Apple's share price. The call is scheduled at 5 PM ET today and our liveblog will begin at 4:50 PM ET. If you're an IRC user, we'll have a chat room set up on server irc.freenode.net, chat room #tuaw so you can converse with the TUAW team and others. You can listen to a live audio stream of the event here.
Apple's execs are not the best-paid
A report earlier this week from Businessweek claimed Apple has four of the five highest-paid employees among Standard & Poor's 500 companies. The figures cited in this report included both base salary and vested stock packages, which has some people, like Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Apple 2.0, crying foul. DeWitt open his acrid retort to the Businessweek article by asking whether "Bloomberg's brainiacs know the difference between an RSU and a pay check?" DeWitt points out that the compensation packages for Apple's top brass may have increased, but their pay has remained steady. These compensation packages include restricted stock units (RSU) that are not immediately available for the Apple executives and should not be counted as part of their pay. These RSUs are part of a retention package that becomes available after an employee works a set number of years. If the employee leaves before the RSUs have vested, then he or she loses that money. It's a common method used by companies to entice their employees to stay put for a while.
Apple employs four of America's top five paid executives
During a 1998 profile in Fortune, Steve Jobs stressed how true innovation requires hiring the right people. Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led and how much you get it. Of course, attracting, hiring and keeping the right people in the ultra-competitive world of Silicon Valley is no easy task. To that end, having a bank account that lingers in the US$137 billion range certainly helps. That said, it may not be all that surprising that four of the top five highest paid executives in the US are Apple employees. BloombergBusinessweek reports that Apple executives Bob Mansfield, Bruce Sewell, Jeffrey Williams, and Peter Oppenheimer received more compensation than nearly every other executive in America. Note, though, that the bulk of this compensation isn't in the form of cash, but rather in stock. Leading the salary charge at Apple is Mansfield, who currently serves as the company's senior VP of Technologies. Mansfield in 2012 received $85.5 million worth of stock options on top of a base salary of $805,400. Sewell, Apple's VP of Legal and Government Affairs, received a compensation package of $69 million in 2012, slightly ahead of Williams who received a compensation package of $68.7 million. Williams is currently Apple's senior VP of Operations, having taken on many of the responsibilities that Tim Cook previously took care of as Apple's former COO. And picking up the rear is Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer who received a compensation package of $68.6 million last year. The only executive in the US that made more than the aforementioned Apple executives was Oracle's Larry Ellison who earned $96.2 million last year.
Apple VP Eddy Cue: Apple TV not likely in the near future
If you were hoping for a 60-inch Apple-branded HDTV for Christmas, get prepared to buy yourself another toy instead. Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves met Wednesday with Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and Senior VP for Internet services and software, and today he published a company update saying that "An Apple television appears extremely unlikely in the near-term." Hargreaves noted that it doesn't appear to be technology that's holding up the entry of Apple into the TV or cable set-top box -- instead, it's the cable TV companies and content providers that are holding up the works. From Hargreaves' report: The key problems in the television market are the poor quality of the user interface and the forced bundling of pay TV content, in our view. While Apple could almost certainly create a better user interface, Mr. Cue's commentary suggested that this would be an incomplete solution from Apple's perspective unless it could deliver content in a way that is different from the current multichannel pay TV model. Unfortunately for Apple and for consumers, acquiring rights for traditional broadcast and cable network content outside of the current bundled model is virtually impossible because the content is owned by a relatively small group of companies that have little interest in alternative models for their most valuable content. The differences in regional broadcast content and the lack of scale internationally also create significant hurdles that do not seem possible to cross at this point. According to Apple 2.0's Philip Elmer-DeWitt, that message is in line with published reports about the slow pace of Apple's negotiations with cable TV companies. Elmer-DeWitt's take? "Apple's much-rumored breakthrough in television -- whatever form it takes -- is likely to come later rather than sooner."
Apple's components spending increasing dramatically
Statements made by Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer during the recent 3Q 2012 earnings call are beginning to make sense in light of news from AllThingsD's John Paczkowski that shows that Apple's prepayments for inventory components are ramping up in a big way. The Apple executives had noted that the 4Q 2012 earnings guidance would be down due to a "product transition," basically a way of saying that they'd be spending more on building inventory for a new product coming down the pike. Cook and Oppenheimer also repeatedly referred to "confidence in the new product pipeline," meaning that something big is coming from the company. (Chris referenced this in passing in yesterday's Rumor Roundup.) Paczkowski pointed out a chart in Apple's latest 10-Q filing (at the top of this post), which shows prepayment for inventory components in the June quarter rising US$1.15 billion over the previous quarter. That's a huge buildup, and Wells Fargo Securities analyst Maynard Um is cited as saying that "Historically, such increases have been followed by a solid ramp-up in revenue in the following 2-3 quarters. In our view, an increase in inventory component prepayment may suggest that Apple is securing supply for potential new product launches." As reported by several sites yesterday, the anticipation is building for a rumored Apple event in mid-September. There's a good chance that one of those products is the next-generation iPhone, but perhaps we'll also see other products getting a refresh. What updated or new Apple products do you want to see? I'm holding out for a new iMac, while several of the other TUAW bloggers want a new Mac mini. Tell us your wishes for new products in the comments. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Apple to announce plans for its $100 billion cash reserves tomorrow morning
A slew of successful, high margin products have left Apple sitting on an almost unimaginable amount of money -- $97 billion as of its last earnings report -- and led to the natural question of just what to do with it. According to a press release just issued, we'll all find out about "the outcome of the Company's discussions" tomorrow on a conference call with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer at 9AM ET. What does $100 billion or so of iMac, Macbook, iPhone and iPad money buy? Speculation has already included dividends for investors, a spending spree of acquisitions or even a dip into philanthropy. We'd have blown the entire bundle on the largest indoor laser tag facility ever built long ago, so this time we'll leave the question to the experts -- what do you think the folks in Cupertino will (or should) announce? March 19, 2012 08:00 AM EST
Apple hosting conference call on March 19 to discuss cash balance
Apple issued a press release today (Sunday, March 18) saying that CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer will host a conference call bright and early on Monday, March 19 to "announce the outcome of the Company's discussions concerning its cash balance." The call should be of particular interest to shareholders, who could possibly hear of a dividend payment. The press release also notes that "Apple will not be providing an update on the current quarter nor will any topics be discussed other than cash." To listen in on the call, which begins at 6 AM PDT / 9 AM EDT, a webcast is available here. The rebroadcast of the call will be available for approximately two weeks afterwards.
A look at Apple's "all-star" executives
Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, and Steve Jobs are big names at Apple. These top executives are known around the technology industry and around the world for their operational excellence, marketing know-how, design genius and powerful reality distortion fields. While these four men often get credit for much of Apple's success, the company boasts an enviable collection of talented "chiefs" and senior vice presidents who help carve its skyward path. A new gallery from CNN Money takes a brief look at eleven of Apple's all-stars. For avid fans of Apple, some of the names mentioned in CNN Money's gallery may be familiar. But if you don't recognize names like Craig Federighi, Scott Forstall, Bob Mansfield, Ron Johnson, Peter Oppenheimer, Bruce Sewell, Jeff Williams, Eddy Cue, Katie Cotton, Dr. Guy "Bud" Tribble, or Greg Joswiak, this may be a good opportunity to brush up on the men and women who help shape one of the world's most successful companies.
The most interesting things from Apple's Q1 earnings call
Perhaps, like me, you find most financial news and statistics boring. Perhaps, like me, when the AAPL liveblog came up yesterday, you decided it was probably time to go get some lunch instead. Fortunately, we have access to Business Insider, where they've compiled a quick and easy list of truly interesting items from the call yesterday, in plain English, with nary a mention of terms like "general allocation accounting" or "high-interest stock targets" (yawn). The long and short of it: There was no mention of Steve Jobs' illness, but Tim Cook and Peter Oppenheimer impressed, as did the company's standing in general (not surprising -- that's been the case for a while now). Apple's revenue grew 70% year over year, an astounding feat in an otherwise down economy. iTunes is now a $4 billion dollar industry in itself, and in just the first year of its life, the iPad has replaced 7% of all PC business. That's incredible, as are most of the other things on BI's list. Oh, and that $40 billion in cash that Apple's had to throw around for the past few years? Make that $60 billion. Yowza! Now that's worth paying attention.
Apple's invested in a 'very strategic' $3.9b component supply agreement, but what is it?
Here's an interesting little note from Apple's record-breaking Q1 2011 financial sales call: according to CFO Peter Oppenheimer and acting CEO / COO Tim Cook, the company's made a two-year, $3.9 billion deal with three suppliers to secure a "very strategic" component for its products. Cook wouldn't identify what the component was, citing competitive reasons, but he did say the arrangement was much like Apple's famous deals to source iPod flash memory that date back to 2005. According to Tim, "We think that was an absolutely fantastic use of Apple's cash, and we constantly look for more of these, and so in the past several quarters we've identified another area... these payments consist of both prepayments and capital for processes and tooling, and similar to the flash agreement, they're focused in an area that we think is very strategic." Importantly, Apple paid out $650m under its agreements for this mystery part this past quarter, and it's planning to spend another $1.05b in payments next quarter, so this is already happening in a big way -- and frankly, we're dying to know what it is, since Apple has a long history of squeezing the market for components it wants. Our best guess? High-density displays for the iPhone and iPad -- we've heard some rumors of deals with Toshiba and Sharp, but that's just conjecture, and we don't know who the third vendor is. We're digging, but in the meantime listen to Peter and Tim in the clip after the break.
Apple posts record $3.25b profit in first full quarter of iPad sales, says more 'amazing products' coming this year
Apple just posted up its third quarter earnings -- its first full quarter selling the iPad -- and, well, it's raining cash in Cupertino. The company posted a record profit of $3.25b on record revenues of $15.7b, which is up from $1.83b and $9.73b from a year ago. The big stat? Apple sold 3.27 million iPads, nearly matching the 3.47 million Macs sold -- and Mac sales were up 33 percent from a year ago to set a new quarterly record. Yeah, damn. iPhone sales -- including the first few weeks of the iPhone 4 -- were up 61 percent from a year ago to 8.4 million, and the iPod continued its slow decline, down eight percent to 9.41 million units sold. Over half of the Apple's sales -- 52 percent -- were international, and Jobs is quoted saying "we have amazing new products still to come this year." Not a bad way to head into back-to-school and the holidays, we suppose -- we've got a feeling those iPad numbers are just going to go up. The conference call to discuss all this is at 5pm ET, we'll be covering it live right here. Update: The call is all done -- the full liveblog is after the break. We didn't learn too much apart from the fact that Apple's selling every iPhone and iPad it can make (Tim Cook repeated this over and over), and that Apple's setting aside $175 million in revenue to cover the free iPhone 4 cases. Of course, given that Apple added an additional $4.1 billion in cash to its warchest this quarter for a total of $45.8 billion, that's pretty much pocket change, but there's the number.
Apple CFO says DVR, CableCARD not coming to Apple TV
Although Apple has always referred to the Apple TV as a "hobby," there's been a lot of speculation regarding the future of the box recently -- it was first introduced nearly three years ago, and although the interface has since been upgraded, it's still essentially the same product, leading to whispers that Apple was working on a new DVR-enabled model with CableCARD tuners that would replace your cable box. Awesome, right? Not so fast -- according to analysts at Caris and Company, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer "pretty much killed" that idea when they asked him about it, saying it didn't mesh with Apple's business. Yeah, it's sad, but it makes a lot of sense -- Apple probably doesn't want you to record for free what you can buy from the iTunes Store, and we can't imagine anyone at Apple looking back at their experience with AT&T and deciding that partnering up with Comcast or Time Warner Cable was the next logical move. Still -- doesn't it seem like it's time for something to happen with the Apple TV? Who know, maybe we'll find out tomorrow. [Via iLounge]
Apple CFO hints at possibly big "product transitions" before September
Apple is notorious for providing extremely conservative guidance to investors. Still, with Mac sales on the rise, iPods doing their thing, and the ability to begin posting revenue from an expected 1 million iPhones in the new quarter don't you think that a guidance of just 65 cents per share (after a record 92) is just a tad, say, absurd? That point was certainly not lost on UBS analyst, Benjamin Reitzes, who kicked off Apple's Q&A yesterday with the following: "You just guided 66 cents and came up with 92. Why should we believe that this 65 cents this time when you've been so conservative? Are you really that worried about component costs or is there something else going on with regard to an upcoming price cut for a product?" Apple's CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, cited the following three factors as the reason: Apple's "expensive" back to school promotion which will run most of the quarter, higher component costs, and most intriguingly, "some product transitions." As Forbes opines, that could translate into the operating costs required to cover a pretty significant product shake-up this fiscal quarter. So don't be surprised when new iMacs, iLife and a touchscreen video iPod are announced in the next few months. And perhaps, if you're really good, you'll see a flash-based 12-inch MacBook Pro and new iPhone version(s) make their way to retail in the quarter ending September 30th -- ok, probably not but you can hope now can't you fanboy?
