Posts tagged with "apple"

Steve Jobs Resigns, Tim Cook Named New CEO of Apple

With a press release that just went out, Steve Jobs has announced he’s stepping down as CEO of Apple. Former COO Tim Cook will take the role of new CEO. Steve Jobs will stay involved as Chairman of the Board, and Tim Cook will obviously join the Board, too, effective immediately. In a letter to the Board and the Apple community, Steve Jobs explains he’s no longer capable of meeting his duties and expectations as Apple CEO, strongly recommending the Board to name Tim Cook as new CEO. Jobs also states “Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it”.

On January 17, Apple’s Board granted Steve Jobs a medical leave of absence, and the former CEO said he would remain involved with major strategic decisions, with Tim Cook filling in for day-to-day operations at Apple. Since then, Steve Jobs made two appearances at a media event in March and the WWDC ‘11 keynote to announce the iPad 2, iOS 5 and new iCloud features. Speculation has surrounded Steve Jobs’ health conditions since January, although the company preferred to keep such conditions private and out of the community and press daily rumors.

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. He left the company in 1985, only to return from NeXT (another company he started) to Apple in 1997 and ignite the digital revolution by laying the groundwork of modern Mac OS X, iTunes and the iLife suite, and later the iPhone in 2007, and the iPad in 2010. From Apple’s official bio of the Steve Jobs (which hasn’t been updated to reflect the new Chairman role yet):

Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, which he co-founded in 1976. Apple is leading the consumer technology world with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, its family of iPod media players and iTunes media store, and its Mac computers and iLife and iWork application suites. Apple recently introduced the iPad, a breakthrough Internet and digital media device, plus the iBookstore, alongside iTunes and the App Store.

Steve also co-founded and was the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, which created some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time including Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. Pixar merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006 and Steve now serves on Disney’s board of directors.

Steve grew up in the apricot orchards which later became known as Silicon Valley, and still lives there with his family.

Tim Cook, former COO of Apple, was responsible for the company’s worldwide sales and operations, reporting directly to Steve Jobs and managing Apple’s supply chain overseas. He’s regarded as the man who made possible building and shipping millions of iOS devices in four years thanks to exclusive supplier agreements and deals, including pre-payments to get stable access to important components such as the LCD displays used in Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Before joining Apple, Cook was vice president of Corporate Materials for Compaq and was responsible for procuring and managing all of Compaq’s product inventory. Previous to his work at Compaq, Cook was the chief operating officer of the Reseller Division at Intelligent Electronics.

Wikipedia provides a brief timeline of Cook’s roles at Apple:

  • He initially served as Senior Vice President for Worldwide Operations
  • In January 2007, Cook was promoted to COO.
  • Cook served as Apple CEO for two months in 2004, when Steve Jobs was recovering from pancreatic cancer surgery. Cook also serves on the Board of directors of Nike.
  • In 2009 Cook again served as Apple CEO for several months while Steve Jobs took a leave of absence for a liver transplant.
  • In January 2011, Apple’s Board of Directors approved a third medical leave of absence, requested by Steve Jobs. During that time, Tim Cook was responsible for most of Apple’s day-to-day operations while CEO Steve Jobs made most major decisions.

Steve Jobs is widely regarded as the “visionary genius” behind many of Apple’s best inventions and innovations such as the refined graphical user interface, the Mac’s attention to detail and beautiful typography, and iOS’ focus on multitouch and natural user experience. To get an idea of the man behind the company, check out this collection of Steve Jobs quotes we collected two years ago.

Below, you’ll find the press releases from Apple, Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, and the video of the official “iCEO” announcement in 2000. As for our thoughts on Apple without Steve Jobs, we’ll take our time to elaborate on today’s (huge) news for the company, but overall, this article from January 2011 still holds true: During Steve’s Absence, Apple Will Be Just Fine. Read more

New Logitech Fold-Up Keyboard and Joystick For The iPad Coming Soon

Logitech currently offers two fairly basic iPad keyboard accessories, but come September they’re launching two more accessories that are a little bit more unique. The first is another keyboard but with a little bit of a twist (literally), offering an iPad stand in conjunction with a foldable keyboard. The second is an attachable joystick for playing games on the iPad - similar to the Fling which was released earlier this year.

The new keyboard accessory is a full-sized bluetooth keyboard that cleverly turns off automatically when it is folded away and turns on when snapped open. It also charges through USB so there is no need for replacing batteries every few weeks. TechCrunch (which got some hands on time with both devices) does however note that the accessory is fairly bulky which is disappointing given that it is coupled with the very sleek iPad 2.

The Logitech Joystick for iPad on the other hand doesn’t share the bulkiness of the Fold-Up Keyboard and is very light, simply attaching to the iPad’s screen via suction cups. TechCrunch writes that the “thumb pad always returns to the center position, finally offering some tactile feedback on the iPad”.

The Logitech Fold-Up Keyboard for iPad 2 will launch in the US and Europe next month for US$129.99 whilst the Logitech Joystick for iPad will also launch next month in the US and Europe for US$19.99.

[Via TechCrunch]

App Developer Logs Suggest An iPhone 5 With Dual-Mode Support

It is becoming more and more likely that the iPhone 5 will feature a dual-mode GSM and CDMA radio to eliminate the need for two separate models for the different networks. The latest piece of evidence is a report from TechCrunch in which at least one developer found evidence that Apple is testing the iPhone 5 with App Store apps with logs from a device suggesting an iPhone 5 with a dual-mode radio. The log reported a device with two different mobile network codes (MNC) and mobile country codes (MCC) which are used to uniquely identify mobile carriers.

Sure enough, some registrations for the app – which the developer also asked not to be named – were logged from a new Apple device, using the MNC/MCC codes from both Verizon and AT&T.

The Verizon iPhone 4 and iPad 2 actually already contain a Qualcomm chipset that actually supports both the GSM and CDMA standards - Apple chose not to enable that capability (a SIM card slot would have also been required). Rumors of the iPhone 5 throughout this year have however been consistent in suggesting that one model will support both standards - even the Verizon CFO made comments earlier this year that their belief was that the next iPhone will be a “global device”.

[Via TechCrunch]

Launch Of Refreshed MacBook Air and Lion Boosts Recent Mac Sales Numbers

Last month’s release of new MacBook Airs and OS X Lion seems to have given Apple a significant boost in sales for the first month of the September quarter. The latest statistics from NPD reveal that year-over-year, Mac sales were up by 26% - to put that into context it means that Mac growth outpaces the growth of the PC market six-fold.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes that if that kind of growth continues Apple will easily make the estimates of 4.5 million total Mac sales for the quarter. He noted to his clients that the Lion, MacBook Air and Mac Mini launches in mid-July helped inflate Mac sales for the month. However, he did caution them that “these tailwinds will fade throughout the September quarter and year-over-year compares get slightly tougher in the last two months of the quarter”.

The rapid Mac sales growth has seen the platform outpace the growth of the PC market for 21 consecutive quarters and most believe that trend will continue for some time yet. Ben Reitzes of Barclays notes that they expect Apple to continue to gain share in Macs in the long term, despite the iPad’s presence. He adds that their “estimate for Mac growth of 18 percent year-over-year for Apple’s C3Q, may turn out to be conservative even though the global economy appears to be slowing quite a bit.”

[Via AllThingsD]

Report: Apple To Offer A Cheaper 8 GB iPhone 4 Within Weeks

Apple may be preparing to launch a revised iPhone 4 that would feature a smaller 8 GB flash drive within weeks according to a report by Reuters today. It suggests that Apple may be preparing to launch an iPhone that would be priced at a lower level to help target emerging and the pre-paid mobile markets - something which Apple has expressed interest in utilising.

Most recently Apple’s COO, Tim Cook, said that Apple wanted to do “clever things” to attack the prepaid market so that the iPhone could be “for everyone”, not “just for the rich”. The obvious question is whether this iPhone 4 is more than just the old iPhone model at a lower price point with reduced storage - as was the case with the iPhone 3GS. It could just be that Apple decides to aggresively lower the price of this iPhone model - going further than what they have done with the iPhone 3GS and 3G when they were deprecated. Alternatively it could mean a new iPhone “4S” that is cheaper but also features some minor feature additions.

Reuters doesn’t specifically put a date on when this model could be released but past trends and common sense would suggest it launches alongside the new iPhone 5. They concur with previous iPhone 5 rumors and suggest it will feature a larger screen and better camera - they also note that Hon Hai and Pegatron have been told to prepare production capacity for 45 million units.

[Via Reuters]

iOS 5 Includes An Early Warning ‘Quake Alert’ Notification For Japanese Users

As discovered by a 9to5 Mac reader, iOS 5 contains a new ‘Quake Alert’ notification option to warn Japanese users of an expected earthquake. This new notification option simply hooks into the Japanese earthquake warning system and does a similar job to what some apps on the App Store already do, just on a simpler level that doesn’t require a third party app.

As this year’s devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan tragically showed, such early warning systems are extremely important in getting just a little bit of time to prepare. Since the earthquake this year, Time has published an article that detailed the Japanese earthquake warning system:

Japan has the most advanced earthquake early-warning system in the world. A nationwide online system launched in 2007, it detects tremors, calculates an earthquake’s epicenter and sends out brief warnings from its 1,000-plus seismographs scattered throughout the country, one of the most earthquake-prone nations on the planet.

As MacRumors points out, this early warning system notification for the iPhone won’t be the first time the system has been integrated into a Japanese smartphone, with quite a number already featuring the system. Japanese users will be able to turn the ‘Quake Alert’ notification on and off from the Notification Center settings pane - although there is a warning that receiving quake alerts may impact on battery life (due to the connection to the early warning system.

[Via 9to5 Mac, MacRumors]

The Size Of Apple’s New “Spaceship” Campus in Cupertino→

The Size Of Apple’s New “Spaceship” Campus in Cupertino

Ever since Apple CEO Steve Jobs first explained to the Cupertino City Council the company’s intention to build a new “spaceship-like” campus on the area Apple bought from HP last year, Mayor Gilbert Wong said “there’s no chance” the city of Cupertino would say no to Apple’s proposed plan – Apple is the biggest taxpayer in Cupertino, and the project is admittedly impressive with a 4-story building hosting 13,000 employees, a 1,000 seat new auditorium, its own power center and a slew of modern architectural advancements built with green technologies in mind. Beautiful renderings aside, Apple even went as far as promising they would restore the area’s native vegetation by teaming up with Stanford University.

But just how big would Apple’s new headquarters be? John Martellaro over at The Mac Observer did some math based on official drawings, Google Maps and scale marks and came away with the conclusion that the whole building is big. Very big. According to Martellaro, Apple’s spaceship would cover the Pentagon with a diameter of 492 meters:

Given that comforting sanity check, I measured the diameter of the Apple spaceship as 1615 ft, plus or minus a few ft., depending on where one places the ruler. That’s a radius of 807.5 ft.

So, if one could magically fly the future Apple spaceship to Arlington, VA and hover over the Pentagon, it would just slightly cover it.

Martellaro also compared the campus’ size to a nuclear aircraft carrier and WWII battleship in an interesting image you can check out here. Progress on Apple’s proposal to the Cupertino City Council can be tracked here.

[image via Cupertino.org]

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HTC Sues Apple Over Patent Infringement

As reported by Reuters, smartphone maker HTC is suing Apple claiming infringement of three patents owned by the company. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, relates to patents allegedly infringed by Apple with its Mac computers, iPhones, iPads and “other products”. Details are scarce right now – we’re sure Florian Mueller at FOSS Patents is already looking into this – but the Taiwan-based company is seeking a ban on the infringing products in the United States, plus “triple damages for willful infringement, and other remedies”.

In July, Apple filed an ITC complaint against HTC, looking to block the sale of several HTC products infringing Apple’s patents – that was the second complaint against HTC, as Apple was apparently looking for “a second try” with stronger patents, according to Florian Mueller.

We will update this post with more news and details on HTC’s lawsuit as they become available.

MacRumors details the patents addressed by the lawsuit:

- 7,765,414: Circuit and operating method for integrated interface of PDA and wireless communication system
- 7,672,219: Multipoint-to-point communication using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
- 7,417,944: Method for orderwire modulation

Apple first sued HTC back in March, with an International Trade Commission judge finding HTC guilty of infringing on two of Apple patents in July – one of them, patent 5,946,647, said to be “fundamental” to the Android platform. HTC is however arguing they have a “strong case” against Apple’s claims, and said they will appeal the ITC ruling.

Apple Highlights Apps “Enhanced for OS X Lion”

OS X Lion has been out for less than a month, and Apple is now starting to promote apps that take advantage of some of the new features of the OS on the front page of the Mac App Store. As noted by Stephen Hackett at Forkbombr, Apple has included the “Enhanced for OS X Lion” tagline in the banners pointing to applications that have recently been updated with Lion-exclusive features such as Versions, Full-Screen, or multi-touch gestures. These banners can be seen on the front page of the Mac App Store, both in the top section (Screenflow 3.0 and Touchgrind) or in the lower part of the page, where currently there are promotional images for Fantastical, swackett x, and Scrivener. Fantastical is indeed one of the apps that has been updated in the past month with “Lion compatibility” and Lion-only gestures for navigation in the calendar view.

This is not the first time Apple has taken special interest in apps updated to take advantage of new functionalities introduced by the company in a new version of their OSes. For example, Apple went as far as creating a dedicated section for apps updated with AirPlay support soon after the release of iOS 4.2 back in November 2010. In April, Apple showcased subscription-based magazines in the App Store’s homepage. The “Enhanced for OS X Lion” tagline doesn’t have its own category just yet, but it wouldn’t be a surprise as more customers upgrade to Lion, and developers start releasing Lion-specific app updates.

With over 250 new user features and 3,000 new developer APIs, Lion is opening a whole range of possibilities for developers willing to rewrite or update their applications to trigger the new OS. Such features and APIs include the aforementioned full-screen mode and Versions support, as well as desktop notifications, In-App Purchases, new UI controls, Resume, and Auto-Save. This Fall, developers will also be able to integrate their apps with iCloud, which will allow them to store documents and data in the cloud, enabling seamless synchronization of content between devices.

In November, Apple will also start requiring developers to update their apps with Lion’s Sandboxing APIs – you can  read more about this in John Siracusa’s OS X Lion review. By highlighting apps that have already been updated for Lion, Apple is both encouraging other developers to do the same in the next few weeks, and showcasing great software for new customers that have installed Lion and are looking for new apps to try out. Apple itself updated several apps ahead of Lion’s launch to enable new functionalities exclusive to 10.7, such as Safari 5.1 – which comes pre-installed on Lion – and the iWork suite.