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Hitting the Books: A candid look at Tim Cook’s time at Apple
Welcome to Engadget's excerpt series, Hitting the Books. With less than one in five Americans reading just for fun these days, we've done the hard work for you by scouring the internet for the most interesting, thought provoking books on science and technology we can find and delivering an easily digestible nugget of their stories.
Tim Cook is in on the Tim Apple joke
President Trump knows words. He has the best words. And he showed some of those big beautiful words off yesterday during a press conference for the inaugural meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board with Apple CEO, Tim Cook. Or as Trump calls him, Tim Apple.
Apple, IBM heads join White House panel on workforce automation
Apple CEO Tim Cook and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty will be among the company executives who will be joining a Trump administration advisory board set to deal with the effects of artificial intelligence and automation on the workforce. According to Reuters, the panel will be co-chaired by Ivanka Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Board members will serve until 2020.
Caption contest: Tim Cook shows Maddie Ziegler the iPhone 7
Apple unveiled its newest iPhone in San Francisco today and, despite some backlash over its "courageous" stand in removing the handset's conventional headphone jack, the iPhone 7 seemed well-received by the crowd. Among those in attendance: Maddie Ziegler, Sia's dancer/mini-doppelganger. After the keynote, Apple CEO Tim Cook showed off some of the phone's new features, but what was on the screen that has Ziegler so entranced?
Microsoft has Apple's back in FBI iPhone dispute
The tech industry support is beginning to coalesse around Apple in its fight with the FBI. Microsoft's President and Chief Legal Officer, Brad Smith, announced on Thursday that his company would file an amicus brief to support its longtime rival. Smith also renewed calls for congressional hearings to form new legislation that would better balance user privacy concerns with law enforcement and national security needs.
Daily Roundup: The best cheap WiFi router, Tim Cook donations and more!
In today's Daily Roundup you can learn about the best cheap WiFi router from our friends at The Wirecutter, read about Tim Cook planning to donate his fortune to charity and how new memory technology may allow SSDs with up to 10TB of storage. Catch up on today's top stories past the break.
Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate his fortune to charity
Tim Cook has big plans for his vast wealth: It's all going to philanthropy, he revealed in a Fortune interview. The Apple CEO -- who's currently worth around $112 million, and holds restricted stock that could be worth up to $665 million -- said he's already been making donations quietly, but he's also looking forward to taking a deeper approach to the whole endeavor. That could involve starting something similar to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Microsoft co-founder's non-profit which manages his philanthropic efforts. Cook also plans to cover his nephew's college education, like the rich uncle that he is. Cook's open approach to philanthropy differs from his predecessor Steve Jobs, who was widely criticized for not donating enough. His wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, revealed after his death that the family actually donated tens of millions anonymously for over two decades.
Daily Roundup: The next Microsoft, Uber offices raided and more!
Tim Cook shared his thoughts on why Apple isn't becoming the next Microsoft. Meanwhile, Uber's offices in France and South Korea were raided and an Illinois lawmaker resigned after his Instagram feed betrayed his suspicious spending habits. Read about these stories and more in today's Daily Roundup.
Apple Pay will soon support federal payment cards and parks
Apple Pay has been expanding steadily since its launch last fall, but now it also has the support of the federal government. Speaking at the White House Cyber Security Summit today, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple Pay will support federal payment cards later this year, including social security and those used by veterans. Cook also hinted that federal transactions -- like paying for tickets and gift shop items at national parks -- will also work with the platform. By making the announcement today, he's also making it clear that the government is pretty confident about Apple Pay's security capabilities. Unlike traditional credit card transactions, Apple's platform never reveals your full card number to merchants, and it also doesn't keep records of your purchases. "We can imagine a day in the not too distance future where your wallet becomes a remnant of the past," Cook said. "Your passport, your driver's license, and other important documents can be digitally stored in a way that's safe, secure, and easy to access."
Apple lets China examine iOS code to assuage spying fears
China spent the bulk of 2014 throwing shade at American technology companies, saying that the NSA was using Windows 8, IBM servers and iPhones for espionage. It appears that Tim Cook is bored of the abuse, and is prepared to let the country's security experts poke inside iOS to prove Apple's gear is secure. According to the Beijing News, Chinese officials met with the CEO in December to reach a deal which will allow the State Council Information Office check for backdoors.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made $9.2M in 2014; board member Drexler retiring
It's not a big surprise, but Apple CEO Tim Cook isn't exactly a poor man. In the company's filed SEC Schedule 14A, it was disclosed that Cook pulled in a cool US$9,222,638 in compensation last year. Of that amount, $1,748,462 was his salary, non-equity incentive compensation was $6,700,000, and another $774,176 in "other compensation" added to the total. That total was over double the $4.3 million Cook made in 2013, but considering Apple had a record year, he definitely earned it. There were some big paydays for other Apple execs as well. New hire Angela Ahrendts, the senior vice president of retail and online stores, pulled in over $70 million in stock awards. $37 million of those awards were to compensate Ahrendts for unvested awards of stock at her previous employer - Burberry - and a nice lump sum of $33 million as a new hire at Apple. I'd venture that every Apple new hire would love a stock award of $33 million... or even just a $33,000 bonus. Senior VP of internet software and services Eddy Cue also nabbed a large stock award of over $20 million, as did operations senior VP Jeff Williams. In other news, longtime Apple board member and former president and CEO of The Gap, Inc. Millard "Mickey" Drexler will be stepping down from his role on the board in March of 2015. Drexler is 70 years old, the oldest Apple director, and has served on the board since 1999. Apple has not yet nominated a replacement for Drexler. Remember that Apple's Q1 2015 earnings call is coming up on Monday, January 27 at 5 PM ET. We will be bringing you news of the company's fortunes for the first fiscal quarter of 2015, as well as providing a liveblog of the earnings call.
Tim Cook is CNN Money's CEO of the Year for 2014
CNN Money has named Apple's Tim Cook as the best CEO of 2014. Citing a rise in the value of the company's stock by 40 percent during the year, a share price near an all-time high, and very successful launches of both the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and Apple Pay, Cook beat out BlackBerry's John Chen, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, and GM's Mary Barra - among others - for the prestigious spot on the list. The site had this to say about Cook: Cook has arguably the toughest CEO job in America. He's had to convince skeptics that Apple can still innovate after the death of Steve Jobs. He's proven all the naysayers wrong. Cook was also recently lauded by the Financial Times as "Person of the Year", praising him for leading the company through the release of Apple Pay and the impending launch of Apple Watch, as well as for putting principles (renewable energy, human rights, and accessibility to name a few) before profits.
Apple bought back $56 billion of its own stock in 2014
Apple is no stranger to stock buybacks so its no surprise that the trend continued in the 2014 fiscal year. And how much stock did Apple buy back this year? According to a new report for FactSet, Apple spent over $56 billion buying back stock this year. That's $36.8 billon more than IBM who took the second for most spent on buybacks with $19.2 billion. Stock buybacks have been good for Apple. So good that this year Apple also earned itself first and second place for the top two buybacks quarters since FaceSet started tracking the S&P 500 in 2005. First place goes for the $18.6 billion bought back in the first quarter, almost as much as IBM bought all year, while second place comes from the fourth quarter's $17 billion buyback. In March of this year the company spent more money buying back stock than Google generated in revenue. Apple's buyback program started in 2012, and has grown every year since. This past April CEO Tim Cook had dinner with activist investor Carl Icahn to discuss the "magnitude" of the company's buyback plans. If this year's numbers are any indication Icahn made a convincing case.
RuPaul on 'gaymers,' Tim Cook's coming out and why we need to lighten up
RuPaul Charles is nothing if not brutally frank. And with a decades-spanning career that's taken him from former New York City club kid to one-time "Supermodel (of the World)," to current host of Logo TV's cult reality show competition RuPaul's Drag Race and all-around impresario of his brand, he's certainly earned the right to tell it like it is. That candor's what his drag persona would refer to as "No T, No Shade," and it's incredibly refreshing. Sure, Ru's name may not be the first that springs to mind when you think tech, but with his recently released freemium mobile game Dragopolis 2.0 hitting iTunes and Google Play, he carved some time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about being a "gaymer," the importance of Apple CEO Tim Cook's coming out and why Netflix is the key to his current media empire.
Apple's Tim Cook 'deeply offended' by fresh allegations of factory worker mistreatment
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he's "deeply offended" by fresh allegations of poor working conditions in its suppliers' Chinese factories. Contractors hired by Apple to assemble its latest products have been exposed before, and while the firm has tried to be more proactive in recent years, a new BBC investigation suggests the same problems still persist. Undercover reporters hired at Pegatron factories discovered an exhausted workforce regularly falling asleep at the production line. Twelve hour shifts are common, which means employees often clock over 60 hours on the factory floor each week -- well above China's 44-hour limit, but still possibly legal given the country permits 36 hours of overtime each month.
Tim Cook selected as Financial Times' Person of the Year
Apple CEO Tim Cook has been selected as Financial Time's Person of the Year for his role expanding Apple's collaboration with other companies and its support of social issues. On the business front, 2014 saw Apple partnering with IBM to create enterprise solutions for corporations while the US$3 billion purchase of Beats Electronics brought Apple into both the headphones and streaming music markets. Cook explained in an interview with CNBC back in July why the collaboration with IBM was so important to the company. But the reality is, that the penetration of these businesses and in commercial in general for mobility is still low. So where we have very good market share the penetration suggests there's a huge opportunity here. And I think if we can bring the kind of transformation we've arguably brought to consumers to enterprise, I think there's a huge opportunity here. And we knew that we couldn't do that alone. We knew that we needed to have a partner that deeply understood all the different industry verticals that had scale, that had a lot of dirt under their fingernails, so to speak, from really understanding each of these verticals. And we found a kindred spirit in IBM. And I am so happy we did. With the newly launched iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launching to record-breaking sales numbers, the successful launch of Apple Pay, and excitement building for the Apple Watch, 2015 is shaping up to be another good year for the company. Apple Pay worked so well upon release that competitor CurrentC started forcing some of the businesses it worked with to quickly retract their support for Apple Pay. These bets paid off in November when Apple's market valuation hit a record $700 billion. On the social front, Cook led the company to embrace equality and diversity both within and in society. 2014 saw Cook finally come out publicly as gay, in hopes that his openness might be inspiring to someone dealing with their own sexual identity. In October, Cook told Bloomberg Business Week: If hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy. In addition Cook added three women to the company's executive team and committed to improving diversity within the company. Tim Cook was also nominated for Time's Person of the Year, but lost to the Ebola fighters. You can read Financial Times article here. It is currently behind a paywall, but is viewable with a free login account.
Tim Cook makes TIME's shortlist for 2014 "Person of the Year"
Apple CEO Tim Cook has made the shortlist for TIME magazine's 2014 Person of the Year, joining seven other candidates from across the social, political, and entertainment sectors of the world. TIME is recognizing Cook for both his business and social achievements this year. Here's its synopsis of why he's Person of the Year material. Tim Cook, who introduced Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple Watch, and Apple Pay this year, and whose decision to come out made him the first openly gay Fortune 500 CEO. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were incredible successes for Apple this year, selling millions of units and crushing records the month they were released. In just the first weekend of sales, Apple sold 10 million units between the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. While the Apple Watch wasn't released this year, excitement for the device is high after it was introduced earlier this year. As mentioned in TIME's nomination, Tim Cook became the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company in October. At the time, Cook explained why he had never addressed the subject publicly before, and what prompted the revelation. I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy. Cook joins other public figures including the Ebola caregivers, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Taylor Swift, Russian president Vladimir Putin, the acting president of the Iraqi Kurdish Region Masoud Barzani, and the Ferguson protestors in the nominations. TIME will announce its person of the year on the Today show Wednesday morning.
Chinese internet regulator gets private look at Apple Watch
Want a private, behind-closed-doors glimpse at Apple's new smartwatch, complete with a guided tour by Tim Cook himself? It's easy! You just have to be China's Cyberspace Administration minister, and how hard could that really be? Ok, so it's probably pretty difficult, but that's the treatment Lu Wei, China's Internet Minister, received during his recent visit to California. Lu got to go hands-on with the Apple Watch during his private meeting with Apple's CEO, where the two talked about Apple's push into China, user privacy, and national security, according to China's state-run news agency. The Apple Watch is expected to arrive early next year. During his time in Silicon Valley, Lu also visited with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which is particularly interesting given the fact that Facebook itself isn't allowed on Chinese internet, and likely won't be any time soon. [via Cult of Mac]
Pennsylvania school district using $291K donation from Tim Cook to buy iPads for kids
Apple CEO Time Cook recently made a $291,791 donation to Pennsylvania's Steel Valley School District in honor of former Apple board member Bill Campbell. who stepped down from the board this past July after 17 years of service. The Steel Valley School District includes Campbell's hometown of Homestead, Pennsylvania. After considering the options on how to use the money the school district has announced the funds will go towards the purchases of iPads for each of the district's students and training for teachers on how to use the devices in the class room. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the plan will go into effect in 2015-2016 school year. The Steel Valley district is very small, serving around 2,000 students, but has been a focus of Campbell's giving for years. In total, Bill Campbell has donated almost $9 million dollars to the district over the last 14 years.
Alabama's anti-discrimination bill will bear Tim Cook's name after all
Alabama state Representative Patricia Todd, the state's first openly gay lawmaker, is pushing for a new anti-discrimination bill and will be getting some help from Apple's own Tim Cook. Reuters reports that after some initial back-and-forth on whether it would be to the bill's (and Apple's) benefit to have Cook's name attached, Todd was contacted by Apple's general counsel who relayed an enthusiastic message from Cook himself in favor of the bill bearing his name. There had previously been a good deal of confusion as to whether the naming of the bill would actually go through, as Todd says she was contact by an Apple official who was concerned that linking Cook to the bill may not be a good idea. Apparently once Cook heard that he was being spoken for, he decided to take matters into his own hands and declare that naming the bill after him was perfectly fine from his point of view. Cook publicly came out as gay in an October article published in BusinessWeek, less than a week after receiving an award from the Alabama Academy of Honor. In his acceptance speech he openly criticized Alabama's antiquated stance on gay rights, and encouraged lawmakers to do more. Todd's bill, which is expected to be officially introduced in March, is precisely the type of action Cook had called for, so the naming would seem to be a perfect fit.
