Apple and Research in Motion may disagree on many things, but they’re of the same mind when it comes to the the netbook phenomenon: It will be short-lived. Asked about Apple’s interest in the category during a late-April earnings call, COO Tim Cook said the company has none. Turns out, Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie feels pretty much the same way.
It was like the Golden State Warriors opting to pass on Larry Bird in the ’78 draft. Verizon Wireless was offered the chance to be the exclusive carrier of Apple’s iPhone in 2005, but refused it, put off by Cupertino’s “rich financial terms” and other demands. Apple had reportedly asked for a rich percentage of the monthly services fees as well as complete control of iPhone distribution. Four years and 13.7 million iPhones later, Verizon is reportedly reconsidering that assessment.
Earlier this year, Apple COO Tim Cook said the company would use “whatever weapons we have at our disposal” to pursue anyone who “rips off” Apple’s iPhone intellectual property. He’d better hope those weapons are as effective a defense as offense because the company may soon need them. Elan Microelectronics has slapped Apple with a lawsuit claiming the MacBook, iPhone and iPod touch infringe upon touchscreen patents it holds.
Apple’s plan to preview iPhone OS 3.0 tomorrow is a sure sign that the company is on track to debut the next iteration of the phone on which it will run this summer. That’s the word from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who has high expectations for the OS and device both.
What are Apple’s intentions in the fledgling Netbook market? More than what the company is letting on, if a report in today’s Commercial Times is to be believed. The daily Chinese-language financial newspaper claims that Wintek has been tapped to manufacture touchscreens for a device targeted at the category.
Aside from a spontaneous “Happy Birthday” sung to an absent CEO Steve Jobs, Apple’s annual meeting today was something of a nonevent. Shareholders re-elected the company’s board of directors despite concerns about its handling of the disclosure of Jobs’s health problems. And the board continued to wave off questions about the company’s succession plans and Jobs’s well-being.
Turns out that when Apple COO Tim Cook said the company would use “whatever weapons we have at our disposal” to pursue anyone who “rips off” Apple’s iPhone intellectual property, he had a very specific weapon in mind: United States Patent #7,479,949. Awarded just days before Cook made that statement, the vast 358-page patent describes the touchscreen, graphical user interface and technologies that define the iPhone user experience, including at least one that may define an element of the Palm Pre’s as well.
We believe that we’re on the face of the Earth to make great products, and that’s not changing. We’re constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple, not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.
We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot.
And frankly, we don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change.”
– Apple COO Tim Cook on the company’s philosophy 25 years after the first Macintosh
Though Apple COO Tim Cook didn’t mention any companies by name in his recent warning to those who would take liberties with Apple’s intellectual property, it was clear to whom he was referring: Palm. Well, if Palm was shaken by Cook’s remarks, it’s not letting on. Asked if such aggro rhetoric worried the company, a Palm spokesperson said not in the least.
An interesting tidbit from Apple’s first-quarter earnings call just now. Asked for his company’s view on new iPhone rivals like the Palm Pre and handsets running Google’s Android OS, Apple COO Tim Cook answered with a bit of considered saber rattling. “We like competition–as long as our competitors don’t rip off our IP,” he said. “And we’re going to go after anyone who does.” Like, say, Palm?
Steve is the public face of Apple and nothing beats when he goes out and says, ‘Ta-da.’ But at the end of the day, someone has to take all those amazing product designs and turn them into that big pile of cash you see in the company’s bank account. That’s Tim.”
– Former Apple exec Mike Janes on company COO Tim Cook, who will run Apple while CEO Steve Jobs takes medical leave
Trading in Apple shares was halted this afternoon when the company announced that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June. Apple COO Tim Cook will handle day-to-day operations in his absence. And Jobs is to remain involved in major strategic decisions. Jobs broke the news to investors in the following memo…
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
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