Posts Tagged ‘Steve Jobs’

Steve Jobs named CEO of the Decade

November 5th, 2009

Steve Jobs - KeynoteSteven Paul Jobs, Apple CEO and co-founder, the 43rd richest man in America and largest individual Disney shareholder, is according to Fortune named ‘CEO of the Decade‘ for his role in turning Apple into a groundbreaking technology leader.

Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley.

One reason why Jobs is named as CEO of the decade is that he, after his return to Apple, introduced the iMac that became a breakthrough with its all-in-one computer system, and it reestablished Apple’s economy, and in 2001 he and Apple launched iTunes as a music software and later the same year Apple released the first iPod, but those events didn’t seemed to help in an established market, and takeovers were rumored.

Steve JobsAt this time, Macintosh computers were mainly used by students and artists, but Steve Jobs had a plan and he convinced the rest of Apple’s board that it would be a great idea to build retail stores, and at the same time it was realized that Apple had to become different on designs compared to the successful blandness of Microsoft, Dell and Intel. That difference proved to be a breakthrough and after a short while, people came to Apple begging for the next iPod.

In 2002 Apple made iTunes Windows compatible, and it became another huge step forward for Apple and just a year after, iTunes Store was opened and became pioneer in digital music. 5 years later another brilliant idea was realized: the App Store. But wait, isn’t something missing? Of course. The iPod became an astonishing success, and in 2007 Apple reinvented the phone. In other words, they introduced the iPhone – an iPod and a phone in one single device.

In January 2009, Steve Jobs took a 5 months leave of absence from Apple to undergo a liver transplant, and fans of Apple didn’t saw him until September 9th, when he returned as first keynote speaker and presented among other a new iPod Nano lineup.

At AppleLunch we couldn’t agree more to Fortunes decision of naming Steve Jobs as ‘CEO of the Decade’ and without him, Apple news and rumors wouldn’t be that interesting to follow.

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Apple Wants iTunes to Replace Cable TV?

November 2nd, 2009

According to MediaMemo, Apple has reached out to TV Networks in recent weeks, proposing a $30-a-month subscription plan to deliver content to the users from iTunes.

Last week, Apple released the Apple TV 3.0 software update which allowed contents such as iTunes LP and iTunes Extras, and the next step might be delivery of TV content via iTunes, but not a single network have yet signed on to a plan. Though Disney might be willing to sign on, since Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the largest single shareholder, and Disney were also the first to allow its content on iTunes with a huge success.

The industry executives are reportedly intrigued to the idea of an iTunes subscription plan, as they are looking for alternatives to gain revenue because advertising keeps diminishing.

Read MediaMemo’s article here

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More independence between Apple and Google

October 18th, 2009

Few weeks ago we questioned if Apple was seeking independence from Google, because it became known that Apple acquired Placebase back in July. Apple and Google has had an outstanding co-operation that has been mentioned many times in keynotes, specially iPhone related keynotes, but now it seems like the two technology giants’ willing to co-operate is falling apart.

Last Monday Google announced that Arthur Levinson has stepped down from the company’s Board of Directors after five years in the position, effective immediately.

Google CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt described Levinson as a good friend and valued colleague. “Art has been a key part of Google’s success these past five years, offering unvarnished advice and vital counsel on every big issue and opportunity Google has faced,” Schmidt said. “Though he leaves as a member of our Board, Art will always have a special place at Google.”

The reason why we bring this story is because Arthur Levinson has been a member of Apple’s Board of Directors since 2000, and his positions on both Apple’s and Google’s boards was made public after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began investigating corporate ties between Apple and Google. And Mr. Levinson isn’t the only person that has been connected the two companies.

Back in August, Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple’s Board of Directors, a position he had held since August 2006, with the statement from Steve Jobs:

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful. Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.”

A statement that Eric Schmidt agreed to.

Google is today providing many services to Apple, such as iPhone app. You can read a review of one of Google’s iPhone apps, called Google Mobile App here at AppleLunch. Besides App Store apps, Google is responsible for Maps and YouTube on the iPhone. But what will happen to those applications if Apple’s and Google’s co-operationing keeps falling apart?

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Disney asks Steve Jobs for help

October 14th, 2009
(Photo: The New York Times)

(Photo: The New York Times)

The New York Times reports that the Walt Disney Company has asked Apple CEO Steve Jobs, for help making the Disney retail stores a high-tech Imagination Park.

The Walt Disney Company wants to make it an experience to visit a retail store, like it is to visit an Apple retail store today and that’s one of the reasons they have asked Steve Jobs for help. Another reason is that Steve Jobs is already  a member of Disney’s Board of Directors, besides he is the largest individual Disney shareholder.

The new retail store concept from Disney will include theaters which allows children to watch film clips of their own selection, karaoke contests and live chat with Disney Channel stars via satellite. Also hidden features will be included, such as if you walk by a “magic mirror” while holding a Princess tiara, Cinderella might appear and say something to you.

Steve Jobs has just been named the “most influential individual in the global technology industry” for the second time, according to silicon.com, and now he’s also up against Donald Duck and Goofy in the competition of becoming the “most influential individual in the children’s world”. Good luck Steve.

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Apple has been working on a tablet for at least 6 years

October 5th, 2009

apple tabletThe highly expected tablet device from Apple is not exactly a whole new idea that Apple has just come up with. According to the New York Times, former Apple engineer, Joshua A. Strickland, has told that Apple had been working on a tablet based device since at least 2003, and that device, which was only a prototype, was using a PowerPC chip made by I.B.M., and was so power hungry that that it was senseless to manufacture in big numbers, and it stayed as a prototype.

Now, six years later, rumors keep flying around that Apple will announce and release a tablet device next year. A device that Apple CEO, Steve Jobs earlier has described as “good for nothing except surfing the web in the bathroom,” but the success of the iPhone has apparently changed his mind.

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Steve Jobs the 43rd richest American

October 3rd, 2009

Steve JobsAccording to Forbes’ annual list of wealthiest Americans, Steve Jobs is this year ranked as 43rd with a net worth of approximately $5.1 billion. This would generally come as a good news to mr. Jobs, but actually his not worth fell from last year by approximately $600 million. Though he lost more than half a billion, he moved up 18 places.

The report notes that Steve Jobs has earned big times on his investment of Pixar, which he purchased back in 1986 for $10 million. When Disney acquired Pixar, Steve Jobs became the largest individual stockholder of Disney, and in the past 6 months, Disney’s stock price has risen nearly 90% and because of this, Apple CEO, Steve Jobs’ net worth has risen by more than $1 billion.

Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates remains the leader of Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans with a net worth of approximately $50 billion, and he is now America’s richest person for the 16th straight year.

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Apple is about to release new keyboard and mouse

October 2nd, 2009

This Friday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a document, confirming that a new wireless mouse and keyboard from Apple is about to come.

Engadget discovered the document, which revealed the new Apple keyboard with model number A1314 and an Apple Mouse with model number A1197. The document also included a dimension picture of the new keyboard, which is smaller than the one that is currently available from Apple.

New Apple Keyboard draft

Furthermore, several reports suggest a new multitouch mouse from Apple, which features several improvements from the current MightyMouse. The new coming Apple mouse will potentially be housed in an aluminum shell, but that is just guessing from different fronts. The new mouse is also expected to throw away the problematic mechanical roller ball, and it is here the multitouch technology will do its work.

New apple mouse - labels

According to AppleInsider, Steve Jobs has been leading the development of the upcoming mouse, and it isn’t known if it is called MightyMouse or something completely different.

The new Apple mouse is expected to be released simultaneous to the release of the expected new iMac lineup.

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Two Billion App Store Apps Have Been Downloaded

September 28th, 2009

Apple has tApp Store-logooday send out an announcement, that the iTunes App Store has now surpassed 2 billion downloads of 85,000 different apps to 50 million iPhones and iPod Touchs, made by more than 125,000 developers.

“The rate of App Store downloads continues to accelerate with users downloading a staggering two billion apps in just over a year, including more than half a billion apps this quarter alone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it.”

App Store launched July 11, 2008, and has only been open in 14 months and has already surpassed two billion downloads. It is an incredibly good business, which you can read all about in our article about the App Store.

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Apple goes even greener

September 27th, 2009

Apple - Environment Cycle“A lot of companies publish how green their building is, but it doesn’t matter if you’re shipping millions of power-hungry products with toxic chemicals in them,” – These are the words of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs, in a statement for a newly launched green campaign from Apple, which attempts to make sure that investors focus on the level of environmental friendliness in Apple’s products, instead of just their facilities and production methods. The company claims to always have been in the lead of environmentally friendly products, but that many don’t actually take notice of that. According to Apple, there are many companies which focus on the environment, which deserve more credit for their effort in the battle against greenhouse gasses.

“It’s like asking a cigarette company how green their office is.”
- says Mr. Jobs, who thinks the media should focus on the initiative, instead of warm promises.

The expanded environmental section on Apple, also addresses product use and life cycle impact and provides easily understandable numbers for the amount of green house gasses emitted by each step in a product life cycle process at Apple, such as manufacturing, transportation, product use, recycling and facilities. There are also listed an environmental report for each of their hardware products, so users and investors can see the statistics themselves. Furtheremore, Apple intends to keep us updated on their efforts through the recently added news page in their environmental section.

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9th September “Rock and Roll” media event – Round up

September 26th, 2009

Users have requested an overview of the updates Apple introduced in the “It’s only Rock & Roll, but I like it” media event the 9th of September, so here is a Keynote round up summary.

iPod updates

The entire iPod lineup has been refreshed.

  • iPod Nano – received a camera along with video recording and voice over functionality. FM radio and the new Genius Mix have been integrated as well. The display is slightly larger (now 2.2 inches). It’s got a microphone and speaker and is available in 8 GB and 16 GB versions for $149 and $179.
  • iPod Touch – better hardware, making it about 50 % faster, capable of running OpenGL ES 2.0 and is now available in 32 GB and 64 GB for as low as $199.
  • iPod Shuffle – more colors (pink, green, blue and stainless steel) and is available in 2 GB and 4 GB for $59 and $79. The stainless steel version costs $99.
  • iPod Classic – now comes in 160 GB instead of 120 GB for $249.

Read the entire article here: Apple gives us a new iPod family

New iPhone OS – 3.1

Introduces Genius for Apps and native ringtones. Genius for Apps works just like the original genius, and recommend Apps which might interest you.

Read the entire article here: iPhone OS 3.1 released

iTunes 9 released

Entirely new look in the iTunes Store, making it easier to navigate and use. Album ratings and social networking (Facebook and Twitter) have also been integrated in the new look. Home Sharing is a new feature which lets you share your media between other computers in your home.

Read the entire article here: iTunes 9, new store, home sharing and sync improvements

Steve Jobs returns

The Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, was Keynote speaker for the first time since his leave of absence. He officially returned to Apple in June, but hadn’t appeared much publicly before this Keynote.

Read the entire article here: Steve Jobs returns as Apple keynote speaker!

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