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Google staff share claims of company retaliation in town hall meeting
As promised, Google employees who led the large-scale walkouts in November have held a town hall meeting to share more allegations of a retaliatory culture at the company. Bloomberg understands that Claire Stapleton and Meredith Whittaker provided "more than a dozen" additional stories of reprisals at the gathering, which gave participants a chance to offer input. Details of those extra stories weren't available as we wrote this, but Stapleton described the tales in company email as evidence of "systemic issues" that wouldn't be addressed without collective action.
Google Walkout leaders accuse company of retaliation culture
Two of the seven Google employees who organized a massive walkout last November say they've since faced retaliation. After leading the protest, which sought to change Google's handling of sexual misconduct, Meredith Whittaker says she was told her role would be "changed dramatically." Claire Stapleton was told she would be demoted. The two claim they're not alone, and they plan to gather more stories and strategize with colleagues.
Tim Cook focuses on charity during Town Hall meeting
Apple held an all-employee Town Hall meeting a little while ago after the earnings call, and The Verge is reporting that Apple CEO Tim Cook took quite a bit of time during the meeting to point out Apple's charitable contributions to the world. He said that Apple has given $50 million to Stanford hospitals, and over $50 million to the Project RED effort (to help fight AIDS in Africa), making Apple that fund's largest contributor. It seems as if we've found one big difference between Cook and his legendary predecessor: Cook wants to make it clear that he's serious about giving, and letting people know about it. Cook has also pushed for an employee donation matching program at Apple, so he's got a history, even in his short tenure so far, of endorsing strong charitable contributions. Of course, all of that said, $100 million is still just pocket change for a company that has almost $100 billion in the bank. But every little bit counts, we suppose.
Tim Cook to hold January 25 'Town Hall' meeting with Apple employees
Apple CEO Tim Cook has scheduled a "Town Hall" meeting with Apple's employees to "review our record-setting results and discuss some exciting new things going on at Apple." The meeting will take place at 10 AM Pacific on January 25, and those employees unable to attend in person will be able to watch the event remotely via Apple's internal AppleWeb service. It should be stressed that it is virtually certain no product announcements will be made at this town hall meeting. Past meetings that Steve Jobs led focused on the company's overall strategy, and they were occasionally an arena for some choice words about Apple's competitors from the former CEO. This latest town hall meeting will likely focus on congratulating Apple's employees for the phenomenal results of the last fiscal quarter. The event was brought to 9to5 Mac's notice barely 18 hours before it's scheduled to take place, so it seems to have been assembled on quite short notice. This isn't unusual, however; previous town hall meetings within Apple following the introduction of the iPad and shortly before the original iPhone's launch happened on similarly short notice.
Fortune story goes 'Inside Apple'
Although subscribers to the print edition of Fortune magazine can get the full issue on their iPads this month, the rest of us may have to wait a bit -- or head to the local newsstand -- to read Adam Lashinsky's feature 'Inside Apple,' which relays several previously-untold anecdotes and company traditions. Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt over at Apple 2.0 has the preview, noting these tidbits: Steve Jobs apparently tore the entire MobileMe team a new one in a town hall meeting after the flaky, foulup-filled launch of the .Mac replacement alongside the iPhone 3G in 2008. "You should hate each other for having let each other down," he reportedly said, along with several less-printable comments. Teambuilding 101! Jobs holds "Top 100" offsite meetings for staff, which impacts both the lucky few and the ones who don't make the list. There's a core team of engineers and scientists, the "band of eggheads," who were hired before Jobs took his second leave of absence for medical treatment... and they've got an important job to do. Sounds like an engaging story; we'll be sure to check it out.
President Obama to appear at Facebook HQ for Town Hall meeting
Looks like President Obama and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg just can't get enough of each other. Just two months after his tech industry schmooze fest, the White House has announced the Commander in Chief's plans to hold a live streaming Town Hall meeting from Facebook HQ with Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg. The event is set for 1:45PM PST April 20th, and already has 3,400 attendees lined up. Users are encouraged to submit their questions about innovation and the economy via the event's Facebook page, and the comments are already rolling in. Somehow, though, we don't think this is the sort question he's likely to answer: "Dear President Obama, could we please be friends?" Sorry, Carolina.
Apple has scheduled internal town hall-style iPad meeting
Just a day after the iPad's introduction, MacNN reports that Apple has scheduled an internal, town hall-style meeting for employees regarding the iPad. Details of the meeting's agenda are unknown to us outside of Apple, but it's a safe guess that attendees will receive a thorough overview of the device, both in function and philosophy, perhaps iPads themselves and a clear sense of what Steve Jobs called "the most important thing I've ever done." Shortly after the iPhone was introduced, a similar internal meeting was scheduled. At that gathering, employees supposedly received iPhones and asked questions of Steve. One attendee famously asked about the simultaneous existence of the iPhone and iPod, to which Steve said that if some company was going to cannibalize their sales, it might as well be Apple. Certainly meetings like these inform employees but also generate precious word-of-mouth. Apple is obviously deadly serious about the device and we're looking forward to its appearance on store shelves.
Steve Jobs to make a rare company-wide speech tomorrow
No one really knows where Steve's going to appear on iDay, but we've confirmed with multiple sources at Apple that tomorrow morning at 11:00AM he'll be giving an all-hands "Town Hall" iPhone mini-Stevenote for employees only -- so obviously we're not invited. Some of our peeps remember the iPod Town Hall meeting (at which Steve offered up $200 iPods -- nothing to snub your nose at its 2001 introduction) -- so if it wasn't already totally completely driven home by this point, his Steveness seriously considers this week's big launch to be a turning point for Apple, and possibly the gadget industry in general. And whether or not the iPhone's even at all successful, we'd tend to agree. Memo published after the break.
