News tagged ‘CEO’

HP, the largest PC manufacturer, has announced that after evaluation of business alternatives for Personal Systems Group they decided to not sell off the PC unit and leave it within the company.

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Reuters suggests that Steve Jobs’ authorized biography by Walter Isaacson may become the best-selling book of 2011 on Amazon. But it is not surprisingly. Apple’s fans and others show extraordinary interest in the late Apple CEO’s life, especially after his death early this month.

The book is the best-selling book on Amazon.com and is also listed as the top-selling electronic book on the company's Kindle eBook store.

"The way things are trending, it could very likely be our top-selling book of the year," Amazon spokeswoman Brittany Turner said in a statement.

But now the book is ranked #13 on Amazon’s list of best sellers. Noteworthy, some analysts predict that the digital version of Steve Jobs’ biography outsell the print version. It is know that digital sales of best sellers are typically coming at 50-70% of total sales. Though, Amazon prefers do not comment the difference between digital and physical version of the book.

In October 2008, long before the iPad made its debut, then Apple CEO Steve Jobs said this:

There are some customers which we chose not to serve. We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that. But we can continue to deliver greater and greater value to those customers that we choose to serve. And there’s a lot of them. We’ve seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody. So I think you can expect us to stick with that winning strategy and continue to try to add more and more value to those products in those customer bases we choose to serve.

But Apple finally launched a $500 computer - the iPad.  The least expensive model costs $499. But the iPad average selling price for the three calendar quarters of 2011 was $628 that is more than the average price of Windows PC. For the same period the iPhone ASP was $653.

These numbers prove that the average selling price for all three Apple’s most profitable categories – the Mac, the iPhone and the iPad – is higher than average selling price of Windows PC that sold at U.S. retail (for the first three quarters of 2011) for $491.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Chief Operating Officer Lee Jae-yong are said to have discussed their long-term component supply relationships during a two-hour meeting that took place earlier this week.

Lee Jae-yong, chief operating officer (COO) of Samsung Electronics said Wednesday he had discussed long-term parts cooperation arrangements with Apple Inc.'s chief Tim Cook.

The meeting took place Monday after Lee attended a memorial service for Steve Jobs, Apple's late co-founder, and as Samsung and Apple remain locked in fierce legal disputes to control the global smartphone and tablet computer markets.

Lee noted that the companies made agreement for 2012 and would like to prolong their cooperation for 2013-2014. Apple has been keen to make long-term supply agreements with component suppliers, sometimes prepaying billions of dollars in advance to secure massive supplies looking over several years and overcoming or better to say excelling its competitors.

On Tuesday Apple announced that it has $81.57 billion. As usual different Apple analysts and watchers try to guess and suggest what the company should do with its huge cash reserves. Now Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer oversees $9.815 billion in cash and cash equivalents, $16.137 billion in short-term marketable securities, and $55.618 billion in long-term marketable securities. Despite Apple huge cash reserve, the company invests its money very carefully.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook noted that “the cash wasn’t burning a hole in our pocket” and that the company “didn't want to do silly things”. In recent months Apple acquired several companies, intellectual property, invested in the supply chain and in new stores. Moreover, the two-thirds of Apple’s cash reserve are offshore.

“The U.S. government taxes U.S. businesses on income earned worldwide, but allows them to defer taxes on the money until it is brought back to the United States. As a result, American corporations like to keep the money abroad, particularly as they increase investment overseas,” Reuters explained.

Yesterday Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook reported that iPhone sales fell short of expectations at 17.07 million units in the fourth fiscal quarter. iPhone sales dropped by 2.4 million. Record iPhone sales for the current quarter would come in above the 20.34 million units set in the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter) of this year.

Decline in iPhone sales, as Cook noted, caused by various rumors related to the Apple’s smartphone, especially, when Apple missed its usual June introduction of new hardware. Most of the rumors were about a dramatically redesigned "iPhone 5" offering a larger but thinner design than the current iPhone. Such rumors were incorrect and Apple might still be working on the iPhone 5.

Steve Jobs passed away, leaving us his brilliant ideas and legacy. He literally created his own chapter of the IT industry history. Following his death, a number of simple people have extended their sincere condolences and the most powerful and influential people in the world have commented on his passing, among them Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Disney President Bob Iger, and U.S. President Barack Obama.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates

"I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work…

The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely."

Disney President Bob Iger

"Steve Jobs was a great friend as well as a trusted advisor. His legacy will extend far beyond the products he created or the businesses he built. It will be the millions of people he inspired, the lives he changed, and the culture he defined…

With his passing the world has lost a rare original, Disney has lost a member of our family, and I have lost a great friend..."

U.S. President Barack Obama

Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

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An hour ago Apple's Board of Directors released a statement in which it is said that company co-founder and longtime CEO has passed away.

Apple has already updated the main page of the website and asked for "thoughts, memories and condolences" to be sent to rememberingsteve@apple.com.

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John Paczkowski at AllThingsD claims that the next keynote, where Apple is rumored to announce its next-generation iPhone, will be held on Apple Campus in Cupertino, rather than the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where Apple usually holds its fall media event. We’ve heard various rumors that Apple might work on two iPhone models: completely redesigned device and a minor update unofficially dubbed “iPhone 4S”. It is widely believed the new device will come with iOS 5, pre-installed and ready to be configured with iCloud.

Perhaps, the company felt a more intimate venue was best for newly installed CEO Tim Cook’s first media event. Perhaps YBCA was simply already booked. Whatever the reason, the world will get it’s first look at the next iPhone at Apple’s Town Hall Auditorium in early October.

Apple has already used Town Hall Auditoriumon several occasions to preview upcoming versions of iOS, OS X, Lion, iLife ’11 and announce updated MacBook Air models.

Apple will reportedly hold its iPhone 5 media event on October 4th.

While Apple could certainly change its plans anytime, sources said that the October 4 date has been selected by the company to showcase the iPhone 5. Sources added that the plan is now to make the new device available for purchase within a few weeks after the announcement.

Of course, new Apple’s CEO Tim Cook will play a prominent role while the event, although it will be a team presentation. Other executives such as Phil Schiller, Scott Forstall, and Eddy Cue will participate in the keynote. Everybody waits Steve Jobs appearance, but it is still unclear whether he  will appear in the event. During this media event Apple may also announce new iPod touch with minor changes.

The currently rumored iPhone 5 release dates have been October 7th, 14th, and 15th. PocketGamer source claims that Apple will hold its iPhone 5 press conference on October 5th:

Our inside source says there will be a press conference announcing the new hardware on October 5th, with retail release occurring a week later. This broadly fits with the movement of recent rumours, which peaked with a - since proven erroneous - 21st October release date, bought forward to a October 15th date, according to Orange CEO Stephane Richard.

The symbolism works well too: iPhone 5, iOS 5, October 5.

Apple might also show up white iPhone 4s, that was recently found in AT&T internal system.

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Apple is reportedly working on a process to merge multiple Apple IDs into a single login. Early developer testing of iOS 5 and iCloud have demonstrated that this issue was major.

TUAW described the problem back in July, and the answer at that time was that there was no way to consolidate Apple IDs:

Some readers have been managing two Apple IDs on purpose and are now frustrated about the fact that Apple is restricting logins for automatic downloads. Others have only just discovered that they have two IDs. Most of them have already contacted Apple, only to be given the same answer without exception: Apple will not consolidate Apple ID accounts.

MacRumors reader Robert emailed Apple CEO Tim Cook about the issue. Apple representative said that they understood the issue and that more people would run into the problem with iCloud, claiming that there is no way yet to combine accounts but revealed they are working on it.

One of the customers, who emailed Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO to express dismay over discontinuation of same MobileMe features, claims that the service is transitioned to iCloud and then Tim Cook called him noting that Apple is “open” to return some features as customers support their return.

"Specifically, I bemoaned the loss of sync services (syncing application preferences, keychain, etc.) and the loss of iDisk," the reader said of his initial email to Cook . "I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from his office just now.

According to Cook's people, while there are no plans to add those particular services to iCloud at this time, "Apple is open to it if there's enough feedback on the subject."

At the Intel’s Developer Forum the Intel today announced a new processor that will be capable to supply power to a x86 computer in stand-by mode for 10 days off a single charge. New Haswell processor implements a 3D-transistor 22-nanometer architecture, which uses 20 times less energy than current Sandy Bridge chips included in the newest Macs. Also the new processor can power a computer by grabbing light from a source the size of light bulb. In addition, Haswell processors will run faster than current chips.

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