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The Onion imagines Apple's first product release under Tim Cook
In a week filled with Verizon iPhone sales and analyst expectations, it is nice to have some humorous stories to break things up. Thanks to The Onion, Apple fans can take a look ahead at the first big announcement of a product spearheaded by interim CEO Tim Cook. The fleshy version of the MacBook was described as being "cutting-edge" by Cook and "disgusting" by those in the audience who had the privilege of experiencing the product first-hand. This latest MacBook version features shave-able USB ports, an eye-enhanced camera, keratinized keyboard and is available with a flesh-like surface that sheds monthly. The latest notebook to grace Apple's illustrious lineup also includes advanced auditory controls that provide users with life-like reactions, such as snoring when put to sleep, yelling when woken up and moaning when the battery is low. This spectacle of a device is available in 13-, 15- and 17-inch models that are powered by a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Pricing for the 13-inch model will begin at $1299. Accessories for preventing systemic bacterial infection, cleaning the DVD teeth and curtailing arousal will be available soon after launch. For all the gory details, click through to The Onion and prepare to be shocked for a good laugh.
Tim Cook in NYT, says joining Apple was 'best decision I ever made'
The New York Times has written a nice profile of Tim Cook, who is once again sliding into the driver's seat at Apple while Steve Jobs takes medical leave. To hear the paper tell it, Cook is both a man well-prepared to fill Jobs' role if needed, and yet not exactly the creative visionary Jobs has become. While Jobs runs the company with a wide-ranging vision for products and how they're used, Cook is the details man -- a master of spreadsheets, factory dealings, supply chains and efficiency. Cook previously worked at both IBM and Compaq, and in this commencement speech at Auburn University last year (embedded after the break), he says that moving over to Apple was "the best decision I ever made." He says that lots of the conventional wisdom he heard at the time told him not to bother joining Apple -- the company was a shell of its former self, and the iPod hadn't yet materialized. But his intuition told him to join up to "work for the creative genius and to be on the executive team that could resurrect a great American company," and he says that "no more than 5 minutes into my initial interview with Steve, I wanted to throw caution and logic to the wind and join Apple." If Jobs does have to step down permanently, odds are that Cook is the man that will take the CEO job. And while Apple will never be the same without Steve Jobs, Tim Cook's clearly dedicated to the company he took a chance on over a decade ago.
The most interesting things from Apple's Q1 earnings call
Perhaps, like me, you find most financial news and statistics boring. Perhaps, like me, when the AAPL liveblog came up yesterday, you decided it was probably time to go get some lunch instead. Fortunately, we have access to Business Insider, where they've compiled a quick and easy list of truly interesting items from the call yesterday, in plain English, with nary a mention of terms like "general allocation accounting" or "high-interest stock targets" (yawn). The long and short of it: There was no mention of Steve Jobs' illness, but Tim Cook and Peter Oppenheimer impressed, as did the company's standing in general (not surprising -- that's been the case for a while now). Apple's revenue grew 70% year over year, an astounding feat in an otherwise down economy. iTunes is now a $4 billion dollar industry in itself, and in just the first year of its life, the iPad has replaced 7% of all PC business. That's incredible, as are most of the other things on BI's list. Oh, and that $40 billion in cash that Apple's had to throw around for the past few years? Make that $60 billion. Yowza! Now that's worth paying attention.
Apple's invested in a 'very strategic' $3.9b component supply agreement, but what is it?
Here's an interesting little note from Apple's record-breaking Q1 2011 financial sales call: according to CFO Peter Oppenheimer and acting CEO / COO Tim Cook, the company's made a two-year, $3.9 billion deal with three suppliers to secure a "very strategic" component for its products. Cook wouldn't identify what the component was, citing competitive reasons, but he did say the arrangement was much like Apple's famous deals to source iPod flash memory that date back to 2005. According to Tim, "We think that was an absolutely fantastic use of Apple's cash, and we constantly look for more of these, and so in the past several quarters we've identified another area... these payments consist of both prepayments and capital for processes and tooling, and similar to the flash agreement, they're focused in an area that we think is very strategic." Importantly, Apple paid out $650m under its agreements for this mystery part this past quarter, and it's planning to spend another $1.05b in payments next quarter, so this is already happening in a big way -- and frankly, we're dying to know what it is, since Apple has a long history of squeezing the market for components it wants. Our best guess? High-density displays for the iPhone and iPad -- we've heard some rumors of deals with Toshiba and Sharp, but that's just conjecture, and we don't know who the third vendor is. We're digging, but in the meantime listen to Peter and Tim in the clip after the break.
Apple on iPad competition: Windows is 'big and heavy,' next-gen Android tablets are still vapor
Apple's COO (and current Steve Jobs stand-in) Tim Cook thinks "there's not much" competition to the company's iPad tablet. When queried about Apple's view on what the rest of the market offers, Cook was brutally candid in describing Windows-driven machines as generally being big, heavy and expensive, while current generations of Android-based slates are in his opinion merely "scaled-up smartphones." While we agree that Windows 7 isn't a terribly touch-friendly affair, we don't know that Cook's comments on Android are quite so pertinent now that Google's tablet-savvy Honeycomb iteration has been unveiled. Then again, he has something to say about the next generation of Android tablets as well, noting that the ones announced at CES lack pricing and release schedules, leading him to conclude that "today they're vapor." Ouch. As a parting shot, Tim took a moment to reaffirm Apple's belief that its integrated approach will always trump the fragmented nature of Android and its plurality of app stores. Hear his comments in full after the break.
Steve Jobs takes medical leave from Apple, Tim Cook taking over daily operations in his absence
That's all we know for now, folks. Apple's CEO is taking a medical leave from work, his second in as many years, with Tim Cook filling his role during that time. In an email to the Apple team, Steve Jobs says he'll be on leave to "focus on [his] health," though he will retain the position of CEO and will remain involved in the major strategic decisions -- Tim Cook will be picking up the slack on day-to-day operations. No further details have been provided, save for Steve expressing his love for Apple and wish to return to his duties as soon as he can. See his email missive in full after the break.
A brief and anecdotal history of the Verizon iPhone 4 deal
It's time to start penning the epilogue to the story of how Verizon and the iPhone came to be happily betrothed yesterday. We've already heard a good deal about how the last suitor failed to live up to expectations, but this report keeps the focus predominantly on the newlyweds and their courtship. The agreement came last year and was brokered by Verizon President Lowell McAdam and Apple COO Tim Cook, with input from CEOs Ivan Seidenberg and Steve Jobs (naturally), and though the commercial aspect only took about a day, the preceding technical hurdle was a six-to-nine months ordeal. That entailed putting Verizon cell towers at Apple HQ to check signal and avoid reliability troubles, as well as having Verizon's Executive Director of Technology David McCarley work in Cupertino for more than a year. As for the rest of the deal, both parties agreed to share inside knowledge (Verizon's network plans for Apple's device plans -- wouldn't you like to know) and Verizon had to agree to a logo-free device. Which, given the sure-to-be mindblowing sales, probably isn't a hard pill to swallow.
Make a free Apple-oriented Christmas Creche
If you've got a bit of time on your hands before Christmas (yeah, that could happen), you might want to build a Christmas Creche using a bunch of Apple favorites and pundits to witness the birth of the iPad. Our Dutch friends at One More Thing have put together a free print, cut and glue kit, where you can download all that you need to build your very own version of the Apple nativity scene. If you know your way around a pair of scissors, you can probably construct it in about an hour. The cast of characters include: Steve Jobs and a segway-riding Steve Wozniak as Joseph and Mary, Jonathan Ive, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller as the shepherds, and three pundits -- David Pogue, Walt Mossberg and John Gruber -- as the three wise men. Interesting choices there. It looks like Pogue is announcing the miracle using FaceTime. Take a look after the break for a quick video on how it all goes together.
Tim Cook rumors affect Apple, HP stock
Late yesterday morning, a rumor hit the the Internet suggesting that Apple's COO Tim Cook was going to leave the company to become HP's CEO. As a result, Apple's stock took a dip while HP's showed a sudden spike. In morning trading, Apple's stock fell nearly US$17 (or 5%), while HP's rose by more than $0.40 (over 1%). Clearly, investors like Tim Cook, and they saw his rumored departure as detrimental to Apple and a win for HP. Fortunately for Cupertino, it's not true. Cook quickly denied the rumor, saying that he "...loves Apple" and is not going to HP. In January of this year, there was a rumor that Cook would become the CEO of GM, which also turned out to be false. You'll remember that Cook took over as interim CEO during Steve Jobs' medical leave of absence in early 2009. The company successfully released several new products with Cook at the top, and many believe that he's in the running to eventually take over for Jobs. [Via The Mac Observer]
Apple posts record $3.25b profit in first full quarter of iPad sales, says more 'amazing products' coming this year
Apple just posted up its third quarter earnings -- its first full quarter selling the iPad -- and, well, it's raining cash in Cupertino. The company posted a record profit of $3.25b on record revenues of $15.7b, which is up from $1.83b and $9.73b from a year ago. The big stat? Apple sold 3.27 million iPads, nearly matching the 3.47 million Macs sold -- and Mac sales were up 33 percent from a year ago to set a new quarterly record. Yeah, damn. iPhone sales -- including the first few weeks of the iPhone 4 -- were up 61 percent from a year ago to 8.4 million, and the iPod continued its slow decline, down eight percent to 9.41 million units sold. Over half of the Apple's sales -- 52 percent -- were international, and Jobs is quoted saying "we have amazing new products still to come this year." Not a bad way to head into back-to-school and the holidays, we suppose -- we've got a feeling those iPad numbers are just going to go up. The conference call to discuss all this is at 5pm ET, we'll be covering it live right here. Update: The call is all done -- the full liveblog is after the break. We didn't learn too much apart from the fact that Apple's selling every iPhone and iPad it can make (Tim Cook repeated this over and over), and that Apple's setting aside $175 million in revenue to cover the free iPhone 4 cases. Of course, given that Apple added an additional $4.1 billion in cash to its warchest this quarter for a total of $45.8 billion, that's pretty much pocket change, but there's the number.
Why Apple might want to buy ARM
--- Last January, Apple COO Tim Cook stated, "We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make." That motivation, backed by Apple's 41 billion cash on hand, makes its rumored acquisition of ARM Holdings so compelling. --- What would you do if you had $41.7 billion in cash reserves? That's what Apple has and, as Ken posted earlier, the rumor du jour suggests the company might use a modestly large chunk of it to acquire ARM Holdings. If such a deal is in the works, it would be Apple's largest purchase ever by an order of magnitude; the suggested £5.2 billion (US$8 billion) sticker price dwarfs the biggest prior buyout, which brought NeXT into Apple for $400 million and delivered the foundations for Mac OS X (along with a certain iCEO). ARM licenses its chips to many consumer electronics heavyweights; in addition to powering the iPad and iPhone, ARM processors power other smartphones, including those running on the Symbian, Windows Mobile/Windows Phone 7, and yes, Android operating systems. An Apple acquisition of ARM, therefore, could have far-reaching implications on consumer electronics, especially when it comes to competitive access to the latest and greatest ARM chips. In the London Evening Standard article, a trader was quoted as saying "A deal would make a lot of sense for Apple .... That way, they could stop ARM's technology from ending up in everyone else's computers and gadgets." That may be taking it a bit far -- ARM's licensing and product lineup couldn't be made completely private in the short term -- but it would make Apple the most-favored customer for ARM's designs. It would also help Apple's other recent buyout, chip shop Intrinsity, make the most of its expertise. Back in January 2009, Apple COO Tim Cook stated, "We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make." As the processor plays a pivotal role in shaping the user experience on mobile devices (think performance and power consumption) an acquisition of ARM could provide Apple the ability to better integrate and leverage ARM technologies in order to stay ahead and differentiate from the competition. The A4 chip in the iPad is based on an ARM design, which was first whispered about almost two years ago. In the last two years, Apple has made several notable acquisitions: of semiconductor company P.A. Semi, mapping company Placebase, music streaming service Lala, and mobile ad firm Quattro Wireless. So far, the Quattro Wireless acquisition has produced the most visible results, in the form of iAds. If an ARM acquisition is indeed happening, it'll be fascinating to see what comes out of it.
iPhone sales soar in China
After a slow start, iPhone sales are soaring in China. During yesterday's financial conference call, Apple COO Tim Cook answered questions about the iPhone's performance in what he calls "greater China" (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), uncharacteristically sharing some numbers: "The revenue, we have never released this number before but I will do this in this particular case, through the first half of the fiscal year that we just completed for the six month period our revenue from greater China was almost $1.3 billion and this is up over 200% year-over-year." The folks at Brainstrom Tech did some math and figured that represented 2.1 million iPhones sold (give or take) in a 6-month span -- a number that beat Wall Street's Q2 2010 estimates by 25% to 30%. Initially, the iPhone failed to thrive in China due in part to an active black market and the Golden Shield Project (GSP), which censors certain Internet content. To comply with the GSP, devices that include wireless Internet have been required to use China's own WAPI standard. Meeting that requirement forced Apple to re-design the iPhone for China. Fortunately for Chinese customers, carriers and Apple, that ruling was recently changed to allow or Wi-Fi capable iPhones. Late last year China Unicom launched a 46-city roadshow tour promoting the iPhone.
Best Buy to sell iPads
Last Tuesday, Apple's COO Tim Cook announced that consumers will be able to buy the iPad at Best Buy locations in the US. While speaking at the Goldman Sachs annual tech conference in San Francisco, Mr. Cook told the crowd that the iPad will be sold at "... places with really great assisted sales," like Best Buy. There's no word on iPads appearing at other 3rd party retailers, domestically or overseas, but Mr. Cook says that we can expect sales partners to expand over time. Apple began selling Macs at Best Buy, a big box store in the US, in 2006. A year later that program expanded into the small, store-within-a-store boutiques that many locations feature today. Macs, accessories and soon, iPads, can all be had at Best Buy. As for the propaganda, Tim laid it on thick. "The experience is just absolutely incredible," he said. "And so we're obviously very excited about this thing and can't wait to start shipping it."
Tim Cook: Yes, we're a "mobile device company"
I caught this back when Steve Jobs said it on stage at the event a few weeks ago, and I was surprised that more people hadn't yet. Jobs called Apple "the largest mobile device company in the world," and I had to do a double-take. Mobile device company? But don't you sell computers? Aren't you the top premium PC brand in the world? Pass, says Apple. Tim Cook confirmed at a Goldman Sachs press conference yesterday that Apple is calling themselves a "mobile device company" officially. The "traditional model" of having companies sell different things -- hardware, software, peripherals -- just doesn't work on today's world, according to Cook. So Apple is no longer a computer company, or an OS maker (though he does say that OS X scales just fine down to the smaller devices), or a media giant. Its main focus is mobile devices. Side projects like the AppleTV are "just a hobby." Somehow, Apple's focus changed when we all weren't looking (though we had hints -- Steve did take the "Computers" out of the name at the event a while back). The reasoning makes sense, though, even if it is a little disappointing that the company that makes the best computers in the world isn't even calling them computers any more. [Via TechCrunch]
Apple shifts focus from sales to quality in China
There was quite a bit of discussion from Apple yesterday about their sales in China (you can see that in our liveblog from yesterday afternoon), and AppleInsider points out that Apple is changing priorities over there, from straight up sales to brand quality. Tim Cook said yesterday that Apple has activated more than 200,000 iPhones since the release in China last year, and only in relation to the iPhone can anyone think that number could have been better. Apple is behind the pack in China -- there are a significant number of competitors over there, and unlike the market in the West, multifunctional smartphones have been popular for a long time already. But Apple recognizes the potential overseas, and Cook says the company does "...realize we must do well in these markets to continue to grow." What changes can they make? Price for one -- Apple says that as a premium brand, they're going to have to tweak a little bit to fit into the lower-income middle class in China while still competing on user experience. Apple didn't say that they weren't happy with what's happening in China, but compared to other countries in Asia (Japan came out of last quarter with a 400% year-over-year growth), Apple has a little more work to do there.
Apple's Tim Cook rumored to be "Top Candidate" for new GM CEO
When Steve Jobs took a medical leave of absence during the first half of this year, Apple's COO Tim Cook stepped in as temporary CEO. Now he's rumored to be in the running for GM's new CEO. Citing an anonymous tipster from inside the search firm Spencer Stuart, Silicon Valley Insider notes that Cook is the "...top candidate that Spencer Stuart has identified as the next CEO of GM." With Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell recently announcing that he will be GM's next CFO and vice-chairman, Cook would become the second "gadget geek" to take a significant role at GM. Considering the less-than-inspiring designs that Chevy, Buick and the now-defunct Saturn have been producing, as well as his performance while interim CEO of Apple (known for world-class design), Cook is a logical choice. But would he want the job? Most believe that he's sure to take over for Steve Jobs for good once the time comes, plus he picked up a cool $12 mil. while standing in for Steve this year. That will build a little loyalty. For now, this is all speculation. We'll keep an eye on this story as it develops. [Via MacDailyNews]
Tim Cook gets $12.3M for watching Apple while Jobs was out
Apple COO Tim Cook has received $12.3 million in Apple stock for stepping in as CEO during Steve Jobs absence earlier this year. Considering its been a rough couple of years for the economy and many CEOs still got large salaries for doing very little, it's nice to see Cook being rewarded for, you know, actually doing something and producing results. In 2007 and 2008 Cook earned stock awards worth $7 million and $6 million, respectively. This year for Tim closes with a $12.3 million stock award plus a $100,00 salary raise (up to $800,000 from $700,000) and a fat cash bonus of $800,000. Total compensation for 2009? $14 million. Steve Jobs took his usual $1 salary and a $1 bonus. But don't worry, he's doing just fine with his 5.5 million shares of Apple (AAPL) stock, which closed Monday at another all-time high of $211.61 a share (that makes Steve's shares worth a cool $1,163,855,000).
Apple on smartphone competition: "if others rip off our intellectual property, we will go after them."
For those of you who weren't listening in to Apple's earnings call today, you missed a prime moment of defensiveness when Tim Cook fielded a question about how the company plans to stay competitive amidst new entries from the likes of Google and, more recently, Palm. What seemed like an answer due to end with a "we've got some great new stuff on the way" slant, Cook dovetailed into how the company views its new smartphone competition. In his words:Q: "There are other iPhone competitors coming to the market: Android, Palm Pre. How do you think about sustaining leadership in the face of these competitors?"A: "It's difficult to compare to products that are not yet in the market. iPhone has seen terrific rating from customers. Software is the key ingredient, and we believe that we are years ahead of our competitors. Having different screen sizes, different input methods, and different hardware makes things difficult for developers. We view iPhone as primarily a software platform, which is different from our competitors. We don't mind competition, but if others rip off our intellectual property, we will go after them." And then the follow-up:Q: "The Palm device seems to directly emulate the iPhone's innovative interface. Is that what you're referring to?" A: "We don't want to refer to any specific companies, so that was a general statement. We like competition because it makes us better, but we will not stand for companies infringing on our IP."Now, we've heard Apple sound off on its intellectual property before, but the way a somewhat innocuous question about new challengers in the mobile arena got turned into a not-so vague threat of legal action is a bit stunning. Could it be that the Pre is Apple's first real multitouch, capacitive-screen competition, and the device just happened to be co-developed by Jon Rubinstein... formerly of Apple? We're not taking any flying leaps here, but the preempted initial answer seems to suggest that the folks in Cupertino may not take every new threat so coolly.
Continuity: Executive succession plans in history
We all know that Steve Jobs will eventually leave Apple, and Apple's executive team has a responsibility to draft a succession plan to help minimize the turmoil when that day comes. To figure out what Apple might do, we can look to the past for other examples. Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 by Henry Ford. In 1918, at the age of 55, Henry handed the presidency of the company to his son Edsel. When Edsel died in 1943, Henry came back to Ford Motor Company ill, "mentally inconsistent, suspicious, and generally no longer fit" for the job. Most of the board didn't want him to be president. Even with no official title, he'd been in de facto control of the company since Edsel took over. Nevertheless, the board elected him (rather than cross him), and he served until the end of the second World War. Gravely ill, he turned control of the company over to his grandson, Henry Ford II, in 1945. Henry Ford died two years later. Steve Jobs has four children, the oldest of whom is Lisa Brennan-Jobs, a 30-year-old journalist. None have publicly expressed any desire to run Apple.
Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence from Apple due to health reasons
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Steve_Jobs_taking_a_leave_of_absence_from_Apple';Apple has issued a statement saying that Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence due to health reasons. Steve Jobs sent out a letter to Apple employees today saying that his previously-explained health problems are "more complex" than he at first thought, and that he plans to return in June. In the meantime Steve will be around for major strategic decisions, and Tim Cook (Apple's Chief Operating Officer) will take over the day-to-day in his absence. AAPL is down around 8% in after hours trading. The full letter is below: Team,I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.
