Apple - page 29

Kyle Conroy, a computer science student at UC Berkeley has just released a project that asks a provocative question: Should you buy Apple’s products or Apple’s stock. Using a large data set combining Apple’s stock price over time and the prices of nearly every Apple product introduced since 1997, he calculates how much your AAPL holdings would be worth if you had spent the price of a contemporary Apple product on investing instead.

For Mac lovers, it isn’t a pretty picture. In some cases, stock valuation has increased as much as 5800 percent. So, for example, a top-of-the-line Powerbook G3 from 1997 cost $5,700 at introduction. If you spent that on stock, you would have $330,563 bucks today. If you bought the laptop instead, it’s currently available for $10 on Ebay.

As a very small holder of AAPL, this makes me cry. Though I have invested a bit more than a 13″ MacBook Pro in stock over the past few years, I also bought that same computer, an iPhone, an iPod nano, a shuffle, and an iPod in the same period. I love them all, but it’s pretty eye-opening to see what might have been. How about you? Any products you wish you’d spent on stock?

Here’s a interesting story about secrecy and making mistakes at Apple. The story is told by Woz, Apple employee number one (check out his hilarious shirt).

While Woz was waiting in line to buy the iPad last month, an Apple test engineer showed him a prototype iPad. It was just a few hours before the device went on sale. Woz, who is still an Apple employee, fired up the Numbers app. Little did he know, the unit was 3G test prototype, and was not to be shown or used outside of secure areas at the company HQ. Unfortunately, Woz’s playing with it must have somehow sent up a warning flag at Apple.

“… I can tell you that the test engineer who showed me an iPad after midnight, for 2 minutes, during the iPad launch was indeed fired. I opted to spend 2 minutes with Numbers on this iPad, trying some stunts I’d seen on Apple’s website demo video. I was not told that it was a 3G model and I had no way to know that. I was told that this engineer had to wait until midnight to show it outside of Apple’s secure area. And I’m an Apple employee who he was showing it to. My guess is that he was allowed to take the iPad outside of the secure area but still not supposed to show it.”

The test engineer was fired for betraying Apple’s ironclad rules on secrecy. The device was not to be shown to anybody — not even Woz. (And worse, Woz told Steve Jobs about seeing the iPad that night. Jobs himself said it was “no big deal.”)

On the other hand, Gray Powell, the Apple engineer who lost an iPhone 4G prototype at a bar, is still employed at Apple.

“Product secrecy is good for Apple and should be strictly enforced, but maybe 10% of niceness and 90% of strictness is OK too,” writes Woz.

It seems mistakes are forgiven, but betrayals are not.

Gizmodo: Steve Wozniak On Apple Security, Employee Termination, and Gray Powell

There’s another juicy wrinkle in iPhonegate. The Silicon Valley cops are investigating, reports CNet:

Silicon Valley police are investigating what appears to be a lost Apple iPhone prototype purchased by a gadget blog, a transaction that may have violated criminal laws, a law enforcement official told CNET on Friday.

Apple has spoken to local police about the incident and the investigation is believed to be headed by a computer crime task force led by the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office, the source said. Apple’s Cupertino headquarters is in Santa Clara County, about 40 miles south of San Francisco.

CNet: Lost iPhone prototype spurs police probe

How’s this for customer service? Steve Jobs personally intervened to get a dodgy iMac replaced. Author Michael J. Weber bought a new iMac, but his Apple machine was a lemon. Perhaps emboldened by Steve Jobs’ recent email responses to customer emails, Weber didn’t waste any time going straight to the top to complain about it:

Steve,
Received a 27″ i7 iMac today that would only boot in verbose mode. Whatever happened to “It Just Works”? This was a top of the line unit built to order in Elk Grove, CA — not China. And it booted like a Gateway 2000!

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The team at Patently Apple mined a patent granted today to find what may be future gold: more evidence that the Cupertino company is toying with the idea of touchscreen iMacs and MacBooks.

After slogging through patent no. 20100100947, titled “Scheme for Authenticating without Password Exchange,” they discovered a flowchart illustrating a touchscreen that could be associated with both a Macbook and a small desktop.

In a patent that even these document hounds defined “obscure,” the flowchart they sniffed out points to a touchscreen component not restricted to the iPhone.

Continue reading

From the “oh that’s awesome” category — which quickly leads to the credit card coming out of the wallet  — some of the most unique and whimsical iPhone stands I’ve seen from Forked Up Art.

Stands are $30 each, come in portrait and landscape orientations, and are made of genuine used cutlery.  The best form of recycling I’ve seen recently. It’s earned a place in my kitchen!

Thanks to iPhone Savior for the tip.

Apple has filed a very interesting patent for a travel app called iTravel that books flights, hotels and car reservations. But the most interesting part is how it uses a radio chip to check you in at the airport, whisk you through security and allows you to wireless board your flight.

The iTravel app uses Near Field Communications, a short-range wireless technology that is starting to become widely used in cell phones for mobile ticketing, payment and electronic keys, especially in countries like Japan.

Apple is rumored to be adding NFC chipset to the next iPhone. If so, it could turn the iPhone into an electronic wallet, allowing you to for everything, from a cup of coffee to a subway ride. Your iPhone could unlock your car, pick up e-coupons at the local mall, and pay for all your supermarket groceries just by laying it on top of the checkout.

Over at TUAW, TJ Luoma made note of something I wasn’t aware of: about a month ago, Apple quietly removed the “Downloads” tab from the Apple homepage. The page continued to exist, but it appears that Apple is no longer updating it.

On the one hand, Apple’s own Downloads page was always inferior to the likes of VersionTracker, I Use This or MacUpdate. The editorial resources they were employing to keep it up to date probably didn’t make sense when there were better repositories.

On the other hand, though, Apple’s Download page served an important role: it was an software repository that Apple neo-nates could easily find the first time they booted up Safari, offering a quick library of all the cool software they could use on their new Macs. The other, third-party Mac software repositories don’t have that sort of visibility to new Mac owners.

My guess is that Apple eventually intends to employ their App Store strategy with Mac software, but I wouldn’t expect anything like that to happen until either the next major version of OS X or iTunes. In the meantime, I think a lot of new Mac owners will acutely miss the presence of an updated Downloads section on the Apple homepage.

Apple’s executives dropped several references to “extraordinary” new products during the Q2 conference call, but unfortunately gave little clue what they might be.

Indeed, one Wall Street analyst asked if they were entirely new products, or upgrades to current products.

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO responded: “We’re just not going to help our competitors (by talking),” he said.

But he added: “We’re very confident in our product pipeline and very excited about coming months.”

The conference call references reiterate Steve Jobs’ Q2 press release: “… we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year,” Jobs said.

Who wants to bet it’s a bigger iPad?

Apple is sweeping up PC switchers and new iPhone users by the millions.

Take the 8.75 million iPhones Apple sold in the March quarter. Add them to the 42.4 million sold at the end of the last quarter. That makes 51.15 million iPhones sold to date. That’s a lot of iPhone users.

Also consider that half of the Macs sold in the quarter from Apple stores were to people who have never owned a Mac.

The March quarter was Apple’s best ever for iPhone sales, racking up more than double the number of units sold in the same quarter last year. Mac unit sales are up 33 percent. Apple is projecting similar numbers for the next quarter.

And there’s no end in sight. On the analyst conference call right now, Apple COO Tim Cook is talking about increased retail distribution points (like Radio Shack) and the massive growth opportunities in China. And all this during a recession.

The beta 2 of iPhone OS 4 has just been posted to Apple’s Developers’ site. The build is 8A248C, and developers can get it here.

Apple has just reported record earnings for Q2 2010. Earnings and profits were the best ever for a non-holiday quarter, and sales of Macs and iPhones were up by a big margin. The only blip is iPod sales — down 1 percent year-on-year.

“We’re thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent,” said Steve Jobs in a statement. “We’ve launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year.”

Highlights:

• Q2 2010 revenue = $13.50 billion
• Profit = $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share. (Last year, revenue = $9.08 billion and profit = $1.62 billion)
• Gross margin = 41.7 percent, up from 39.9 percent last year
• 2.94 million Macs sold (up 33 percent year-on-year)
• 8.75 million iPhones sold (up 131 percent year-on-year)
• 10.89 million iPods sold (down one percent year-on-year)

Apple sent Gizmodo a formal letter asking for its iPhone back (proving it was genuine) — and Gizmodo is returning it, along with a nice note asking Apple to go easy on the kid who lost it.

Gizmodo editorial director Brian Lam says Apple called him today asking for its iPhone back. He said he’d be happy to oblige, if he received a formal written request from Apple’s legal department.

He duly received the following:

It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is in possession of a device that belongs to Apple. This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple. Please let me know where to pick up the unit.

Sincerely,
Bruce Sewell,
Senior Vice President & General Counsel
Apple Inc.

Lam wrote back putting him in contact with his colleague Jason Chen, who actually has the phone.

Happy to have you pick this thing up. Was burning a hole in our pockets. Just so you know, we didn’t know this was stolen when we bought it. Now that we definitely know it’s not some knockoff, and it really is Apple’s, I’m happy to see it returned to its rightful owner.

P.S. I hope you take it easy on the kid who lost it. I don’t think he loves anything more than Apple except, well, beer.

As well as mentioning that Gizmodo didn’t know the iPhone was stolen when they bought it, Lam also says the guy who sold them the iPhone had earlier tried to return Apple it to Apple. Apparently, he called customer service but go the runaround.

The “sorry Apple engineer” who lost a 4G iPhone at a Bay Area bar has been identified as Grey Powell, Gizmodo reports. Powell is a 27-year-old software engineer with a taste for the sauce (judging by his pictures, like this one above with a PBR). He left the test unit at the Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City several weeks ago.

“I underestimated how good German beer is,” he typed into the next-generation iPhone he was testing on the field, cleverly disguised as an iPhone 3GS. It was his last Facebook update from the secret iPhone. It was the last time he ever saw the iPhone, right before he abandoned it on bar stool, leaving to go home.”

Left on a stool, the iPhone was handed to a guy sitting next to Powell. The guy asked around to see if anyone had lost it, but when no one claimed it, he took it home.

When he woke up after the hazy night, the phone was dead. Bricked remotely, through MobileMe, the service Apple provides to track and wipe out lost iPhones. It was only then that he realized that there was something strange that iPhone. The exterior didn’t feel right and there was a camera on the front. After tinkering with it, he managed to open the fake 3GS.

However, Gizmodo does not explain how the iPhone came into their possession — which may be the most important part of the story. “Weeks later, Gizmodo got it,” is all that is said. Gizmodo publisher Nick Denton paid just $5,000 for the iPhone, he admitted to the AP. According to California law, the iPhone is stolen even it was accidentally left at a bar. The finder is legally obliged to return it to Apple. Instead, they sold it to Gizmodo, who at the time of purchase knew it was Apple’s property.

Via 9to5Mac.

This is pretty funny (except for the poor schlub at Apple who lost the iPhone, of course).

Posted to SFBay Craigslist:

So I did it again this last week, consumed way too much straight vodka within perhaps an hour. The party started at 7, I had to be removed by 10pm because I was biting/attacking/wanting/insulting people and in the process lost my employers iPhone 4G prototype model. It was lost at Fahrenheit Ultra Lounge & Restaurant downtown San Jose. The phone was hidden inside of an iPhone 3G case. The device has a front facing camera, 80GB of storage. The device, when found was probably running a newer version of iPhone OS but my employer bricked it remotely within a few hours. Pretty sure i’m going to lose my job over this so if you find the phone please email me. Thanks

Gizmodo publisher Nick Denton says the “sorry Apple engineer” who left the 4G iPhone at a bar may have been identified. He says he’s calling the poor bastard, and the story is likely to follow.

Earlier in the day Denton promised to reveal the full story of how Gizmodo acquired the next-gen iPhone. The story will is a “corker” (a good story), Denton tweeted earlier.

Minutes ago Denton tweeted the following:

iPhone update. We think we’ve identified the sorry Apple engineer who left the next-gen phone at the bar. Calling in a min.

Earlier Denton tweeted that Gizmodo had paid for the pre-production iPhone, raising the likelihood that Gizmodo is in possession of stolen goods. According to California law, the iPhone is stolen even it was accidentally left at a bar. The finder is legally obliged to return it to Apple. Instead, they sold it to Gizmodo, who at the time of purchase fully knew it was Apple’s property (how could they not?).

Techcrunch and a couple of other sites are saying the price was $10,000 – but no one is offering any evidence.

Apple still hasn’t officially responded to the story.

UPDATE: Denton paid just $5,000 for the iPhone, he told the AP. As Merlin Mann tweeted: “Denton inflates traffic for a gadget blog by buying a stolen phone that doesn’t work? It’s like Christmas Morning for why the web sucks.”

For the next three weeks we’re going to be publishing a series of posts called “My Close Encounters with Steve Jobs.” Written by David Bunnell, the founder of Macworld magazine, it’s a bunch of great stories about Jobs and the launch of the Mac. It’s a excellent, insightful read with a ton of previously unpublished stories and details. Starting Tuesday — Part 1: Meeting Steve.

Note: This is a guest column by David Yoken, founder of Macuity, a Boston Apple consultancy, who discusses the joys of providing IT and repair services to machines that “just work.”

Just got off a call with an architectural firm for whom we set up a brand new server last week. The typical conversation I have with clients is amusingly formulaic, and this one was much of the same:

Me: How’s everything going with your new server?

Customer: It’s really wonderful. We haven’t had any problems, and the transition has been nearly seamless.

Me: Super! I’m glad things are working out. I suppose now would be a good time to talk about a service and maintenance contract and schedule for your new equipment.

Customer: Well, we probably can handle most everything on our own. Apple makes it so easy, so we’ll be fine!

Me: Oh, umm…, absolutely! How about remote monitoring or help desk services?

Customer: Yeah, sure, but you probably won’t hear from us much on that end either. I think we can take it from here, but thanks!

Above: Mark Fiore’s “Learn to Speak Teabag” cartoon, which Apple considers too objectionable for the App Store.

Thanks to a stink in the press, Apple has called Pultizer Prize-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore and asked him to resubmit his rejected app, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Apple initially rejected Fiore’s political satire app because it ridiculed public figures, which is against the App Store rules.

It’s part of the Congressional record: the head of the NSA says the iPad is “wonderful.”

During hearings to determine whether he will take charge of U.S. Cyber Command, the head of the National Security Agency, Lieutenant General Keith Alexander, said:

“I am a technologist. I love computers. I have a new iPad,” Alexander told the committee of Senators. A few minutes later, Democratic Senator Mark Udall of Colorado couldn’t help but bring it up again. From the Congressional Quarterly transcript:

Udall: I’m tempted to get a critical review of the iPad, but perhaps we can do that–

Alexander: Wonderful.

Udall: Wonderful. I will put that on — for the record.

Via Forbes’ The Firewall.

These fuzzy snaps from IntoMobile are supposedly spy shots of the upcoming 4G Verizon iPhone that Apple is launching in June. Hit the jump and you’ll see it looks like the next-gen iPhone has a unibody aluminum construction — just like the iPad.

The pictures look similar to the fantastic 4G iPhone mockup by our friend Graham Bower of MacPredictions.

We say fake. The pictures look fake grainy, and the tabletop setting screams staged. It just doesn’t look like a pic of a prototype. Plus, IntoMobile says the pix have been passed through Photoshop, according to the metadata. What do you guys think?

Via QuickPwn.

This week’s MacBook Pros were pretty much cutting-edge all over, but they were missing one major upgrade: USB 3.0 ports. After all, the transition is already under way, and the newest version of USB can move over 5GBps, over ten times faster than USB 2.0 and about six and a half times faster than Firewire 800.

Still, maybe Cupertino’s waiting to see how USB 3.0 now that Intel’s Light Peak standard (which is rumored to be Apple-inspired) is making its way to market. Intel Light Peak pundit Kevin Kahn has gone on record saying that he believes that the standard will be available in computers and laptops by 2011, and totally replace USB 3.0 over the course of the next few years.

“We view this as a logical future successor to USB 3.0,” Kahn said. “In some sense[s] we’d… like to build the last cable you’ll ever need.”

A noble goal. Considering USB 3.0 has barely been adopted yet, and given that Light Peak is twice as fast, it may very well behoove Apple to wait until 2011… then start shipping Light Peak capable machines that sync even the largest iTunes libraries in mere seconds.

Apple sold an impressive 1.4 million Macs in the first quarter of 2010, says research firm Gartner, recording very healthy 34% year-on-year growth. The PC market as a whole grew about 25% — the biggest first quarter volume ever, Gartner says. Apple is the fifth-largest PC maker in the U.S. with an 8% share of the PC market. Gartner attributes the massive Mac sales to “hype” around the iPad, but it’s more likely the ever-popular MacBooks and new iMacs, which were refreshed before the holidays.

“Apple created major attention with its media tablet, the iPad, which launched in April. The hype around the iPad certainly added positive sentiment to the company as PC shipments. Early estimates showed that Apple grew 34 percent in the U.S. market.”

Meanwhile, rival research firm IDC released significantly different estimates. According to IDC, Mac shipments were 1.13 million units, earning Apple a 6.4% market share. IDC also pegs Apple as the fifth-largest U.S. PC maker, but estimates Apple’s year-over-year growth is just 8.3 percent, and market share is 7.2%. Both Gartner and IDC warn that their numbers are preliminary and final numbers will be “available soon to clients.”

Steve Jobs has sent another of his off-the-cuff customer emails, this time about the not-so-fast chip in the new 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Some observers are complaining that the 13-inch MacBook still sports a rather lowly Core 2 Duo chip, which also powered the previous generation machine. Meanwhile, the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBooks got speedy Intel Core i5 and i7 processors.

One MacRumors reader sent Steve Jobs a note about it, who responded that Apple chose to offer better graphics and battery life rather than an increase in CPU performance.