September 15, 2014: Responding to its disastrous U2 album giveaway during the iPhone 6 launch event, Apple provides iPhone owners with a tool for wiping all signs of Songs of Innocence from their phones.
It comes after one of the strangest PR debacles in Apple history. After putting a free copy of U2’s latest release on every iPhone owner’s handset as a special promotion, millions find themselves with an album they didn’t order in their iTunes library. Many weren’t happy about it.
October 13, 2006: Apple launches a limited-edition iPod nano (Product) Red Special Edition music player in collaboration with U2 lead singer Bono and activist/attorney Bobby Shriver, with 10% of profits going to fight AIDS in Africa.
It’s the first of many Apple philanthropic products. “We’re ecstatic that Apple is giving their customers the choice to buy a red iPod nano and help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa,” the U2 singer says in a statement.
Lisa Brennan Jobs, the oldest daughter of Steve Jobs, is coming out with her first book next month. Part of the story grapples with their complicated relationship. (He denied being her father at first.)
In an excerpt from her book, Small Fry, posted today, Lisa Brennan Jobs gives glimpses into some of her dad’s last months. She also talks about how it affected her psyche when he named the Lisa computer after her but didn’t admit it to her until she was 27.
Despite angering iOS users by forcing their album, Songs of Innocence, onto every iPhone and iPad in the world, U2’s iTunes exclusivity bet is paying off big time.
Nearly one in four of all music users on iOS devices listened to U2 in January, which was nearly double the second most popular artist, Taylor Swift. The force-fed album debuted last fall but its impact is still visible five months later, according to Kantar’s latest survey of iOS users, which found that 23% of all music users on iOS listened to at least one U2 track in January.
Here’s the top 10 artists in January:
Decision time: Which iPhone 6 is right for you? We’ll walk you though the features of both new iPhones to help you make that very decision in time for the Sept. 12th pre-order. Plus, will Apple Pay be replacing our wallets? We’ll tell you our thoughts and musings. And of course, the Apple Watch—we’ll review its features and reveal our initial impressions. And finally… he did it… Tim Cook brought back the One. More. Thing. Some of us are thrilled. Some of us aren’t. Hit play for all that and more.
Titter your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.
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Earlier this week, Bono blasted Apple for “modesty run amok” in regards to the company’s charity work.
Claiming that Apple was like a secretive cult, he said that Apple didn’t do enough to broadcast its work for the Global Fund as part of Product (RED). Apple has raised $75 million for the charity since 2006.
Bono’s tongue was obviously in cheek, but (RED) has now released a statement, clarifying that Bono was expressing “faux outrage” and he was just making a joke.
Bono is a tireless promoter of his global AIDs and HIV nonprofit, (RED), but according to the U2 frontman (and, more ignobly, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark composer), Apple’s dropping the ball when it comes to charity: not in regards to giving enough money to charity, but in regards to promoting how much charitable work it does as a company.
The 61st Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is honoring U2’s Bono with the first Cannes LionHeart Award for his achievements in the war on AIDS through (RED), a charity he created that has partnered with Apple for years.
Jony Ive will join Bono at Cannes Lions for a special interview moderated by Shane Smith, the CEO of VICE Media. The discussion with Bono and Ive will center around “the success of (RED) and it’s unique collaboration with global partners,” namely Apple.
Apple has been a long time supporter of Project RED by selling special edition products that help the charity, but now you can help fight AIDS just by swiping credit cards on your iPhone.
Project RED announced today that it teamed up with Square to launch the new SQUA(RED) Reader. The red credit card reader costs $10, 97.25% of which goes straight to the Global Fund to fight AIDS.
It’s our T-Day edition CultCast! This time: Jony Ive’s golden touch makes millions for charity; Apple teases underwhelming Black Friday deals; how Apple’s blacklist keeps bad press at bay; the new money in old macs; and we pitch our favorite Thanksgiving Day foods on our holiday edition Faves ’N Raves!
Have a few laughs whilst getting caught up on each week’s finest Apple stories! Download new and past episodes of The CultCast on iTunes or hit play below and let the audio enjoyment commence.
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Apple Design Genius, Jony Ive and famed designer Marc Newson have teamed up to create a one-of-a-kind collection of items to be auctioned off for Bono’s Project (RED). Not only have the pair collected a number of objects for the auction that are fantastic in their own right, but they’ve also teamed up to create some truly lustworthy products like the gorgeous Leica M, a super-minimalist aluminum desk and this $60k red Mac Pro.
The auction is set to take place on November 23rd and even though mere mortals like us can only dream of having enough cash to drop 70 large on a “Zvezda” Soviet Cosmonaut Suit – all in the good name of fighting AIDS and Tuberculosis of course – Sotheby’s has published a video of Jony and Marc discussing why they chose the items in their collection.
Short answer, via Jony: “The criteria that we both had was that we both just wanted to own each one really badly.”
Here’s the video:
Ever since Phil Schiller admitted that Apple considered making a standalone camera at one point, we’ve wondered what the results would look like if Sir Jony Ive’s obsessive attention to detail was applied to a full-framed camera. As part of Bono’s charity auction for Project (RED), Leica unveiled The Leica M for (RED) designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson that will be auctioned off at Southeby’s on Nov. 23rd to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
Jony and Marc redesigned the Leica M by going through a total of 561 models and nearly 1000 prototype parts over 85 days to create the one of a kind camera that features a laser machined aluminum body, and an anodized aluminum outer shell to go with the full-format CMOS sensor inside.
Get a glimpse of all the impeccable details in the gallery below:
U2 frontman and AIDS activist, Bono was on hand at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting where he announced that his Product (RED) partner Apple has raised over $65 million for the charity organization.
Bono at #CGI2013 on @RED partners: "Apple is certainly leading the crew" Thank you Apple for raising over $65 million to fight AIDS.
— (RED) (@RED) September 26, 2013
Sir Jony Ive and famed designer Marc Newson have teamed up with Bono to a mega-auction of fancy master-pieces of design that will be sold to benefit (RED). Among the list of items up for grabs is a custom pair of Apple EarPods made of solid rose gold.
Jony and Marc actually did all the curation of the collection themselves over the past year, as well as collaborating on two custom made items – a Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera, and an aluminum desk produced by Neal Feay Studios. A total of 40 items will be auctioned off, including pieces from space travel, lighting, contemporary art and rare automobiles.
Here’s what Jony had to say about his contribution:
As the head of Apple’s design team, Jony Ive has been one of the most influential figures in tech over the last two decades. He helped create the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and slew of other Apple products that have hit shelves over the last few years.
Now Jony’s putting his mark on Apple’s software too, which makes you wonder if there’s any area of design Jony can’t master. Time just released its list of the 100 most influential People in the world, and Ive is the only Apple employee that made the list.
Here’s what Bono had to say about Sir Jony:
It reads like some kind of fanboy fantasy: Jony Ive To Design Leica Camera. Only this fantasy is totally non-fantastic. Ive is set to design an ultra-limited edition of one single Leica, and it will be auctioned off by Bono (who else?) for charity.
A Steve Jobs memorial held at Stanford Memorial Church on Sunday attracted a huge number of people who came to pay their respects to Apple’s former CEO and co-founder. Among them were a long list of celebrities, musicians, CEOs, and even a former president.
Not content to chronicle the fake life of Fake Steve Jobs, author Daniel Lyons has expanded his scope a bit this week by introducing guest blogger Fake Bono of U2, who showed up to present the totally non-existent White Beatles and Product (RED) U2 iPhones. The Beatles model comes with the complete Beatles catalog, plus the band’s solo work, and the U2 model comes with all of Rock and Roll. Read for yourself:
Edge and I hate to be left behind, so we’ve come up with an even bigger idea we’re going to pitch right here where Steve has to read it. Why just buy the Beatles? What you really want is to buy rock and roll. All of it. Presenting the U2 Rock and Roll iPhone. 64 gigabytes of Product (RED) iPhone packed with all of rock and roll. Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Sabbath, U2 of course, plus Nirvana and Pearl Jam all the way up to the complete Arcade Fire and Mike Doughty. If it rocks, it’s in here.
Yeah. Seven posts in all, and now Fake Steve has posted an elaborate tale of account hackery to explain how Bono seized control in the first place. All in good fun. Nice Thanksgiving prank.
Via iPhone Savior