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Cupertino Chamber of Commerce gives Steve Jobs posthumous award
Cupertino honored Steve Jobs by posthumously awarding him the 2012 President's Award. The award was presented during the city's Chamber of Commerce STAR Awards ceremony this past Saturday, says a report in Patch. The annual STAR awards recognize citizens who are exceptional in their community service work or leadership. The recipient of the President's Award is decided by Chamber president John Zirelli, a general manager at waste management company Recology. Michael Foulkes, Apple's senior manager for state and local government affairs, accepted the honor on Jobs's behalf. [Via AppleInsider]
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's Sir Jonathan Ive: our competitors have 'completely the wrong goals'
London's favorite only remaining evening free-sheet has snagged an interview with Apple design maven Sir Jonathan Ive. In the piece he talks about being thrilled and humbled by his recent Knighthood, the importance of his London upbringing and why Apple's competitors can't win. Pointing to a desire not to make "genuinely better" products, Cupertino's unnamed rivals instead are "interested in doing something different, or want to appear new," which he says is the wrong goal. The difference is that he and his team aren't tied to a price, a schedule or a marketing scheme -- which he believes "have scant regard for people who use the product." There's also a barbed reference to consumers being able to sense "great care in the design and when there is cynicism and greed" in products on the market. Head on down to the source link to read more, including his frustration with designers who "wag their tails in his face" -- who knew designers had tails, eh?
Rumor mill: Will the new iPad have a tactile display?
Remember Senseg's tactile touchscreen displays? Well, last December the company showed off a screen that used an electrostatic field to simulate friction and textures on the glass. Such technology was a couple of years away from being commercially viable, but there's a tiny glimmer of a chance it might be the new killer iPad feature. Pocket-lint spoke to a company rep who cryptically said that the company wasn't making any statements until "after Apple's announcement." Why would they issue any statement tied to today's Apple news? Could it connect with a remark made back in June 2011 to Trusted Reviews, that Senseg had partnered with a "certain tablet maker based in Cupertino?" Maybe that line in Apple's invitation to today's event is another clue: "We have something you really have to see. And Touch." After all, Siri was announced at the "Let's talk iPhone" event, so it wouldn't be the first time the company places vague hints under our noses. Still, we have but a few hours left to wait until we really know what's coming, so join us for the live announcement later today.
Microsoft files EU antitrust complaint against Motorola Mobility, claims unfair licensing practices
Early last week, the European Commission gave Google its blessing regarding the purchase of Motorola Mobility. But the honeymoon has been anything but relaxing for the search giant and its latest power-play acquisition, after Apple filed an antitrust complaint, claiming a breach of the company's FRAND obligations. Now Microsoft is waiving the antitrust flag as well, claiming that the company is reportedly abusing its standard-essential patents, impeding fair access to patents that are fundamental to regular device function -- this time dealing with video streaming and wireless connectivity. Microsoft Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner has posted an appeal to the company's TechNet blog, outlining the issue and explaining that "Motorola is attempting to block sales of Windows PCs, our Xbox game console and other products," further claiming that "Motorola is on a path to use standard essential patents to kill video on the Web, and Google as its new owner doesn't seem to be willing to change course." The key issue at hand is patent pricing -- Microsoft claims that Motorola is demanding an impossibly high royalty of $22.50 for a $1,000 laptop, and that only covers fees for H.264 licensing. It's no secret that Motorola's patent portfolio was a key component of Google's acquisition, and so far it doesn't appear that the company is making any suggestion that Motorola ease up on licensing fees. As always, we'll be keeping an eye on the process, but hit up the source link below for the full scoop from MS.
Apple asks EU regulators to step in on Motorola patent dispute
Apple already asked the European Telecommunications Standards Institute for more transparency on FRAND licensing, and now it's seeking a full-blown intervention. Motorola Mobility claims it received a letter on Friday from the European Commission advising there has been a complaint against it from Apple. The letter also stated that Cupertino wants the Commission to enforce the firm's standards-essential patents that breach agreed FRAND commitments. This latest development comes just one day after a German court awarded Apple an injunction against Motorola's implementation of slide-to-unlock on smartphones, as well as an ongoing saga of similar disputes with the firm. It's also just days after the European Commission approved Google's acquisition of the handset maker, based on beliefs that it "does not itself raise competition issues."
Apple wants to file patent lawsuit against Kodak, fully aware that Kodak's bankrupt
Poor Kodak just can't catch a break these days. Nearly a month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and mere days after shuttering its digital camera business, the sputtering company now finds itself the target of no less a behemoth than Apple. Yesterday, Cupertino's legal team asked a US Bankruptcy Court for permission to go after Kodak on two legal fronts: with a patent infringement lawsuit in a Manhattan district court, and a corollary complaint in the ITC. According to Bloomberg, Apple's patent suit focuses on technologies that Kodak uses in its line of digital cameras, printers and digital picture frames. Unfortunately for Kodak, printers are one of the product areas it recently decided to focus on, as confirmed in last week's restructuring announcement. Salt, meet wound.These two companies, of course, have been involved in an ongoing ITC battle over Kodak's image transfer technology, with the latest salvo coming last month, when the camera company launched a fresh batch of litigation against both Apple and HTC. If the bankruptcy court grants Apple's request, the company will head straight to court, in the hopes of obtaining a block against Kodak's allegedly infringing products. Kodak, meanwhile, could file a request to hold off the district level case until the ITC ruling comes through, though Apple said yesterday that it would press forward, regardless. The company was also quick to point out that it's not legally bound to request permission to sue a court-protected bankrupt company, but did so "out of an abundance of caution," which is really considerate, if you think about it.
Reports: Authorities removing iPads from stores in China, following trademark ruling
Government authorities and retailers have reportedly begun removing iPads from stores in China this morning, in apparent response to a ruling issued in December. According to China's Hebei Youth Daily, local representatives of the country's Administrations of Industry and Commerce (AIC) have started confiscating Apple's tablet from retail outlets, with some merchants voluntarily removing the device from their storefronts as a preemptive measure. The scope of this operation remains unclear, though China.com reports that as of 5:00 PM yesterday, authorities had seized some 45 iPad 2s. Retailers who voluntarily removed their iPads apparently did so to protect their stocks from confiscation, and are reportedly continuing to sell the tablet behind the counter. These reports come nearly two months after Apple lost a trademark lawsuit against Proview Technology, which successfully defended its ownership of the iPad name within China. We're still waiting to see whether this is part of a larger nationwide campaign and Apple has yet to comment, but we'll update this post as soon as we hear more. Update: China's iFeng is now reporting that these seizures took place in the city of Shijiazhuang, as part of what appears to be an isolated campaign. Update 2: Looks like the iPad is no longer on sale at Amazon China.
Apple asks European standards body for more transparency on FRAND licensing
With its legal battles intensifying across the globe, Apple has appealed to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, calling for a more consistent approach to the licensing of essential patents. In a letter dated November 11th, Cupertino outlined its issues with today's licensing system, with a particular emphasis on patents licensed on a FRAND basis. According to Apple, the entire telecom industry lacks a "consistent policy" on FRAND licensing -- an issue that, not surprisingly, is especially critical to the company's ongoing court cases in Europe. Because of this inconsistency, Apple argues, patent royalty rates are often negotiated arbitrarily and in secret, resulting in abnormally high rates and, of course, plenty of lawsuits. "It is apparent that our industry suffers from a lack of consistent adherence to FRAND principles in the cellular standards arena," wrote Bruce Watrous, Apple's head of intellectual property. The company went on to suggest an alternative solution, calling for ETSI to establish "appropriate" FRAND licensing rates for companies to follow, adding that these rates should be limited to an industry-wide standard, and that companies should be barred from using industry-essential patents to force injunctions.
Report: Google hires Apple exec to work on 'secret project'
Google appears to have scored another coup in its ongoing rivalry with Apple, having reportedly lured one of the company's senior directors to its Mountain View headquarters. Simon Prakash, pictured above, has worked at Apple for more than eight years, most recently serving as the firm's senior director of product integrity. According to VentureBeat, however, that tenure has come to a close, now that Google has hired Prakesh to work on a "secret project." The report speculates that this project could be helmed by co-founder Sergey Brin, and that it may be mobile-related, though declarative statements were few and far between. Prior to arriving at Apple, Prakash served as director of engineering design validation at Cielo Communications, and held managerial positions at 3Com. VentureBeat claims he'll be starting work at Google today, though the company has yet to issue any statement on the matter. Once finalized, though, the hiring could help dispel some of those "no poach" accusations flying around federal courts.
Tim Cook defends Senior VP of Retail appointment
Apple announced earlier this week that the former CEO of UK electronics chain Dixons, John Browett, was being appointed to the head of retail in Cupertino, but since then, there's been some rumbling among those interested that Browett might not have been the best man for the job. Dixons hasn't exactly been a huge hit in the UK lately, and the pick of an old school retail head for Apple's very progressive retail division seems like it might have been a mistake. But Tim Cook doesn't believe so. The new Apple CEO says as much in an email sent to blogger and photographer Tony Hart. In the email, published in a post about why Hart loves Apple, Cook says "John was the best by far." To answer the critics claiming that Apple went backwards hiring an old electronics retailer head for their stores, Cook says plainly that Browett's "role isn't to bring Dixons to Apple, [it's] to bring Apple to an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction." Well now. Aside from the actual news about the appointment, that certainly sounds like a CEO who's making decisions and standing behind them. Obviously that might backfire in the future, but if the most recent releases are any indication, Apple's future in Tim Cook's hands looks very secure.
Report: Apple mulling second Israeli facility after Anobit purchase
It looks like Apple's acquisition of Anobit was only one part of its Israel-based plans -- business daily Calcalist is claiming that the company will open a research center there by the end of February. It's unrelated to the purchase of the flash-chip maker, since Ed Frank was apparently despatched to scope out suitable bases for a new facility in early 2011. It's reportedly going to be based in the Matam Technology District, south of Haifa, adjacent to similar facilities operated by Microsoft, Intel and Philips. It's already received hundreds of resumes for engineers: it's looking for those with specific know-how in chip development, hardware testing and verification. The new complex is to be kept separate from Anobit, with no communication allowed between the two teams. Another tidbit that emerged from yesterday's conference call was that Bob Mansfield is integrating Anobit's team into Apple's, but company founder Ehud Weinstein will depart for pastures new -- much in the same way that some of Intrinsity and PA Semi's staff departed after being swallowed by Cupertino's cash.
Apple announces Q1 earnings, sets quarterly record with $46.33 billion in revenue
It's that time folks: time for the quarterly running of the spreadsheets. Today Apple, one the most anticipated of all, is revealing its earnings for the past three months and let's just say things are lookin' pretty good for the Cupertino crew. The company set a new record for quarterly revenue and profit in Q1 of 2012, netting $46.33 billion in total with $13.06 billion earnings -- the latter number representing about half of the company's annual profit. That's nearly twice what Apple announced for the same (at the time record-setting) period last year -- $26.74 billion and $6 billion, respectively. In total the company shipped 15.4 million iPads, 15.4 million iPods and 5.2 million Macs this quarter. That last number is particularly surprising since it represents a growth of 26 percent over last year, bucking trends that indicated PC growth would remain flat. Even the Apple TV enjoyed a record quarter, selling 1.4 million units.Perhaps more importantly, though, the company sold just over 37 million iPhones -- a 128 percent increase over the same quarter last year and greatly exceeding industry estimates. This also moves Apple back into the number one slot, ahead of Samsung which sold a stunning 35 million units this last quarter. Sales of iPhones and accessories accounted for 24.4 billion of the quarter's revenue. Apple also anticipates to have a strong Q2, though maybe not a record-breaking one, thanks to "some amazing new products in the pipeline." But even if Q2 turns out to be a slow one, Cupertino should be perfectly fine thanks to its $97 billion in cash on hand. Check out the complete PR after the break.
Apple brings iTunes Store to Brazil, Latin America
Apple is extending its sphere of influence south of the equator today, with the launch of the iTunes Store in Brazil and a whole slew of Latin American countries. According to Cupertino, the platform will launch with a catalog of over 20 million songs, from both Brazilian and international artists, as well as a selection of more than 1,000 films for rent or purchase. Also included in today's release are users in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. Find more details in the full PR, after the break.
High school senior kills cancer with nanotech, still can't legally drink
Ever ask yourself, "What am I doing with my life?" No? Well, a little existential crisis is in order then. Because while you and the rest of Team teen America were busy dressing like Gaga, dancing to the Bieber and playing Angry Birds, high school senior Angela Zhang was killing cancer. Yes, this 17-year old medical prodigy from Cupertino was just awarded the Siemens Foundation grand prize -- a $100,000 payday -- for her work "Design of Image-guided, Photo-thermal Controlled Drug Releasing Multifunctional Nanosystem for the Treatment of Cancer Stem Cells." It's certainly a mouthful, but this nanotech is what one fellow researcher's calling the "Swiss Army knife of cancer treatment," as her gold and iron-oxide nanoparticle does double duty delivering the drug salinomycin to a tumor site, in addition to aiding MRI and photoacoustic imaging. If that's not impressive enough, this real-life lady Doogie Howser's also won Intel's ISEF grand award in both 2010 and 2011 for other health science-related work. Sure, Angela might inadvertently fall into the overachiever category, but girlfriend definitely deserves to win that Prom Queen crown.
Daily Update for December 7, 2011
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.
Detailed floor plans of new Cupertino 'spaceship' campus released
The city of Cupertino has made the proposed and revised plans for Apple's massive new "spaceship" campus available to the public. If you've got a thing for blueprints and architectural renderings, check out the link to the proposed floor plans for the campus, a 25-page PDF that details the incredible scale and scope of Apple's proposal. Some of the more impressive things I found in my perusal of the plans: The edge-to-edge footprint of the circular structure is just over 1520 feet, or more than a quarter of a mile. The outer circumference of the main building is nearly 4800 feet, or 9/10 of a mile. The main structure contains over 1.8 million square feet of office space spread over 4 above-ground levels. A 4-story, 58,050 square foot restaurant space on the building's northeast corner will provide food for the whole campus. The main building's roof is almost entirely covered in solar panels. Two basement parking levels beneath the main building contain a total of 4300 parking spaces. Another 4-level satellite parking structure provides an additional 4600 spaces. A (relatively) small satellite building provides access to a basement auditorium with seating for approximately 1000 people seated before an enormous stage -- very probably the site of future Apple events. Another satellite structure contains a gigantic corporate fitness center with a 2-story, 48,000 square foot exercise area and what looks like an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Six separate R&D facilities comprise a total of 300,000 square feet of space. The scale of this new campus is impressive and ambitious in just about every detail, and it'll be quite a thing to see once it's finished in 2015.
Apple patents workflow sharing using NFC, because it's never too late
Two things that are guaranteed to mess with your brain: playing the oboe and reading dense Apple patent applications. You do find the occasional gem, but often you'll read scores of pages only to discover that the so-called invention has already been put to use by others. In this instance, Apple has successfully patented the idea of using NFC to establish a master/slave relationship between two smartphones, as a prelude to making a fully-fledged WiFi connection that allows the sharing of contact details or more complicated sequences of actions. Now, this is a smart idea, especially since the patent specifically talks about retail applications (shown above), but is the end result so wildly different to Android Beam or even Bump? Even Fujitsu came up with a similar concept for using NFC to trigger location-relevant workflows. Either there's some significant overlap here, or we've spent too long playing reed instruments.
Cupertino City Council produces Steve Jobs tribute video
The Cupertino City Council has paid tribute to the memory of Steve Jobs by adjourning its meeting on Tuesday, October 18, 2011. As mentioned on the Cupertino City Council website, "The city is in the process of reviewing the new Apple Campus 2 headquarters project, which was Mr. Jobs' vision." Earlier this year, Steve Jobs unveiled plans to build a new Apple Campus in Cupertino to house the growing needs of the company, alongside its existing campus at 1 Infinite Loop. The council staff also put together a tribute video montage of extracts from Steve Jobs' last presentation to the council, amongst memorable moments of Steve Jobs career at Apple. The last two times Steve Jobs presented at the council, he received standing ovations on both occasions. And on both occasions it was made very clear how proud the council members are to have Apple call Cupertino its home. [Via Business Insider]
Steve Jobs was initially opposed to apps, new biography reveals
Walter Isaacson's new book on late Apple CEO Steve Jobs has yet to be released, but the Huffington Post recently obtained an advanced copy of the authorized biography, and highlighted some of its most salient revelations. Throughout the course of the 656-page book, Isaacson provides fascinating and often intimate insight into Jobs' life and times, including details on his childhood, his Bob Dylan-drenched iPod and, perhaps most notably, his curious philosophy on apps. Strange as it may seem, Jobs was initially opposed to the very concept of an app-based environment, for fear that his company may not be up to the task. According to Isaacson, Apple board member Art Levinson called the CEO "half a dozen times to lobby for the potential of the apps," but Jobs was initially reluctant. "Jobs at first quashed the discussion," Isaacson writes, "partly because he felt his team did not have the bandwidth to figure out all the complexities that would be involved in policing third-party app developers." Needless to say, Jobs and his team eventually figured it out. Walter Isaacson's book, "Steve Jobs," will be released on October 24th, but you can pre-order it from Amazon, at the link below.
