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Art Levinson discusses the post-Jobs era
Art Levinson summed up his experience as chairman of Apple's board of directors since Steve Jobs passed in one word. "Weird," said Levinson who spoke on Tuesday at Stanford's Graduate School of Business "I'm still not to the point where I walk into that boardroom and don't miss Steve," Levinson added. According to a report in Fortune, Levinson talked about a wide range of topics covering his relationship with Jobs, his role as the chairman of Apple's board and his management style at Genentech. Though there are changes at Apple under Tim Cook, Levinson is optimistic about the company in the long run. "There [are] long-term signs of how a company is doing and whether or not Apple sells 47 or 48 million iPhones -- let somebody else worry about that," he said. You can read more about Levinson's talk in the article on Fortune and view people's reactions on Twitter. [Image from Sten Tamkivi]
Apple pays dividend to shareholders this Valentine's Day
Apple shareholders get an extra special Valentine's Day gift from Apple this week in the form of a dividend from the company, says a report in AppleInsider. This will be the third dividend paid to shareholders and will amount to US$2.65 per share. Shareholders will receive the payment on February 15. Apple announced its dividend program last year and said it would distribute $45 billion to its shareholders over the next three years. This breaks down to $2.5 billion per quarter. Though Apple is paying out cash, the company is raking in cash at a faster rate. In its last quarter, Apple added $16 billion to its cash reserve, which now sits at a healthy $137.1 billion.
Flickr find: Nice vintage Mac software collection
Flickr user colecamp has posted a very nice collection of vintage Apple software, pamphlets, promotional material and more. I'm especially envious of the Matt Groening "Life in Hell" piece. He's also got an original 128k Mac manual in fantastic condition. Nice job, colecamp! We love seeing your stuff, and if you'd like to share, add a photo into our Flickr pool.
Alberta's Show Me Apple Museum a nice collection of Apple history
Apple may not be planning on opening a museum in its new Cupertino headquarters, but that doesn't mean you can't find a local museum to learn more about Apple's illustrious history. One such collection is the Show Me Apple museum located in Alberta, Canada. It was founded by Todd Boschee and is one of the largest personal collections of Apple gear in the North American continent. According to the museum's website, the collection started with a few old Apple computers that were purchased from friends. As the Boschees learned more about vintage Apple products, they got bit by the collecting bug. Their museum now houses a variety of Apple computers like the Apple Lisa 2, unusual devices like the QuickTake camera and a handful of signed memorabilia. You can read more about the collection and browse through a photo gallery on the museum's website. If Canada is too far north for your travels, there's also a museum collection of Apple devices making an appearance in Roswell, Georgia in April.
Disney CEO Bob Iger speaks about his relationship with Steve Jobs
Yesterday at the Hollywood Radio and Television Panel, Producer Brian Grazer lead a Q&A with Disney CEO and current Apple board member Bob Iger. Though the discussion was to center around the television and film industry it quickly turned to Iger's relationship with Steve Jobs. In 2006, Disney purchased Pixar. However, Iger said the deal almost didn't happen because of Steve Jobs' disagreements with previous Disney CEO Michael Eisner. When Iger found out he would become the next CEO of Disney in 2005, the first thing he did was call his family -- and then Steve Jobs. "I don't even remember it being totally premeditated," Iger told Grazer. "I just decided to call my parents and my grown daughters in New York and a couple of good friends and Steve." Iger said he asked Jobs if Apple's and Disney's relationship could be "salvaged" to which Jobs responded that he thought Iger was just "more of the same" as Michael Eisner. According to The Wrap, Iger said Jobs' directness was infectious. That in turn led to Iger himself being candid with Jobs about Disney's desire to improve its animated film division by buying Pixar. The Pixar deal was eventually achieved for $7.4 billion in Disney stock, making Steve Jobs the largest shareholder in the company. As for Jobs and Iger, the current Disney CEO said that he took to calling Jobs on Saturdays to see if a Disney movie he saw the night before had "sucked" -- a phrase Steve Jobs was not afraid to use.
Happy birthday, Apple Lisa and the Apple IIe
A happy belated birthday to the Apple Lisa and the Apple IIe! As of January 19th they both turned 30 years old. The two computers pretty much launched Apple and chances are that, without either, none of us would be using our MacBook Airs, iPads or iPhones today. As someone who is barely older than Apple's two 30-somethings, I never had a chance to use either (my first computer was a Commodore 64), but Macworld has a nice history of the two. Both computers were unveiled at Apple's annual shareholder's meeting in 1983. It's crazy to think that at the time the Apple Lisa cost US$9,995, or a whopping $23,000 in today's dollars. For that price you got a lot of plastic, some floppy drives and a 5MHz processor. Compare that to the $499 you pay today for an entry-level iPad with a touchscreen and 1.4GHz A6X processor. For those of you interested in learning even more about the Lisa and Apple IIe be sure to pick up Walter Isaacson's biography on Steve Jobs. Both computers feature heavily in the opening chapters and the history behind each is fascinating.
Tony Fadell discusses inspiring designers
Tony Fadell, the CEO of Nest and former designer on Apple's iPod team, has revealed his list of secrets that inspire designers to make amazing products. Speaking at the Bloomberg Design conference this week, Fadell said it was important for companies to try to create a culture where everyone is striving to tell the same story. Fadell was asked about the differences between Apple and Philips. He said at financially driven companies like Philips, a majority of the products a designer works on will never be shipped -- and the designer knows that. It's customary for new project managers to come in, not understand a product, and scrap it entirely. Fadell says this type of corporate culture doesn't spur designers to do their best work since nine times out of 10 a product would be killed no matter how far along it was. Apple, on the other hand, virtually always ships nine out of 10 products that get to a certain point, according to Fadell. And because those workers were trying to tell the same story with a product -- no matter if they were in design, or programming, or marketing -- a product isn't totally derailed if a new manager comes in. "When you're in a culture that has a point of view, and drives to launch everything it does, you know you're on the hook and you better bring your best game every time," Fadell said. [via GigaOM]
Apple wins Emmy for technology, engineering
Apple was a prominent part of CES even though it didn't have a physical presence at the trade show. Not only were there a large number of iOS and OS X vendors on the show floor, Apple was also awarded a Technology & Engineering Emmy for its iCloud service. As reported by The Loop, the Emmy recognizes "an individual, company or to a scientific or technical organization for developments and/or standardization involved in engineering technologies which either represent an extensive improvement on existing methods or are so innovative in nature that they materially have affected the transmission, recording or reception of television." Apple won the award for its ""Eco-system for Real Time Presentation of TV Content to Mobile Devices without the use of Specialized Television Hardware." It's not entirely clear what ecosystem the award recognizes, but we presume it has to do with iCloud. The Emmy was awarded at an event at the Bellagio Ballroom in Las Vegas. [Via Macgasm]
Tim Cook: cellular iPad to hit China in January
Tim Cook is visiting China this week, and confirmed that the cellular version of Apple's iPad mini will become available in January while talking with Chinese reporters. Cook also noted that the country's approval process prolongs release schedules, and that's something Apple is working to improve. Cook also said that he has plans for 25 Apple Stores in China. There are currently eight up and running on the mainland. During his stay, Tim Cook and Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller visited an authorized Apple reseller, and Cook met with representatives of China Mobile and the country's government. He famously toured a Foxconn plant last March.
Happy 12th birthday, iTunes
Twelve years ago today on January 9, 2001, iTunes 1.0 was released to the world. Arguably it was as important as the iPod to Apple's eventual turnaround and its growth into the largest and most influential tech company on the planet. iTunes 1.0 was released for Mac OS 9.0.4 (9.1 was recommended and 9.0 wouldn't run it) at Macworld Expo that January 9th. Successive releases made iTunes an increasingly important part of our digital lives. Here are some features introduced in major updates: iTunes 2.0 (October 23, 2001) -- iPod support, OS X support iTunes 3.0 (July 17, 2002) -- Smart Playlists, Audible.com audiobooks iTunes 4.0 (April 28, 2003) -- Arguably the most important update ever, the advent of the iTunes Store. At first it only offered music, but eventually TV shows, movies, books and apps would be added. iTunes 4.1 (October 16, 2003) -- iTunes for Windows iTunes 4.9 (July 28th, 2005) -- Podcasts iTunes 7.0 (September 12, 2006) -- Click wheel iPod games iTunes 7.6 (January 15, 2008) -- Movie rentals iTunes 10.0 (September 1, 2010) -- The ill-fated Ping iTunes 11.0 (November 29, 2012) -- Most significant UI redesign in its history Love it or loathe it, iTunes is a necessity for anyone with an iOS device. In 12 years, it's become a household word. Here's to another dozen years, iTunes! (People who want to see a full list of version release features should read the excellent iTunes version history Wikipedia article, where some of the info above was pulled from.)
Apple Safari is 10 years old today
Sniff. Those children of ours get so old so quickly... Today is the 10th birthday of Apple's Safari web browser, so have a little cake or maybe propose a toast to the default Mac and iOS browser. The first version of Safari was released as a public beta exactly 10 years ago today. The app was designed by Apple to replace Microsoft Internet Explorer, which was the default Mac browser up to OS X 10.2. Steve Jobs introduced Safari at Macworld San Francisco on January 7, 2003, announcing that Apple based the browser on the company's internal fork of the KHTML rendering engine -- Webkit. The first official version was released on June 23, 2003. Safari's little brother for iOS made its debut in 2007 along with the iPhone. As of today, Safari 6.0.2 is the latest version of the Mac browser, while Windows users can still run Safari 5 on their devices. Happy Birthday, Safari!
IDEO founder David Kelley talks about Steve Jobs on 60 Minutes
David Kelley is a well-known entrepreneur and design professor at Stanford. The IDEO founder recently sat down and talked to 60 Minutes about his life, his work at IDEO and his time at Stanford. A small part of the segment also discusses his interactions with Steve Jobs and Apple. Kelley's design firm IDEO worked with Apple on the first mouse, the Apple III, the Lisa computer and more. Through his work on these products, Kelley became a personal friend to Jobs. You can jump directly to the Apple parts at the 3:00 and 7:40 marks or listen to the entire 12-minute remarks. [Via MacRumors]
YouTube playlist: Apple II games
Hey, it's Friday! Besides Tim Cook going on a media tour recently there's not much going on, so let's reminisce. I grew up with an Apple II and this video playlist of old games for the venerable platform had me watching in awe as someone with more skill than I deftly played through games like Aztec and Castle Wolfenstein. To this day those creepy, scratchy Nazi guard voices haunt me. To cleanse your palate, try some lemonade. And below is a video of the Computer Chronicles talking about the "upcoming" Apple IIc and IIgs. Good times, great oldies.
Tim Cook discusses manufacturing, Maps in Bloomberg interview
Apple CEO Tim Cook has given an interview to Bloomberg Businessweek, in which he discusses his first year at Apple, the company's manufacturing practices, Maps and much more. Regarding Apple's overseas manufacturing partners, Cook noted that many Apple employees spend time in China: "We have hundreds of people that reside in China in the plants on a full-time basis that are helping with manufacturing and working on manufacturing process and so forth. The truth is we couldn't innovate at the speed we do if we viewed manufacturing as this disconnected thing. It's integrated." Cook also discussed Apple's poorly received Maps application, its replacement for the recently scuttled Google Maps for iOS. He acklowdges the poor result in no uncertain terms: "We set out to give the customer something to provide a better experience. And the truth is it didn't live up to our expectations. We screwed up." There's so much more to this compelling interview. It ends with Cook speaking about his friendship with the late Steve Jobs: "I guess the external view of that is that [Steve was] a boss, but when you work with someone for that long, for me anyway, the relationship is really important. You know? I don't want to work with people I don't like. Life is too short. So you do become friends. Life has too few friends."
Tim Cook announces plans to manufacture Mac computers in USA
Tim Cook has told NBC News that Apple intends to manufacture Mac computers in the USA. In an exclusive interview that will air on the network's "Rock Center" with Brian Williams, Cook stated that one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured in the States exclusively, starting next year. You'll remember that Tim Cook recently met with US President Barack Obama, as did Cook's predecessor, Steve Jobs. The topic of Apple's manufacturing practices was a topic during all of those conversations. While Jobs stated that Apple wouldn't bring hardware manufacturing jobs to the US, Cook obviously sees differently. "The consumer electronics world was really never here," Cook told NBC. "It's a matter of starting it here."
Tony Fadell claims Scott Forstall 'got what he deserved'
Former Apple employee Tony Fadell, known for his work on the iPod, talked to the BBC's Leo Kelion about his time at Apple and his current work at Nest. He also briefly discussed Scott Forstall and his clashes with the former iOS chief. Fadell didn't elaborate on his relationship with Forstall; he just repeated several times that "Scott got what he deserved." Apple didn't disclose the reasons why Forstall was removed from his position as vice president of iOS software, but reports from insiders suggest Forstall was polarizing within the company and often clashed with other employees.
Apple building third campus in Santa Clara
Apple is expanding by leaps and bounds and is outgrowing its current Cupertino campus. To handle the overflow, Apple is beginning construction on a new two-building campus in Santa Clara, California. According to a report in the Mercury News, the new six-story office buildings will be located right outside Cupertino city limits. Apple is allegedly leasing the space from developer Peery Arrillaga in a deal that requires the demolition of existing buildings and the construction of new ones built to Apple's specifications. Apple supposedly signed a 7- to 10-year lease agreement for the site, which suggests this is a long-term solution and not just a temporary measure to hold employees while Apple finishes its new Cupertino campus. The first Santa Clara building is now under construction and will be completed by mid-2014. The timeline for the other building is not known.
Watch every Apple TV ad in a single YouTube playlist
Over the years, Apple has produced a lot of TV ads. Rather than try to recall them by memory, you can hop over to YouTube and watch them. A YouTube channel called EveryAppleAds is compiling every Apple TV ad and has 485 videos. The compilation covers everything from a 1983 Apple Lisa ad featuring a young Kevin Costner to the current Thanksgiving iPhone 5 ad that aired last week. You can check out the EveryAppleAds playlist on YouTube or start watching the videos below.
Ars Technica chronicles the history of iTunes
Provided that Apple doesn't decide to delay the release of iTunes 11 until December, the newest iteration of the music/video player/sync tool/store application should be popping out of Cupertino by Friday. iTunes has been around since January 2001, and Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica has done a wonderful job of chronicling the history of the iTunes app since that time. Cheng notes that when iTunes 1.0 first hit Macs, Apple hadn't even released the first iPod. At the time, the app was used to rip CDs, let you create your own playlists, and then burn mix CDs of your own. Ten months after the first release of iTunes, version 2.0 shipped along with the iPod. It wasn't until iTunes 4.0 that we had our first chance at purchasing music with the app, and music videos didn't arrive on the scene until iTunes 6.0 in October of 2005. Movies showed up with 7.0, the iTunes Genius with 8.0, and home sharing with 9.0. Do any of us remember what the big marquee feature of iTunes 10.0 was? Ping, the social network that nobody used. Cheng finishes off her history of iTunes with a peek at what to expect this week (or next month) when iTunes 11 finally appears. "So what makes the next version of iTunes so great? For one, it has a revamped UI meant to provide a more themed experience when listening to albums. It also has better integration with iCloud, which now automatically downloads your iOS device purchases directly to your iTunes library on the computer. And finally, iTunes can pick up on a movie where you left off on your iPhone or iPad. Oh, and did we mention the redesigned Mini Player?" We'll let you know when iTunes 11 gets here, so visit TUAW frequently this week until you get the word.
Apple bought "Lightning" trademark from Harley-Davidson
Patently Apple reports that Apple acquired the trademark for "Lightning" from Harley-Davidson. Harley's original holding covered items you'd expect, like motorcycle parts, electrical parts, a protective helmet and turn signal parts. Interestingly, it also covered "computer game programs, eye glasses and eyeglass frames." As we all know, large companies like Apple and Harley-Davidson often acquire patents and trademarks for ideas of products that will never see production. Still, it can be interesting to dive into the history of different filings.
