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Elon Musk talks up Tesla's 'Cyberpunk truck,' and 400-mile range EVs
This year at Tesla's annual shareholders meeting the conversation went pretty much as we'd expect, with teases of some upcoming products, muttering about negative media coverage and plenty of confidence from CEO Elon Musk. Specifically, he responded to speculation that Tesla is having trouble meeting sales targets by saying that "I want to be clear, there is not a demand problem." According to the company, 90 percent of sales for the Model 3 are going to people who aren't reservation holders, and later on during the event Musk indicated Tesla still isn't thinking of running advertisements. Noting that electric cars introduced recently still don't have more range than the original Model S when it launched in 2012, Musk said that it won't be long before Tesla offers an electric vehicle capable of going 400 miles between charges.
Tim Cook tells shareholders: Apple will not put pure profit over sustainability efforts
During Apple's annual shareholder meeting yesterday, a representative from The National Center for Public Policy Research -- a conservative think tank -- got up and sought an assurance from Tim Cook that Apple's sustainability efforts would only be pursued if deemed to be profitable. Bryan Chaffin of The Mac Observer was in attendance and described Cook's response as follows: What ensued was the only time I can recall seeing Tim Cook angry, and he categorically rejected the worldview behind the NCPPR's advocacy. He said that there are many things Apple does because they are right and just, and that a return on investment (ROI) was not the primary consideration on such issues. "When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind," he said, "I don't consider the bloody ROI." He said that the same thing about environmental issues, worker safety, and other areas where Apple is a leader. But Cook wasn't yet finished. He reportedly looked the NCPPR representative dead in the eyes and said, "If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock." Almost comically, the NCPPR later put out a press release with the bombastic headline, "Tim Cook to Apple investors: Drop Dead." Political leanings aside, it's somewhat absurd for anyone to think that Apple's profitability is the least bit threatened by efforts to be more environmentally and socially conscious. The only companies on the planet generating as much money as Apple are oil and gas companies. What's more, Apple is the only company in the last five years -- with the exception of Gazprom in 2011 -- to post a quarterly profit over $12 billion. In the last two years alone, Apple has had four such quarters. Of all the things people like to rag on Apple for, you would think that Apple's unparalleled ability to generate more cash than it knows what do with would be the one issue people could agree on. On a final and completely unrelated note, Cook said during the shareholders meeting that Apple has acquired 23 companies in the last 16 months alone.
From the Apple shareholders' meeting: Approvals, 'new categories' and another campus delay
The Apple shareholders' meeting was held in Cupertino earlier today, and CNBC has a full liveblog of all of the proceedings. There wasn't a lot of hard news out of the meeting, as most of it was taken up with bureaucratic goings-on, including the approval of a certain accounting firm, a few votes on executive payments and the defeat of a proposal to create a Human Rights board committee at the company. All of Apple's directors were re-elected, and Tim Cook got a 99.1 percent approval rating from investors there. After the meeting, Cook took some questions from shareholders and answered them. He agreed that Apple is just as disappointed as investors in "where the stock trades now versus a few months ago -- but we're focused on the long term." Cook crowed about Apple's huge growth so far, and promised that "obviously we're looking at new categories -- we don't talk about them, but we're looking at them." Finally, Cook gave an update on Apple's new campus, saying that the work is ongoing, but it's proving to be a much bigger project than expected. Last we heard, the project was set to be all done in 2015, but Cook now says that, "I project that we will move in, in 2016." You can read through all of the notes of the meeting on CNBC's site. [via MacRumors]
RIM aims to launch seven smartphones with BlackBerry OS 7 in 'the coming months'
It may look like it's losing the ongoing smartphone war, but Research in Motion is at least preparing for the next battle with reinforcements. Co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis announced at this week's annual shareholder meeting that seven new OS 7-powered BlackBerry smartphones are set to be launched in the near future. As the company struggles to meet its financial goals due to delays, it's confident that releasing a large number of smartphones will make up for a miserable Q1 and get RIM back on track by the end of the year. This seems to be a bitter contrast to earlier rumors suggesting the company scrapped other projects to make room for its QNX "superphone." No word was given by either executive as to which phones we can expect, nor the precise dates when these devices will become available. We also haven't heard if the Bold Touch series is included as part of that count since its launch looks to have been pushed back. Lazaridis mentioned the delays are a result of his company trying to meet (read: not exceed) consumer expectations, and that RIM will "come out ahead" in the smartphone race. Now that's extraordinary confidence; unless the execs had a heart-to-heart with the anonymous letter-writer, however, it's a hard pill to swallow. [Image courtesy of CrackBerry]
Microsoft CEO Ballmer says Windows 7 sales are double its predecessors'
Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer was on hand for the company's annual shareholder's meeting in Washington, and news of Windows 7 sales came up right away. While delivering the opening remarks, Ballmer said that Microsoft has sold twice as many copies of Win 7 as any previous Microsoft OS in a comparable time frame. That's including both OEM sales and boxed retail copies, of course, and though no specific numbers were mentioned, the good news isn't completely unexpected as pre-orders were through the roof. High five, Microsoft.
Activision-Blizzard merger may be complete on July 9th
WoW Insider sister site Big Download is reporting that the Activision-Blizzard merger is getting closer and closer to reality. They recently won another victory in court today, as a Delaware court struck down an attempt by the Wayne County Employees' Retirement System to gain a preliminary injunction against the deal. We're now coming up fast the July 8th Activision shareholders' meeting, where they will vote to approve the merger. Activision has already said that they expect the merger to be official on or about July 9th, according to Big Download. This, of course, squeaks in just under the wire for the E3 expo. Activision-Blizzard has already said they don't plan to participate, but that they will hold a press conference on or near the dates of the expo. It seems likely now that they will be officially announcing the completion of their merger. Of course, we here at WoW Insider are hoping the merger isn't the only thing they reveal. A WoTLK cinematic and official release date or another L70ETC song on Guitar Hero would be nice, I'd say.
