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Renowned chip designer leaps from Samsung to Apple
Apple's latest win against Samsung didn't happen in the court; it took place in the workplace. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Apple has added Samsung's Jim Mergard to its growing list of top industry talent. Mergard is a chip industry veteran who joined Samsung after a 16-year stint at AMD. At AMD, he reportedly worked on Brazos, a successful line of processors for low-end portable computers that competed favorably with Intel's Atom processor. Apple, not surprisingly, declined to comment on Mergard's employment.
Apple 1 fails to sell at auction
Christie's auctioned off an original Apple 1 motherboard this week and the piece of Apple history failed to garner enough bids to reach its reserve price. According to an ABC News report, the Apple 1 had a top bid of £32,000 (US$51,155), which is well below the £50,000 ($80,000) reserve. The computer will now go back to the consignor, who will decide what to do with the machine. According to the auction description, the Apple I came from the estate of former Apple employee Joe Copson. It is numbered 01-0022 and is believed to be the 22nd model to be manufactured by Apple in 1976. The motherboard was originally sold without a case, keyboard or monitor, but the model featured in the auction included a third-party case designed to look like an Apple II. Approximately 200 models of the Apple 1 were sold between 1976 and 1977, and only 50 of those units are still in circulation. [Via The Mac Observer]
San Francisco Chronicle publishes Steve Jobs retrospective
The San Francisco Chronicle used the anniversary of Steve Jobs' death to compile a 57-photo retrospective that looks back at the life of the Apple founder. The photos start with a picture of Jobs holding an Apple II in 1977 and end with a tribute to the Apple CEO displayed on an iPad. Head over to the San Francisco Chronicle's website and take a few minutes to check out the photos. It's a wonderful way to remember the Apple visionary on this somber anniversary.
Time capsule containing Steve Jobs' mouse lost for 29 years
The other day, blogger Marcel Brown wrote about a cassette tape that had been found and given to him. That tape contained a recording of Steve Jobs speaking at the International Design Conference in Aspen (IDCA) in 1983, and has been widely reported as proof that Jobs was envisioning iPad and iPhone-like devices even back in those days. One other fun tidbit from Brown's post was the hint that Jobs had contributed something to a time capsule (no, not the Apple backup device) that was buried during the conference. Today, Brown posted a followup about the time capsule. Apparently, while Jobs was giving his talk at the IDCA, he was using an Apple Lisa that was connected to and controlling six slide projectors. Jobs was asked by one of the conference participants to donate an item to be buried in a time capsule for either 20 years or until the year 2000, so he thought about it for a second, then unplugged the Lisa's mouse and handed it to the man. Well, unfortunately nobody is quite sure where exactly the time capsule was buried. In order to dig up this piece of Jobs history, Brown is organizing an effort to recover it. If you or anyone you know attended the IDCA in 1983 and might have an inkling of where the time capsule is hiding, please contact Brown. With any luck, the mouse and other artifacts might be unearthed on the 30th anniversary of the conference.
Original Mac factory fails to become a historic site
The city of Freemont, Calif., has been trying to get the factory that assembled the first Macs recognized as a national historic site. Unfortunately, the effort has failed. The reason? It's too young. According to Mercury News, the city council noted that, at just 30 years old, the factory is too young to meet state and federal criteria for a historic designation. A site must be 50 years old or older to receive such an honor. There was a financial barrier, too. The News reports that the review process could have cost around US$45,000. In the article, Fremont Mayor Gus Morrison recounted a story about a phone call he once received from an irate Jobs when there was an issue with the building inspection process. Let's say Jobs used "colorful" language to make his point. Bad luck for the factory. Perhaps if its kept in good repair for another 20 years, it will receive the recognition it deserves. [Via MacObserver]
Steve Jobs' former friends, colleagues share memories
As we approach the first anniversary of Steve Jobs' passing, former friends and colleagues are sharing memories of time spent with Apple's former CEO. Several of those stories will appear in the October 22nd, 2012 issue of Forbes magazine. One amusing tale comes from Randy Adams, who worked with Jobs at NeXT. The pair had bought Porsche 911s and always parked them side-by-side. One day Adams received a phone call from Jobs, telling him they had to move their cars. When he asked why, Steve answered: "Ross Perot is coming by and thinking of investing in the company, and we don't want him to think we have a lot of money." They moved the cars to behind the building and Perot later invested US$20 million. There are a few more fun stories in the article. Check it out and look for the forthcoming issue of Forbes for more.
Apple facing European investigation of Apple Care sales
European Union Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding is asking EU countries to confirm that Apple retailers are advertising the buyers' right to a minimum two-year warranty for qualifying products. Reding notes that "Apple prominently advertised that its products come with a one-year manufacturer warranty but failed to clearly indicate the consumers' automatic and free-of-cost entitlement to a minimum two-year guarantee under EU law" in a letter to EU members. You'll remember that Apple was recently fined heavily by the Italian Antitrust Authority for a similar issue. Specifically, Apple was found to have pushed its own Apple Care warranty while failing to inform customers of the two-year Consumer Code that's free and readily available to all. Apple was told to alter sales packages of the Apple Protection Plan to include information on the free service that's available to customers after two years. Apple did not offer comment to Bloomberg, which published the story.
Apple stock buyback to begin today
Part of Apple's plan to burn up a bit of that US$117.2 billion cache of cash starts today, according to Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt. Over the next three years, Apple will use US$10 billion to repurchase shares of AAPL. Elmer-DeWitt notes that one Wall Street analyst, Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi, was less than thrilled by the announcement of the stock buyback when it was announced back in March. Sacconaghi wanted the company to give back some of the cash horde to shareholders, in particular the institutional investors who hold 70 percent of the total ownership of Apple. The repurchase plan really doesn't accomplish that, and Sacconaghi believes that many institutional investors wanted to see a larger dividend instead. The impact of most stock buyback programs is an increase in earnings per share (EPS), since the earnings are spread over a smaller number of shares. Sacconaghi believes that EPS will only climb about 1-2 percent per year as a result of the buyback program, and that there won't be a rise in the share price as a result.
Apple removes iPod Socks from online store
Apple has pulled iPod Socks from the online Apple Store. Darn! Introduced in 2004, the fuzzy accessory has failed to toe the line. If you still have one, sock it away for posterity. I have a grey one around here somewhere. Finally, if you've got more than one, don't be a heel. Share with your family and friends. It's sad when Apple admits defeet.
MySpace keeps Apple from Music app icon trademark
Apple's trying to file paperwork to nail down a trademark on its Music app icon, but the trademark is being blocked by a pretty unlikely source: MySpace. And it's not even related to the recent reinvention of the second-place social network, either. Back in 2008, a music service called iLike registered the mark above on the right, and the trademark office is saying that mark conflicts with the mark Apple is trying to reserve, presumably because they both use orange and two eighth notes. iLike was eventually acquired by MySpace, which means that company now owns the trademark that Apple is trying to pick up. This shouldn't be too much of a roadblock for Apple, however. It can appeal this decision, and perhaps argue that the two marks are different in some significant way. Or, it can probably license the mark from MySpace, hopefully for a nominal fee. Or, if the mark doesn't hold up at all, Apple could just redesign the icon and release a new one. Either way, this shouldn't be too much of a worry. We'll probably see a resolution in Apple's favor soon. [via Gizmodo]
How Corning developed the iPhone glass
WIRED has published a compelling look at how Corning created Gorilla Glass, which is used in iPhones. Steve Jobs went to Corning in 2005 and convinced CEO Wendell Weeks that is company could invent a new type of glass within six months. That meeting was related in Walter Isaacson's bio of Jobs, but the story of how Corning did it has not been told. WIRED begins with the company's accidental invention of the material that would become Corningware and goes on from there. For example, one of the first conversations Corning had with Jobs was about a projection technology it was working on. Jobs called it "dumb." Corning got to work and saw promise in a cooling technique called fusion draw. Unfortunately, it had only one plant capable of the process. I won't spoil anything by saying it eventually worked out. That's the end of the story, which I encourage you to read in full. Each new iteration of Gorilla Glass presents its own challenges. It's a fascinating story about a component of our iPhones we look at every day.
Entire Apple design team receives award in London
Apple's design team was named the best design studio of the last 50 years by D&D, and, according to the London Evening Standard, the whole design team was on hand to accept the prestigious Design and Art Direction (D&D) award. In honor of the award, Apple flew the entire 16-member team from San Francisco to London for D&D's 50-year anniversary ceremony. This isn't Apple's first design award, but it is is the first time the entire design team was present to receive an award. Sir Jonathan Ive lead the team, which includes 14 men and two women, in accepting the award. D&D is a London charity that promotes "brilliance in commercial creativity" and celebrates "excellence within the creative industries and beyond." Its annual awards event is highly regarded among advertising and design professions.
Judge denies motion to lift Apple's ban on Galaxy Tab 10.1
Stay with me on this one. There's a little back-and-forth to get through. Earlier this summer, US District Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple an injunction that would ban the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US. An appeals court later affirmed the ruling. Then in August, there was confusion over the implications of an unregistered patent. To make a long, jargon-heavy story short, the jury found that it did not infringe Apple's design patent. As you'd expect, Samsung wasted not a minute in filing a motion to lift the sales ban and get the Galaxy Tab 10.1 onto US shelves. On Monday, Judge Koh denied the motion. You can read her ruling here. Apple is now expected to ask the judge to overturn the jury's decision. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.
Jony Ive will design limited-edition Leica camera for charity
Apple's own Sir Jony Ive will design a one-off camera for Leica, to be auctioned off for charity. That's right, only one unit will be produced. The announcement was made at a special event that Ive was supposed to attend. In the end, he couldn't make it, but the company went ahead with the announcement anyway. Collectors with a love of fine design, and very deep pockets, will want to keep an eye out for this one.
Apple: iPhone 5 generates 2 million pre-orders in 24 hours
Apple's Phil Schiller has announced that Apple's iPhone 5 generated 2 million pre-orders within the first 24 hours of availability, according to The Loop. "iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal," Schiller said. "iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we've ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do." Meanwhile, AT&T notes that it set sales records with the iPhone 5, outselling all previous iPhone models. The US carrier called it "[our] most successful iPhone launch ever."
Happy 5th anniversary, iPod touch
Here's to the lesser cousin of the iPhone, the iPod touch, first shown on this day at the "Beat Goes On" event back in 2007. I still own and use a first-generation 8 GB iPod touch, even though it doesn't have a speaker, only has WiFi, has no camera and will never be up-to-date with the latest version of iOS. For casual gaming, radio streaming and the occasional kid use, my iPod touch still serves a useful purpose -- and gets better battery life than my iPhone 4S. Last year I bought my kids the latest generation of iPod touches so they could stay in touch with me. While it's unfortunate they are still locked into a paltry 8 GB of storage (and love to take photos and videos), the touch is a valuable communications tool for them, not to mention a never-ending mine of games on the store to keep them busy. There's usually talk around this time of the year of Apple killing off the iPod touch, and recent rumors suggest some new line of iPod might replace it, but I have my doubts. The touch is like a beginner's iPhone, and is perfect for anyone who doesn't need a contract or additional phone, but wants to try the App Store and iOS. Apple might not sell nearly as many as they'd like, but I think the device still serves an important purpose. Below is a video of Steve Jobs introducing the iPod touch in 2007. Do you have one? Do you think Apple will kill it off this year? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Bob Mansfield once again listed as SVP on Apple's site (Updated)
The friendly and familiar face of Apple's Bob Mansfield remained in Apple's gallery of executive portraits in the Apple web site's PR pages, sans title, despite his retirement from the company. Now he's officially de-retired and back in the executive suite. Mansfield was the senior vice president of hardware engineering for many years at Apple, responsible for the technical design of such classic computers as the iMac and the MacBook Air. He announced his retirement from the company in June of this year, and many were surprised earlier this week when it was announced that Mansfield was going to stay on with the company working on "future projects." Mansfield's beauty shot in the executive photo gallery doesn't specify what his new position is; he's simply listed as a senior vice president. Dan Riccio has been named to replace Mansfield in the hardware engineering SVP spot. Update: Post edited to clarify that Mansfield's photo had not been removed; only his title.
Rare Apple I to be sold at auction
Another piece of Apple history is headed to the auction block later this year. According to a report in Computer World, an original Apple I computer will be offered at a Christie's auction that will be held October 9 in London, England. The Apple I belonged to former Apple employee Joe Copson, who reportedly tried to sell the unit on eBay last year for US$179,000. This Apple I is housed in a plastic casing that loosely resembles the Apple II and is missing some DRAM, said Mike Willegal, an expert on the Apple I computer, who talked to Computer World. Unlike the most recent auction for a working Apple I, which sold for $375,000, this Apple I is non-functional and may only fetch $125,000. It is one of only 50 that are still in existence.
Steve Jobs' stolen iPad used by street performer
To close out the work week, here is a story from the Mercury News about the late Steve Jobs's iPad and how it landed in the hands of a middle-aged performer known as Kenny the Clown. As the story goes, professional clown Kenneth Kahn was given an iPad by his friend Kariem McFarlin. He thought McFarlin had bought a new iPad and was giving him an older device. Like any good clown, Kahn loaded the iPad with some music and used it in his Bay area performances. "I didn't notice anything special or anything like that," said Kahn to the Mercury News. It was only a few days later that McFarlin was arrested for burglarizing Steve Jobs's vacant house. As soon as McFarlin was in custody, police came knocking on Kahn's door to retrieve the stolen iPad and return it to Jobs's family. Kahn had no idea that the device he was holding once belonged to the Apple co-founder. "It would be like getting a football from Joe Montana that was stolen out of his house," Kahn told the Mercury News, "It's bizarre; it's really bizarre." We would have to agree. [Image from Flickr member mark falardeau]
Palo Alto home of late Steve Jobs burglarized
The San Jose Mercury News reports that the home of the late Steve Jobs was burglarized July 17, with "computers and personal items" being apparently stolen and possibly sold. No doubt the items stolen would have great value to some people if they knew whose family they were taken from. No word on whether all of the items taken were recovered. This doesn't appear to be a targeted event, however, as the prosecutor says the accused likely didn't realize whose house he was robbing. The Jobs home is currently undergoing renovations.
