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Scribd adds unlimited access to 'New York' and 'Time' magazine
Last summer Scribd axed romance novels because it couldn't afford them. Business has apparently stabilized because now it's adding magazines to the fold. Not those types of magazines, though. Starting this month, what's being added to the subscription-based reading service is unlimited access to publications Bloomberg Business Week, Fortune, Money, New York, People and Time. The magazines are a value-add and won't bump the existing $8.99 monthly fee, according to Wall Street Journal.
Apple's iPhone revenues exceed those of Microsoft, Boeing, and other huge corporations
Just for the hell of it, let's say that Apple's iPhone unit was a separate company. Businessweek has done a bit of speculation and determined that the iPhone unit would be the ninth largest company in the Dow Jones Industrial Average based on revenues. Those revenues, which currently reach over US$88 billion annually, are alone enough to beat out those of entire mega-corporations. Think that consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble is huge? iPhone revenues just exceed that company's annual revenues (about $85 billion). Surely all of those huge aircraft rolling out of Boeing's plants have to be worth more in sales revenue than a pile of iPhones, right? Wrong. Boeing's revenues are less than those of the mythical iPhone-only company. And remember, Apple also has other product lines -- the iPad, Macs and various services including iTunes -- that also contribute to the bottom line. Just recall that at the announcement of the iPhone at Macworld Expo in 2007, Steve Jobs felt that achieving 1 percent of the mobile phone market would be a measure of success. In 2013, the iPhone owns about 7 percent of that global market, but brings in more than 60 percent of the profits in the market. Last weekend's huge launch of the iPhone 5c and 5s make the future of Apple look bright indeed.
How Steve Jobs tried to save HP
In a Bloomberg Businessweek article this week, writers Ashlee Vance and Aaron Ricadela reveal a conversation between former HP CEO Mark Hurd and Steve Jobs that had not been previously disclosed. That article asks whether or not current HP CEO Meg Whitman can save the company that once ruled Silicon Valley but is now seemingly free-falling towards oblivion. Hurd was the CEO of HP between 2006 and 2010, and under his guidance the company became the leader in both PC sales and printer market share. In 2010, Hurd resigned under suspicion of a sexual harassment allegation and under pressure from a board of directors described as "dysfunctional." Almost immediately, HP's share prices began to fall. Jobs was concerned that the HP board had used the allegation to push Hurd out, a move Oracle CEO and Jobs friend Larry Ellison described as "the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple Board fired Steve Jobs many years ago." Jobs invited Hurd to his home, and the two talked while Jobs took Hurd on one of his customary long walks. To quote the Bloomberg Businessweek article, "At numerous points during their conversation, Jobs pleaded with Hurd to do whatever it took to set things right with the board so that Hurd could return. Jobs even offered to write a letter to HP's directors and to call them up one by one...By offering Hurd counsel, Jobs wasn't merely lending a friend psychological support. Rather, he was going to bat for the legacy of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. A healthy HP, Jobs urged, was essential to a healthy Silicon Valley." The entire article is a fascinating read about a tech company that has lost its spark and a cautionary tale for any company about how quickly fortunes can change.
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."
Exploring Apple's supply chain secrets
One of the unsung heroes in the success of Apple over the past ten years or so has been the ability for the company to take control of manufacturing, procurement, and logistics of its products in ways that are completely innovative. In a Bloomberg Businessweek post yesterday, writers Adam Satariano and Peter Burrows did a deep dive into what makes Apple so successful in terms of operations -- an area where Apple CEO Tim Cook excels. According to the article, Apple has "built a closed ecosystem where it exerts control over nearly every piece of the supply chain, from design to retail store. Because of its volume -- and occasional ruthlessness -- Apple gets big discounts on parts, manufacturing capacity, and air freight." The supply-chain management success story apparently began when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997. At that time, most computer manufacturers shipped their products by sea, which was much less expensive but also slower. Jobs wanted to ensure that the translucent blue iMacs that had just been introduced would be available for Christmas 1998, so he had the company pay $50 million to buy up all available holiday air freight space. Companies such as Compaq later tried to book air transport for holiday shipments, only to find that Apple had monopolized the space. Apple's ability to manufacture a product and ship it right to a customer's door began with the iPod era, and an ex-Hewlett Packard exec recalls that an HP staffer bought one and received it a few days later, watching its progress from factory to home on Apple's website. Mike Fawkes, who was the supply-chain chief at HP, recalls that "it was an 'Oh s---' moment." By doing this, Apple was able to avoid keeping large inventories of product on hand Apple also buys up speciality equipment, including customized lasers that are used to poke the almost-invisible holes that are used to emit a green dot of light on many of the company's products, including the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, as well as the Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad. Those machines cost about $250,000 each, and Apple has bought literally hundreds of them to add a touch to its products that few people may notice. The Bloomberg Businessweek article is a good read, and fascinating for anyone who has an interest in what goes on behind the scenes at Apple.
Bloomberg Businessweek is the latest iPad subscription magazine
Fortune Tech is reporting that another major magazine publisher has agreed to Apple's terms for iTunes magazine subscriptions, increasing the grand total to ... four. Bloomberg Businessweek (free iPad app) joins Maxim, Elle and Popular Science as the fourth magazine to provide subscriptions through iTunes. Most magazine publishers are unwilling to cede Apple 30 percent of the take of subscriptions and have chosen to sell individual issues for the iPad instead. For many of the publishers, it's not really the fact that they'll only make 70 percent of the sales price of the magazine subscription; they're more concerned that subscribers will not agree to share their personal information for market research purposes. The app is free to download, at which time you can buy a subscription through in-app purchase. A subscription to Bloomberg Businessweek will sell for US$2.99 per month, the same price as a subscription to Elle. Popular Science weighs in at $14.99 annually, or $1.25 an issue. Now that a respected business magazine has joined the small group of publishers that have decided that the iTunes model might actually work, we can only hope that some of the other magazine publishers may follow suit. Such heavyweights in the industry as Time, Inc. (Time and Sports Illustrated), Condé Nast (New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired) and Hearst (Cosmpolitan, Esquire) are still refusing to embrace the Apple model.
