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Tag: Tim Cook

  • Tim Cook: Apple May Kill Off Ping

    Tim Cook: Apple May Kill Off Ping

    Speaking to Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at last night to kick off AllThingsD’s D10 Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple is exploring the possibility of killing Ping.

    Wait, you may be saying, what’s Ping? Considering how little attention Ping has gotten over the last couple of years, you could be forgiven for not knowing what it is. The next time that someone tells you that everything Apple touches turns to gold (or cash, or increased market value, or whatever), you can point to Ping. Launched in 2010 as part of iTunes 10, Ping is Apple’s attempt at its own social network centered on music. Ping promised to let users “[f]ollow your favorite artists and friends to discover the music they’re talking about, listening to, and downloading.”

    Ping

    While it may have seemed like a good idea at the time, Ping was an epic flop, to put it bluntly. The simple fact is that almost nobody used it. During the question and answer portion of last night’s interview, an audience member asked about Ping, and whether Apple would continue to experiment in the social media space. Cook’s reply neatly avoided discussing Ping directly: “Apple doesn’t have to own a social network, but does Apple have to be social? Yes.” He pointed to the integration of Twitter into iOS 5 last year, and into OS X Mountain Lion later this year. Earlier in the talk he suggested that Facebook integration may be coming soon, too.

    Cook wasn’t allowed to get off that easily, though. When asked again about Ping directly he responded that Apple had tried Ping, and the customers just weren’t interested. He said that Apple would look at killing it, though Swisher suggested selling it to Google+.

  • Tim Cook Promises Improvements To Siri Coming Soon

    Tim Cook Promises Improvements To Siri Coming Soon

    Even if you don’t have an iPhone 4S (or a jailbroken iOS device running Spire), you know what Siri is. It’s the voice-activated “killer app” for the iPhone 4S, introduced in October. It’s the focus of pretty much every ad for the iPhone 4S you’ve ever seen (including some recent ones with celebrities).

    Siri is also, however, a subject of some controversy. While most iPhone users like it, others hate it. Some of those even claim that Apple’s ads are deceptive and are suing Apple for false advertising.

    Whatever else Siri may be, though, there’s one thing that Apple has emphasized from the beginning: as cool as Siri can be when it’s working properly (like in Apple’s ads), the feature is still in beta. Unfortunately, that means that Siri won’t always work like it’s supposed to.

    Speaking to Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher last night at AllThingsD’s D10 Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged Siri’s problems, and promised that the personal assistant software would be getting some big improvements in the future.

    Mossberg pointed out that “when Siri works, it works really well, it’s kinda like magic.” He went on to say, though, that “a lot of times it actually doesn’t work, and that’s not what a lot of people have come to think about Apple products.” He wondered whether Siri was up to Apple’s standards. Cook replied by pointing out Siri’s popularity with users of the iPhone 4S, which is “the most popular selling phone in the world.” Nevertheless, he acknowledged that “there’s more that it can do.” He said that Apple has “a lot of people working on this,” that they had “some cool ideas about what Siri can do, and that “I think you’ll be really pleased with some of the things that you’ll see in the coming months on this.”

    Swisher then asked Cook whether voice interaction would be critical to the phone industry moving forward. Cook replied that “Siri’s proven to us that people want to relate to the phone in a different way.” Siri, he said, represents the first real innovation in mobile technology interface since the touchscreen (which, of course, was brought into the mainstream by Apple with the original iPhone in 2007). Cook said that what makes Siri amazing is its ability to understand the context and intent of what’s being said, “not just voice recognition, voice recognition’s been around for a long time.” Siri’s best feature, Cook said, “is that she has a personality, she becomes many people’s best friend.” When Mossberg jokingly asked if that wasn’t actually kind of sad, Cook replied “hey, I’m not a judge.”

    Getting more serious again, Cook said that Siri “is something that people dreamed of for years, and it’s here.” He went on to say that “yes, it can be broader and so forth, but we see unbelievable potential here.” He concluded that “you’re going to be really happy with where this is going, we’re doubling down on it.”

    Later in the evening, Cook was asked about how Apple names new products, specifically the new iPad (as opposed to the iPad 3). He noted that the iPad naming represents a return to what Apple usually does with its products – e.g., the MacBook Air, iMac, and iPod. He also briefly touched on iPhone naming conventions, pointing out that the S in iPhone 3GS stood for “speed.” He then confirmed what most have long suspected: the S in the iPhone 4S name stands for “Siri.”

    Just as with Facebook integration in iOS, Cook carefully avoided giving any hint of when we might expect the improvements to Siri that he’s talking about. With the WWDC 2012 conference – and the probable unveiling of iOS 6 during Apple’s keynote – just around the corner, though, it’s a fair bet that at least some of these improvements will be coming very soon.

    You can see the video of Cook’s remarks about Siri below:

  • Tim Cook: Apple To “Double-Down” On Secrecy

    Tim Cook: Apple To “Double-Down” On Secrecy

    Every company has its own little quirks: aspects of its operational philosophy – small or major – that give it its own personality. One of Apple’s quirks, if you will, is its devotion to secrecy. Apple keeps every detail of its operations – particularly upcoming products – locked down tight with a vehemence that some would call paranoia.

    Some have thought that Apple’s secrecy was primarily a characteristic of the company’s late founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, and that with Tim Cook now at the helm, Apple’s philosophy on this might change. Any such hopes were dashed last night, however. Speaking at AllThingsD’s D10 Conference, Cook told Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, with whom he was sharing the stage, that “we’re going to double down on secrecy on products.” While the company would continue to increase its transparency with regard to things like the environment and supplier responsibility, secrecy on new products would remain paramount.

    Later in the evening, during a discussion on Apple’s relationship with Facebook, Cook reiterated that “I feel strongly that being secretive on the product side of our business is so important.” When asked by Swisher about Apple’s practices regarding the purchase of new companies, Cook said that Apple does purchase other companies, but that these purchases are “not ones that we seek to make public.” While some acquisitions can’t be hidden, Cook said that “if I don’t have to [tell you about it] I don’t.”

    [Lead Image Credit: AllThingsD]

  • Tim Cook Hints iOS Facebook Integration May Be Coming Soon

    Tim Cook Hints iOS Facebook Integration May Be Coming Soon

    When Apple unveiled iOS 5 last fall with Twitter integration, the big question on everyone’s mind was “Where’s Facebook?” Apple had reportedly been in talks to bring Facebook integration to iOS since before iOS 4, but nothing had ever come of it. When iOS 5 came out with Twitter integration but no Facebook (a feature that appears to carry over to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, coming later this year), it raised a lot of eyebrows.

    Last night at AllThingsD’s D10 Conference Apple CEO Tim Cook spent some time on stage with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, talking about Apple. During that talk, Cook strongly hinted that iOS would be getting Facebook integration in the not-too-distant future. When asked about the situation by Mossberg, Cook said that he thought the relationship between Facebook and Apple was “very solid,” pointing out that “I saw Sheryl earlier, you can ask her” (referring to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg). He went on to say that he had “great respect for them,” and that iOS users should “stay tuned on this one.”

    Of course, there have been difficulties between the two companies in coming to an agreement in the past, Swisher noted, pointing out that Steve Jobs said that Facebook was “onerous.” She asked Cook if he thought Facebook was onerous too. Cook paused briefly before saying “they have their way of doing things,” a remark that drew laughter from the crowd.

    Swisher pressed him further, asking whether Apple and Facebook were “must-haves for each other.” Cook replied that Apple’s goal is to “provide customers simple and elegant ways to do the things they want to do,” and that as such he wanted customers to have the best possible experience when using Facebook on their iPhones or iPads, “so stay tuned,” he repeated.

    These remarks echo comments made by Cook earlier this year. Back in February Cook addressed a meeting of Apple’s shareholders. When asked by one whether Facebook is “friend or foe,” Cook said that Facebook is a friend and noted the enormous overlap between Facebook users and Apple customers. He also pointed out how good for Twitter iOS integration has been, and suggested that Apple and Facebook “could do more together.”

    So there you have it. While Cook did not outright promise that Facebook integration would be coming in iOS 6 (or OS X Mountain Lion), it’s pretty hard to avoid the impression that it will at least be coming fairly soon.

    Check out the video of Cook’s discussion of Facebook below:

  • Apple Employees Get Stock Dividends, CEO Tim Cook Declines

    Apple Employees Get Stock Dividends, CEO Tim Cook Declines

    Back in March, Apple announced that their stockholders would begin receiving a dividend payment of $2.65 per share of non-restricted stock. In a document filed with the SEC yesterday, the company announced that it would also begin paying dividend equivalents to Apple employees who had been compensated with restricted stock units (RSUs). Because RSUs are not considered outstanding common stock, they would not be eligible for the dividend payment announced in March. Those employees who have been given RSUs will receive the same $2.65 per unit that shareholders will receive. when Apple starts sending out dividend payments later this year.

    Interestingly, the SEC filing specifically excludes CEO Tim Cook from the payments. Cook currently owns 1.125 million RSUs. The vast majority of those shares – 1 million of them, in fact, came to Cook when he took the CEO job last year. By declining to take the dividend equivalents on them, Cook is passing up on a potential income of $75 million.

    Cook’s reasons for doing so aren’t clear, but it’s not hard to guess. Cook is already the highest paid CEO in the country with an income of $376.2 million last year. With that much money coming at him, $75 million isn’t quite such a huge sum. It’s certainly nothing to sneeze at, but by the same token, it’s probably a small price to pay to endear himself to Apple’s stockholdiing employees.

  • Next Media Animation Tackles iPhone 5 Rumors

    Next Media Animation Tackles iPhone 5 Rumors

    In this latest video from the Taiwan animation news organization NMA, The ghost of Steve Jobs comes back to congratulate Darth Vader Tim Cook for stabbing a hippie in the back for literally sitting on the domain name iPhone5.com. Then, after seeing the size of Androids “phone” in the bathroom, Darth Tim Cook uses a penis pump to increase the size of the iPhone for the next release. Yep, That’s what happens.

    They touch on the fact that Apple has won injunctions to block HTC shipments to the U.S. And even cover the latest news that Siri prefers the Nokia Lumia when asked which smartphone is best. Darth Vader Tim Cook wastes no time in “silencing” the digital help AI.

    They also manage to touch on Disney’s rocky road in the eighties. I love a good opportunity to bash Disney, but I don’t get this one. Disney rebounded in the late eighties, and Apple is far from going out of business since Steve Jobs death. Although, you could make the case that this is the last thing that Steve Jobs had a hand in designing, so maybe Apple just comes out with crap from now on. I kind of doubt it, though. Apple is a lot more than just Steve Jobs at this point.

    It is true that Steve Jobs is rumored to have major input in the next design, which is to be larger and may have a metal rear panel similar to the iPad. Although I doubt a penis-pump had anything to do with the redesign. As far as a statement about Tim Cook’s masculinity and whether or not Apple is involved in a pissing contest with Google, I’ll leave that up to you.

    This is not the first time we have seen Darth Vader represent Apple. Steve Jobs killed Billed Gates and donned the helmet in the last NMA video. That is, before he took a bunch of LSD and literally gave birth to a Macintosh.

    Nor it is the first time we have seen NMA tackle Apple rumors. This parody video highlights the ridiculous fervor people put into Apple rumors, and some of the outrageous claims they come up with.

    One thing is for sure: We are going to continue to watch NMA’s zaniness, as they cover everything from the Facebook IPO to Sex Robots.

  • Tim Cook Is Highest-Paid CEO in the History of Highest-Paid CEOs

    Tim Cook Is Highest-Paid CEO in the History of Highest-Paid CEOs

    The next time you’re out to dinner with Tim Cook and all of his iFriends, you shouldn’t bat an eye if he offers to pick up the tab for your meal. He can afford it. Many times over, in fact.

    According to the survey of annual CEO earnings done by the Wall Street Journal, Cook’s $376.2 million puts the Apple CEO at the top of the list of highest-paid CEOs in 2011. More, Cook’s compensation from last year is also the highest ever recorded by Journal since they started keeping up with these sorts of details.

    Cook’s ridiculous level of wealth is built almost entirely on the million shares of restricted Apple stock Cook he has claim on. Cook isn’t allowed to sell off any of his stock until 2016 when he will be permitted to sell as much as half his shares, and then he won’t be able to sell the other half until 2021.

    Do not feel bad for Mr. Cook because he is stuck with all that old Apple stock. While he might have tons of money now, having to hold onto those shares for several more years might be the best possible outcome for the CEO. These days, the price of Apple shares hovers around the $560 mark, but some speculators are shooting for the moon with the next iPhone. Some analysts think that the launch of the iPhone 5 might be enough to catapult Apple’s stock above $1,001 per share.

    So yeah. If that’s even a microcosmic possibility of happening, “forcing” Tim Cook to hold onto the stock is the best thing to ever be forced onto anyone. More, if Apple shares do hulk out above $1,000 while Cook has a million shares of Apple, he should be politely asked to move on to another planet because he will officially be too wealthy to actually be considered One of Us anymore.

    Or, he could at least buy everybody some Spicy Chili Cheese Nachos the next time we bump into him at Applebee’s. He could stick around then.

  • Is AOL Selling the Huffington Post? [Internet Gossip]

    Is AOL Selling the Huffington Post? [Internet Gossip]

    There are a couple of different rumors floating around the internet news sites today. They all seem to Google+Reader”>point back to our friends at Business Insider. Yesterday they reported on a rumor revolving around Arianna Huffington and AOL.

    According to a story they ran across, Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, asked AOL CEO Tim Cook, if she could buy the post back from AOL. Apparently he responded positively and named the price at one billion dollars. Okay, sounds somewhat conceivable.

    The other story is that she has been approached by a couple of different investments firms that expressed an interest in backing her in a spin-off of the post. In other words, they wanted her to start a new online publication.

    The good news about both rumors is Arianna Huffington was at Business Insider’s 2012 startups conference today and she was able to address them in person. First off, as you may have guessed, she isn’t planning on buying Huffington Post back from AOL, though there was talk about something like that awhile back.

    As for the other rumor, here’s what Nicholas Carlson’s, the host of the startups conference, Twitter page had to say about it:

    @nichcarlson
    Nicholas Carlson    A delicious sandwich in its own right. RT @blake: The guy sitting next to me smells like peanut butter and death. 20 hours ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Oh…sorry, that’s not it. Look at this:

    @nichcarlson
    Nicholas Carlson    Arianna: Yes, Private Equity Has Approached AOL About Buying HuffPo $AOL http://t.co/gqCCLjG1 3 hours ago via Business Insider ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Valve’s Hardware Ambitions May Look Like Google Glasses

    Valve’s Hardware Ambitions May Look Like Google Glasses

    We brought you word on Friday that Valve may be getting more serious about hardware than previously thought. The company was looking for hardware engineers with the job descriptions making it sound like game consoles. While that’s a pretty good and still valid theory, there’s been another development which makes things far more interesting.

    Valve has recently started up a company employee blog. These are always a good place to get the latest on company news and what they’re working on. Imagine my surprise when one of the first posts is about Valve’s hardware ambitions with the employee talking about “wearable computing.” While the entirety of the blog post is really interesting and features a good inside look at how Valve operates, we’re really interested in this bit for now:

    By “wearable computing” I mean mobile computing where both computer-generated graphics and the real world are seamlessly overlaid in your view; there is no separate display that you hold in your hands (think Terminator vision). The underlying trend as we’ve gone from desktops through laptops and notebooks to tablets is one of having computing available in more places, more of the time. The logical endpoint is computing everywhere, all the time – that is, wearable computing – and I have no doubt that 20 years from now that will be standard, probably through glasses or contacts, but for all I know through some kind of more direct neural connection. And I’m pretty confident that platform shift will happen a lot sooner than 20 years – almost certainly within 10, but quite likely as little as 3-5, because the key areas – input, processing/power/size, and output – that need to evolve to enable wearable computing are shaping up nicely, although there’s a lot still to be figured out.

    Woah, that’s pretty crazy. From this paragraph alone, it looks like Valve, or at least this employee, is working on some kind of Google Glasses. Could this be the hardware that the company is hiring engineers for? Could this be the future for Valve? Not likely. You see, most people who reported on this saw fit only to read this paragraph and then go running off exclaiming that Valve was making some kind of “Steam Glasses.” Well, if they read just a few more paragraphs down, they would see this:

    To be clear, this is R&D – it doesn’t in any way involve a product at this point, and won’t for a long while, if ever – so please, no rumors about Steam glasses being announced at E3. It’s an initial investigation into a very interesting and promising space, and falls more under the heading of research than development. The Valve approach is to do experiments and see what we learn – failure is fine, just so long as we can identify failure quickly, learn from it, and move on – and then apply it to the next experiment. The process is very fast-moving and iterative, and we’re just at the start. How far and where the investigation goes depends on what we learn.

    It also depends on who’s doing the investigation. The team has grown, and we’re making good headway, but there’s a vast amount of stuff to investigate, and we need more smart people. Lots more smart people. Hardware people, software people, firmware people, game people, UI people, just plain great programmers and problem solvers, industrial designers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, systems programmers, computer vision people, optics engineers, you name it.

    So yes, Valve is working on wearable computing, and yes, they are hiring for this project. The issue is that Valve is working on multiple projects at once all the time. They are in a sense like Google in that they have a hand in a lot of different technologies at once. The hiring post could be for this, but I doubt it. I could be wrong as well though, and Valve will have us playing Half-Life with our minds via contact lenses.

    On a side note, people seem to be thinking that Valve may be teaming up with Apple on this technology. It was confirmed through Apple Insider that Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Valve last week. Could it be about the technology or something else? My best guess is that it’s more about Valve upping their support for Mac gaming. Steam is already available on Mac and Valve is pushing the platform, but there’s still not a lot of adoption. This could be seen as a move on Apple’s part to get more serious about gaming.

    All of this is just rumor and speculation for now though. Don’t go thinking that Valve is making Google Glasses or that Apple is going to team up with Valve for some kind of Steam-exclusivity deal. If it happens, it happens. Let’s just not jump to conclusions for now, because Valve doesn’t need that kind of publicity. They need to finish Half-Life 3 before doing anything else.

    Do you think Valve is making wearable computers a reality, or is it just R&D as the author suggests? Do you think Apple wants to be involved with this technology as well?     Let us know in the comments.

  • Apple CEO Visits Foxconn In China

    Apple CEO Visits Foxconn In China

    Bloomberg reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Foxconn’s newly built manufacturing facility at Zhengzhou Technology Park yesterday in China. Apparently he was there to view the new iPhone production line at the plant. His trip also included a meeting with Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong on the 26th and a separate meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang on the 27th.

    Bloomberg provided this video of Cook’s visit to Foxconn:

    Meanwhile, Sweden is investigating the limitations of the new iPad, and Apple’s claims about its 4G capability. Apparently, the device only works on 4G networks inside the United States and Canada despite manufacturer claims that it connects to sources worldwide.

    Many Australian buyers of iPad generation 3 have already received refunds based on limitations of the device under the countries 4G mobile data network. Apple has agreed to include an advisory of the device’s shortcomings in regard to the network for future Australian buyers.

    Officials from the Swedish Consumer Protection Agency are still investigating claims in regard to the new iPad and 4G limitations, but I expect we will see a similar outcome for buyers in that part of the world. We’ll keep you posted as new information becomes available.

  • Apple CEO Visits Beijing [Twitter Reaction]

    Apple CEO Visits Beijing [Twitter Reaction]

    Believe it or not, Beijing has one of the best selling Apple outlets in the world. Also, most of Apple’s products are manufactured in China so, it should come as no surprise that Apple CEO, Tim Cook decided to take a visit to the country.

    Today he was found mingling with Chinese consumers at the outlet store in Joy City. The store opened on September 26, 2010 and sold record numbers of products to a vast sea of consumers.

    While it is not clear what other business Cook had in the city, some speculate that it has something to do with a new iPhone. While details on the visit are hard to come by, sometimes it’s just fun to speculate.

    Let’s see what folks on Twitter think about the visit:

    @philiped
    Philip Elmer-DeWitt    What was Apple CEO Tim Cook really doing in China?: He didn’t fly to Beijing just to pose with shoppers at… http://t.co/AKUShCmY $AAPL 2 hours ago via twitterfeed ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @CNET
    CNET    Tim Cook stopped by an Apple store in Beijing today. Is he in town to meet with carriers about the next iPhone? http://t.co/QKTPD8MO 6 hours ago via HootSuite ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @mobiappsdotcom
    Paige Reynell    Apple CEO Tim Cook To Visit Chinese Officials In Beijing http://t.co/em5iKlRR 1 hour ago via twitterfeed ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @AsiaPacificFdn
    APF Canada    #Apple CEO Tim Cook spotted at a retail store in Beijing – 1st Apple CEO to visit China http://t.co/XaeKi1BR 3 hours ago via HootSuite ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @F1Connect
    Kimberly Narine    Timmy boy B-)… http://t.co/py1bDeYG 5 hours ago via Facebook ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @100pZ
    |θθρ ✔    Tim Cook spotted in China; next iPhone on the docket?: Apple CEO Tim Cook visited an Apple store in Beijing toda… http://t.co/RdrShEfh 5 hours ago via twitterfeed ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @XHNews
    Xinhua News Agency    Apple Inc. said it eyes greater investment and growth in China as its chief executive Tim Cook visited Beijing on Monday. 6 hours ago via Xinhua News Agency ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @ManilaRaf
    Rafael Castillo    That why Tim Cook in town? RT @MacRumors: Apple’s 25Bln App Download Contest Winner Flown to Beijing for Award Ceremony http://t.co/g8REBe3Z 13 minutes ago via Tweetbot for iOS ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @OhCompNetworks
    OH Computer Networks    why because Microsoft is sellng in china Apple: CEO Tim Cook Met Chinese Officials in Beijing Monday http://t.co/0HRNjRpt 3 hours ago via News360 ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Apple CEO Tim Cook Visits China

    Apple CEO Tim Cook Visits China

    Apple’s Tim Cook was reportedly spotted in an Apple Store in Beijing’s Xidan province, making him the first Apple CEO to visit that country.

    This isn’t the first time Cook visited the world’s most populous country – Steve Jobs once sent him there to address issues with Apple parts supplier Foxconn.

    Cook visited China for talks with China Telecom, the mobile carrier that recently began to support Apple’s iPhone 4S. There is also speculation that Cook might be in China to sort out patent infringement issues with Proview, which has hindered the release of the new iPad in that country.

    According to an Apple spokesperson, Cook was “meeting with officials – China is very important to us and we look forward to even greater investment and growth here.”

    The issue with Proview has become Apple’s largest hurdle regarding the formal introduction of the new iPad in China. Though it was just reported that the new iPad passed another of China’s regulatory hurdles, after the China Quality Certification Center gave the tablet China Compulsory Certification.

  • Apple Launches New iPad: 4G, Retina Display, A5X Chip and Available March 16th

    Apple Launches New iPad: 4G, Retina Display, A5X Chip and Available March 16th

    Apple CEO Tim Cook began today’s event by talking about a “Post PC” world. Apple has its stake in three of these types of devices – the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod. And those post PC devices make up for 76% of Apple’s revenue, as they sold 62 million of them last quarter.

    Last quarter, Apple sold 15.4 million iPads alone, which is more than any PC company sold of their PCs (more proof of that post PC world Cook’s been hammering). Cook went on to talk about how the iPad has become everyone’s favorite device for books, email, and even gaming.

    And now comes the new iPad. It will hit the shelves on March 16th, and pre-orders start today.

    First off, it is sporting that high-def retina display that we thought it would: 2048 x 1536 resolution. “Text sharper than a newspaper. Photos will look incredible. Fonts look amazing, it’s a huge step forward. Put another way, you all have an HDTV at home , 1080p — an iPad has more pixels. That’s incredible,” said Cook.

    As far as the processor goes, Apple went with the A5X chip. What’s the “x?” Quad-core, baby. So Apple has built a high-def retina display with a chip with twice the graphic power of what’s in the iPhone 4S.

    The new iPad also sports new cameras – the rear being called the “iSight.” It’s 5 megapixels and has autofocus, autoexposure, as well as face detection. And it supports HD video recording at 1080p resolution with built-in video stabilization.

    One of the biggest things about the new iPad is that it’s got 4G LTE. There was a lot of speculation prior to today on whether Apple would launch the new iPad with this capability, and they have (to the joy of heavy data users everywhere). The LTE networks can accomodate 72Mbps. Apple claims that your battery life won’t be be negatively affected by all this – keeping 9 hours on 4G. It’s a little thicker than the iPad 2, as was expected (9.4 mm to 8.6 mm).

    Here’s the pricing structure: $499, $599, and $699 for 16, 32, and 64GB, respectively. If you want 4G, it’ll cost you $629, $729, and $829, respectively.

    [Image courtesy GDGT Live]

  • Online Petition Tackles Apple Factory Worker Conditions

    Online Petition Tackles Apple Factory Worker Conditions

    A petition on popular online petition site Change.org is gaining a lot of attention. Washington D.C.’s Mark Shields is petitioning Apple (and specifically CEO Tim Cook) to “Protect Workers Making iPhones in Chinese Factories.”

    In just a few days, the petition has amassed 146,000+ signatures as of the writing of this article, and it’s progressing at an astonishing rate.

    Dear Apple,

    You know what’s awesome? Listening to NPR podcasts through an Apple Airport, playing through a Mac laptop, while puttering about the kitchen. Do you know the fastest way to replace awesome with a terrible knot in your stomach? Learning that your beloved Apple products are made in factories where conditions are so bad, it’s not uncommon for workers to permanently lose the use of their hands.

    For awhile now, Apple has been plagued by a pretty disturbing PR crisis. Conditions inside some of their foreign manufacturing plants have been called into question – especially factories like Foxconn in China. In the past year, we’ve heard reports of mass suicides of workers at Foxconn, and just this month we reported on a mass suicide threat that was just barely avoided.

    Just a couple of weeks ago, the chairman of Hon Hai, parent company to Foxconn, raised some eyebrows when he referred to the workers under his management as “animals.”

    These foreign factories have been accused of numerous abuses, including refusal of pay, a lack of breaks, and improper instruction regarding toxic chemicals. A former Foxconn manager recently spoke out, saying that “Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost.”

    For his part, Apple CEO Tim Cook has publicly refuted these claims, saying that he takes offense to the notion that he doesn’t care about all the workers under the Apple umbrella:

    As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.

    Nevertheless, here’s what is demanded by the petition:

    Here are two simple asks (basically taken from the end of the TAL report) that could make a profound difference in the lives of the men and women in your factories and others like them:

    First, in regards to the worker traumas described in the story, ranging from suicide attempts to the people losing the use of their hands from repetitive motion injuries, we ask that Apple release a worker protection strategy for new product releases, which are the instances when injuries and suicides typically spike because of the incredible pressure to meet quotas timed to releases.

    Second, since the TAL story aired, Apple has announced that the Fair Labor Association will be monitoring its suppliers. Awesome step. Please publish the results of FLA’s monitoring, including the NAMES of the suppliers found to have violations and WHAT those violations are, so that there is transparency around the monitoring effort.

    Please make these changes immediately, so that each of us can once again hold our heads high and say, “I’m a Mac person.”

    150,000 signatures in a few days is a highly successful petition. It seems that the issue isn’t just going to go away. It’s hard for people to look at their devices that they rely on and love so much and think about the possible suffering that went into their construction.

    But the real question when it comes to this issue: would people really change their purchasing habits? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

    [Image Courtesy cultofmac]

  • Apple And Foxconn Face Accusations By Foreign Workers

    Apple And Foxconn Face Accusations By Foreign Workers

    Last year in May Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior issued a warning against abuses to workers. The abuses cited in the warning include not being paid for hours worked, mandatory extended overtime without breaks, failure to advise workers about how to handle toxic chemicals, paying ridiculously low wages, and various other mistreatments of employees.

    Apple’s standpoint on the abuses can be viewed on their website. Auditing is a regular part of how they do business and they perform regular audits in areas of human rights and environmental impact. Apple also enforces a code of conduct for manufacturing based on standards developed by the “Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), an organization established in 2004 to promote common codes of conduct for the electronics and information and communications technology industry”.

    Li Mingqi, a former manager at Foxconn Technology, one of Apple largest manufacturing partners reports to the contrary about how Apple does business claiming, “Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost.”

    Allegations like the one’s from above have Apple CEO Tim Cook really pissed off. He refutes the accusations and claims ,”…accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.”

    Cook also defends Apple by reminding Americans of the progress they have made in the area of human rights in foreign manufacturing:

    “Every year we inspect more factories, raising the bar for our partners and going deeper into the supply chain. As we reported earlier this month, we’ve made a great deal of progress and improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers. We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people.”

    Cook goes on to say, “What we will not do — and never have done — is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain.”

  • Tim Cook Announces New Mac, iPad Discounts For Apple Employees

    If you haven’t already heard, Apple had a big quarter.

    The company just released their Q4 earnings, and with the help of the holiday season, absolutely destroyed all expectations. Apple posted Q4 revenue of $46.33 billion, beating the expected figure of $38 billion. They also reported a record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion.

    Partly in celebration of these record numbers, and party to talk about the future, Apple CEO Tim Cook held a Town Hall with Apple employees Wednesday morning. Employees could attend in person or online via AppleWeb. Cook said in an email “we’ll review our record-setting results and discuss some exciting new things going on at Apple.”

    But Apple employees were treated to another surprise, as Cook announced an incentive that will help them upgrade to the latest Apple technology for their personal use. According to 9to5Mac, Cook told everyone that soon, they will get $500 credits on new Mac purchases and $250 credits on new iPad purchases.

    These will kick in sometime in June of this year with two catches: First, employees can only use the credit once every three years. Second, employees must have been at Apple for at least 90 days before they can use the discounts.

    I guess Apple’s huge successes as of late are trickling down to employees. And if they keep selling iPhones faster than babies are being born, Apple employees can probably expect stuff like this to continue.

    $500 off a Mac is a really nice discount. But Google had one of the best employee giveaways ever when they gifted brand new customized Galaxy Nexus phones to employees for the holidays.

  • Tim Cook Emails Apple Staff About Supplier Responsibility Report

    Earlier this afternoon we reported that Apple had revealed a list of companies that supply components for its products. This list, which represents an uncharacteristic openness by Apple, was part of the company’s Supplier Responsibility report. The report tracks the performance of Apple’s suppliers in a variety of areas, including human rights, environmental impact, and working conditions.

    As part of the report, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent an email out to Apple’s employees summarizing the report. A copy of the email was obtained by MacGeneration, a French tech website. The email is included below:

    Team,

    We’ve just released our sixth annual update on conditions in Apple’s supply chain, and I want to personally share some of the results with you.

    We insist that our manufacturing partners follow Apple’s strict code of conduct, and to make sure they do, the Supplier Responsibility team led more than 200 audits at facilities throughout our supply chain last year. These audits make sure that working conditions are safe and just, and if a manufacturer won’t live up to our standards, we stop working with them.

    Thanks to our supplier responsibility program, we’ve seen dramatic improvements in hiring practices by our suppliers. To prevent the use of underage labor, our team interviews workers, checks employment records and audits the age verification systems our suppliers use. These efforts have been very successful and, as a result, cases of underage labor were down sharply from last year. We found no underage workers at our final assembly suppliers, and we will not rest until the number is zero everywhere.

    We’ve also used our influence to substantially improve living conditions for the people who make our products. Apple set a new standard for suppliers who offer employee housing, to ensure that dormitories are comfortable and safe. To meet our requirements, many suppliers have renovated their dorms or built new ones altogether.

    Finding and correcting problems is not enough. Our team has built an ambitious training program to educate workers about Apple’s code of conduct, workers’ rights, and occupational health and safety. More than one million people know about these rights because they went to work for an Apple supplier. Additionally, Apple offers continuing education programs free of charge at many manufacturing sites in China. More than 60,000 workers have enrolled in classes to learn business, entrepreneurial skills or English.

    Finally, we are taking a big step today toward greater transparency and independent oversight of our supply chain by joining the Fair Labor Association. The FLA is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving conditions for workers around the world, and we are the first technology company they’ve approved for membership. The FLA’s auditing team will have direct access to our supply chain and they will report their findings independently on their website.

    No one in our industry is driving improvements for workers the way Apple is today. I encourage you to take some time to read more about these efforts, so that you can be as proud of Apple’s contributions in this area as I am. The details are online now at apple.com/supplierresponsibility.

    Tim

    More information about the report can be found here. A PDF of the report itself can be found here.

  • Curious How Much Money An Apple CEO Made Last Year? Here You Go

    Curious How Much Money An Apple CEO Made Last Year? Here You Go

    Apple, a company you have heard of around these parts, released its 2012 Proxy Report yesterday, revealing how much executives at Apple Inc. made in the past year. So in the post-Jobs era, how much more might the new CEO, Tim Cook, be taking in as the new boss? Approximately 377,000,000% more than Jobs.

    I know, that sounds like Monopoly money, but the reason Cook is making out like gangbusters at Apple is because Jobs collected all of $1 as his annual salary for the last three years he was at Apple. No stocks, no bonuses, no other compensations – one single greenback and… that’s it. Cook, on the other hand, is taking in a cool $377.9 million a year. Some may say this is justifiable given Apple’s continued success after Jobs left the company last year, especially after yesterday’s flusher-than-usual day at the stock market.

    What’s more interesting – to me, at least, because I didn’t know this – is that former Vice President and enviro-paladin Al Gore is on Apple’s bankroll. He’s actually been on the Board of Directors since 2003, which I guess is just a fun tidbit to drop in conversations at the watering hole on top of everything else he’s got on his resume. He’s also listed in the report as the Chairman of the Climate Reality Project. You go, Mr. Gore.

    Aside from the re-affirming fact that an Apple executive makes more money than you will ever see in your lifetime, the rest of the report appears to be pretty routine. Despite what any of you might think of Jobs and his humble $1-a-year compensation for being Apple’s Chief Executive Wizard, it’s somewhat amusing to wonder if Cook feels any self-applied pressure to mimic the magnanimous actions of Jobs and decline the beaucoup bucks that he’s making.

  • Apple Pulls Fake ID-making App From Store

    Apple Pulls Fake ID-making App From Store

    For a while there, becoming someone else was extraordinarily easier thanks to a new app available for iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches. Unfortunately, that window of opportunity to experience the illicit joys of fraud and underage alcohol-buying is now gone thanks to some (unsurprising) high profile criticism recently aimed at Apple that led to the subsequent removal of said app.

    The app, concisely titled “Drivers License,” allowed users to insert their own photo into a driver’s license template from one of any of the fifty United States. The app developer, DriversEd.com, described the app as such: “Take a picture with friends, and go crazy! You can change all the personal info too, so the possibilities are endless. When you’re done, just email your licenses or send them to Facebook for easy sharing!”

    Yes. Go crazy. I’m sure this app wouldn’t have caused any problems. At all.

    Despite being marketed as a just-for-kicks app, the incredible ease with which users could fabricate fake IDs created some legitimate concern with among some serious folk. First, the president of the Coalition for a Secure Drivers License, D. Brian Zimmer, sent a letter to Scott Forstall, Senior Vice President of iPhone Software, expressing his objection to the app’s existence and requesting that it be removed from the App Store. In the letter, Zimmer details all of the potential ways that one could use the fabricated licences created by the app, such as underage purchasing of tobacco products and alcohol, faking employment eligibility, concealing one’s conviction as a sex offender, and even abetting terrorist activity.

    Apple appears to have responded with a resounding no-response because Zimmer’s letter was sent to Forstall all the way back in April but the app was still in the App Store as of this past weekend. Incredibly, that means the app was available for an entire eight months after the original removal request (I know what you’re thinking because I, too, am bewildered that this app was available for so long and now lament the missed possibilities to “go crazy” with new IDs that would have been used purely for entertainment purposes). More perplexing is that this app has actually been available for over two years. How was this overlooked? Unreal. However, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) took up the cause and wrote a letter to Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook. Again citing concerns of national security, Casey implored Cook to remove the app :

    While DriversEd.com markets the app as a fun game, it can also be used in a way that allows criminals to create a new identity, steal someone else’s identity, or permit underage youth to purchase alcohol or tobacco illegally. National security systems depend on the trustworthiness of driver’s licenses, yet with a counterfeit license created by this app, a terrorist could bypass identity verification by the Transportation Security Administration, or even apply for a passport.

    While identity fraud is not a new problem, the use of readily available technology to facilitate this crime is of particular concern. By assisting in the creation of counterfeit driver’s licenses, “License” threatens to ease deception by criminals and contribute to the rising problem of identity theft. Given these risks, I request that you remove this application from the App Store immediately, as well as any other available applications that allow users to create, steal or alter false identities. Thank you for your time and consideration.

    Casey evidently has more clout with Apple than Zimmer because, as of today, the Drivers License app is nowhere to be found in Apple’s App Store. However, Zimmer graciously applauds Casey’s success in having the app removed:

    I applaud Senator Casey’s efforts. Apple has a responsibility to its users to ensure that its technology does not facilitate crime. Counterfeit driver’s licenses are not novelties. They present a very real risk to public safety and national security. Apple should have had measures in place to prevent the ‘License’ application from ever making it to the App Store. Apple Corporation’s lack of action to pull this application when I first notified them in April, 2011, of its risk to public safety was dismaying. Apple should establish a careful policy of reviewing applications for the App Store that might lead to a child’s injury through inappropriate use. The License App presents a clear risk to public safety.

    I can’t really blame Apple for the quick response to Casey’s request, but at the same time, if you’re D. Brian Zimmer, you’ve gotta be feeling a little slighted about Apple resolutely ignoring your request from eight months ago. So it goes. And I guess it’s back to the old tactics of exacto knives and gorilla glue for you ambitious under-18-year-olds trying to dupe the system into believing that you’re actually 25.

  • Apple Earnings Call: Tim Cook Expresses Gratitude for Steve Jobs Condolences

    Apple released its Q4 earnings report. While it missed some estimates, it still had a record September quarter and all time record for iPad and Mac sales. Though iPhone sales were down, it was still a record September quarter for iPhone sales.

    CEO Tim Cook opened the earnings conference call by noting that this was the first one since the passing of Steve Jobs. “The world has lost a visionary, a creative genius and an amazing human being,” he said, adding that his “spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”

    Cook said he wanted to express gratitude for the condolences and expressions of support following Steve’s passing.

    He then turned the call over to CFO Peter Oppenheimer to go through the financials.

    Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones in the quarter – 21% growth year-over-year. They sold 11.12 million iPads (up 166% year-over-year). They sold 4.89 million Macs (up 26% year-over-year). They sold 6.62 million iPods (down 27% year-over-year).

    Oppenheimer noted that Mac growth has been largely fueled by the Macbook Air and Macbook Pro, with 74% of Mac sales being portable Macs, though they also had record desktop sales. He also noted hat there were over 6 million downloads of Mac OS X Lion during the quarter.

    The company says iPhone sales were better than they expected, as buzz built for the next-generation to come out in the fall. In other words, they expected people to hold off on buying an iPhone until the iPhone 4S came out.

    Well, they may have been right, as the 4S is selling like hotcakes.

    He did note that the Asia Pacific has contributed to strong iPhone sales growth. Sales in that region more than doubled year-over-year.

    On the iPod front, the company says sales were ahead of their expectations, despite being down year-over-year. iPod still controls 70% of the portable digital music player market. iTunes also had record results.

    Apple says it will continue to focus on international expansion of Apple Retail stores.

    They also announced 250 million iOS devices sold.

    During a Q&A session, Cook said he expects to have an all time record iPhone quarter this quarter.

    They will continuously rebroadcast the earnings call here. See the whole earnings report here.

  • Steve Jobs Death: Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Email to Employees

    As you may know, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has passed away. The company put out a statement as noted here, as did the Jobs family.

    Apple has also made public the following email from CEO Tim Cook to the company’s staff:

    Team,

    I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.

    Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing
    human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

    We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email [email protected].

    No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.

    Tim

    The family says a site is being created where his life can be celebrated as well.