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Posts tagged with "apple"

Brief Thoughts and Questions On Apple’s Changes

It’s unclear whether today’s news of a major shake-up at Apple will reveal its actual effects a few months from now, many months from now, or at next year’s new product announcements in the Fall. I’d say WWDC would be a good stage to introduce “the new Apple”.

Rumors of internal struggles between the “political” Scott Forstall have been floating around for quite some time, and we just don’t know whether today’s press release was just that – a press release – or the result of more internal fights. We don’t know for how long this move has been in the works. But I’ll point out the precise timing of the announcement: it comes after the release of iOS 6, the iPhone 5, new iPod products, new Macs, the iPad mini, and an earnings call. It allows Apple to formally mention the efforts of a new executive line-up at a record-setting (per the company’s own guidance) holiday quarter. Coincidentally, as the US market is closing tomorrow due to Sandy, it gives Apple (and analysts and investors) an extra day to properly digest the news. I also guess this explains why Forstall didn’t give a demo at the iPad mini event. He’s being pushed out; I’m curious about timing.

That said, I have some questions. Think of the following list as a collection of thoughts following Apple PR’s announcement; I believe this is, for many reasons, one of the biggest changes to happen at Apple since the release of the original iPhone. It’s a major milestone for where the company is going from here. Read more

Major Changes at Apple: Scott Forstall Leaving, Jony Ive To Lead Human Interface Across Company

With a press release published a few minutes ago, Apple announced major changes in the structure of the company. The big news is that SVP of iOS Software Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple in 2013, with SVP of Industrial Design Jony Ive taking over to “provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company”. Forstall will stay on as an “advisor” to CEO Tim Cook in the meantime; Forstall joined Apple in 1997 coming from NeXT, and he was later promoted to Senior Vice President in 2003.

Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design. His incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple’s products for more than a decade.

But there’s a lot more in Apple’s official statement: essentially, in the coming months Apple will undergo major changes in several aspects of its internal structure, both in terms of executive leadership and teams. Bob Mansfield, who announced his retirement earlier this year but then decided to stay at Apple, will lead a new Technologies group:

Bob Mansfield will lead a new group, Technologies, which combines all of Apple’s wireless teams across the company in one organization, fostering innovation in this area at an even higher level. This organization will also include the semiconductor teams, who have ambitious plans for the future.

Craig Federighi, recently promoted to SVP of Mac Software Engineering, will go on to lead both the iOS and OS X groups:

Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X. Apple has the most advanced mobile and desktop operating systems, and this move brings together the OS teams to make it even easier to deliver the best technology and user experience innovations to both platforms.

Additionally, head of Services Eddy Cue will take over responsibilities for Maps and Siri, and John Browett, Apple’s head of Retail, will be leaving the company as well. Notably, Browett was hired only ten months ago, but he’s been criticized for many of his recent decisions in Apple’s retail operations.

CEO Tim Cook was quotes in the press release:

The amazing products that we’ve introduced in September and October, iPhone 5, iOS 6, iPad mini, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPod touch, iPod nano and many of our applications, could only have been created at Apple and are the direct result of our relentless focus on tightly integrating world-class hardware, software and services

The focus of the statement is, in fact, a tighter integration of hardware, software, and services. Read more

Apple Q4 2012 Results: $36 Billion Revenue, 26.9 Million iPhones, 14 Million iPads, 4.9 Million Macs Sold

Apple has just posted their Q4 2012 financial results for the quarter that ended on September 29, 2012. The company posted revenue of $36 billion ($8.67 per diluted share), with 14 million iPads, 26.9 million iPhones and million 4.9 Macs sold. Apple sold 5.3 million iPods. The company reported quarterly net profit of $8.2 billion. Gross margin was 40.0 percent compared to 40.3 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

In this quarter, Apple’s Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $2.65 per share of the Company’s common stock.

The dividend is payable on November 15, 2012, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 12, 2012.

From the press release:

We’re very proud to end a fantastic fiscal year with record September quarter results,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re entering this holiday season with the best iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod products ever, and we remain very confident in our new product pipeline.

We’re pleased to have generated over $41 billion in net income and over $50 billion in operating cash flow in fiscal 2012,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2013, we expect revenue of about $52 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $11.75.

Estimates and Previous Quarters

For Q4 2012, Apple had set its guidance at revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $7.65.

The Street consensus’ average estimate was earnings of $8.75 per share and revenue of $35.80 billion.

On October 24, 2012, both independent and “pro” analysts polled by Fortune (68 in total) forecasted earnings and revenue higher than Apple’s guidance, as it often happens.

After getting clobbered quarter after quarter for nearly four years by a bunch of bloggers, day traders and other amateur analysts, the professionals seem to be giving their clients more realistic numbers. And having badly misjudged two of the last four quarters, the more bullish independents have, for the most part, started to come back to earth.

In Fortune’s poll, the “pros” averaged earnings per share of $8.82 on sales of $36.02 billion; the independent analysts forecasted earnings of $10.14 on sales of $38.8 billion.

Horace Dediu of Asymco also published his forecast for Apple’s fourth fiscal quarter on September 20, 10 days before the quarter (and fiscal year) ended. As he notes, it’ll be difficult to predict iPhone sales for the quarter as consumers have been probably holding off their purchase due to rumors of a product refresh. Furthermore, the iPhone 5 has only been on sale during the quarter for 8 days: the device went on sale in 9 countries on September 21, and 22 more on September 28. Apple only stated that iPhone 5 sales topped over 5 million units during the opening weekend.

The iPhone is going to be extremely difficult to project. On one hand we have the launch of the i5 which will account for about 10 million units in the quarter, on the other, chances are that sales were very weak prior to the launch as purchases were being deferred even more than during the last quarter.

Horace Dediu’s forecast was the following:

  • iPhone units: 27.8 million (62%)
  • Macs: 5.6 million (15%)
  • iPads: 18.8 million (69%)
  • iPods: 5.6 million (–15%)
  • Music (incl. app) rev. growth: 40%
  • Peripherals rev. growth: 10%
  • Software rev. growth: 15%
  • Total revenues: $39.5 billion (40%)
  • GM: 42%
  • EPS: $9.75 (38%)

A better picture of iPhone 5 sales, as well as those from the iPad mini, iPad 4, and recently-updated Macs, will be offered by Apple’s current holiday quarter – Q1 2013.

In the previous quarter, Q3 2012, Apple posted revenue of $35 billion, with 17 million iPads, 26 million iPhones and 4 million Macs sold. iPhone represented a 28 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter, while iPad reported a 84 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 6.8 million iPods, a 10 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The company posted quarterly net profit of $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per diluted share. International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

In the year-ago-quarter, Q4 2011, Apple posted record-breaking revenue of $28.27 billion, with 11.12 million iPads, 17.07 million iPhones and 4.89 million Macs sold.

Apple will provide a live audio feed of its Q4 2012 conference call at 2:00 PM PT, and we’ll update this story with the conference highlights. You can find the full press release and a graphical visualization of Apple’s Q4 2012 after the break. Read more

Apple Confirms: Media Event on October 23

As first reported by The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple, Apple just sent out invitations to the press for a media event taking place on October 23 in San Jose. The invitations show an Apple logo with the tag line “We’ve got a little more to show you”.

Unlike other recent events that have been held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Apple will hold this event at the California Theatre in San Jose .

According to recent speculation, Apple will unveil a new, smaller 7.85-inch iPad at the event dubbed “iPad Mini”. The device has been long rumored to be a smaller version of the last-gen iPad 2, carrying the same 1024x768 non-Retina display in a thinner and lighter body with a smaller display. The core feature of the iPad Mini should be portability, as well as a reduced price for consumers.

Curiously enough, the invitation is somewhat reminiscent of the one sent for the original iPad event in January 2010.

As noted by Jason Snell, the last time Apple held an event in San Jose at California Theater was for the iPod photo announcement with a Bono/Edge live performance.

Based on more recent rumors, next week may also see the introduction of refreshed iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini lines. Specifically, Apple is rumored to be planning a 13-inch version of the MacBook Pro with Retina display, a thinner iMac, and a new Mac mini model.

To get a sense of what a 7.85” (as opposed to 9.7”) iPad Mini would be like, check out our mockups from July.

Mapping The Entertainment Ecosystems of Apple, Microsoft, Google & Amazon

Please note: An update to this article is available here, it includes the December 2012 iTunes expansion (Music & Movies) as well as Xbox Music.

 

The choice of what phone or tablet to buy is one that often involves many considerations, chief amongst those is the physical device and the operating system that it runs. But I think there is a third fundamental consideration that is growing in importance: what services and entertainment ecosystems you’ll be able to access. You need only look back to the recent criticism of iOS 6, in which Apple replaced Google Maps with their own Maps app. Summing it up generally, Apple’s Maps app is sub-par to what it was replacing and that mattered to people - enough that Tim Cook felt the need to apologise for the frustration the switch caused.

Today I want to focus specifically on the entertainment ecosystems of Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. I’m referring to the various digital content stores that are run by Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon - specifically their Music, Movies, TV Shows, eBooks and App stores. In my mind, there are four general aspects that make a good entertainment ecosystem:

  • Wide selection of quality content
  • Competitive prices
  • International availability
  • Interoperable on a user’s devices

I want to explore the third aspect in depth today, because it’s something that I feel is all too often downplayed by the technology press (which, coincidentally, is based predominantly in the US). I’ll also briefly discuss the fourth aspect as well at the end. Why are these two aspects so important? Well, smartphones and tablets are devices that have universal appeal, so for Apple or any of the other three to win the smartphone or tablet “race” - an entertainment ecosystem that is available across the world, not just in the US, isn’t just a cool extra feature, it’s a necessity. The US may be one of the biggest markets for such devices today, but is there any doubt that these devices will rival the prevalence of personal computers (which are everywhere) in years to come?

I’ve collected data on which countries each service is available in and then added in population figures to create many of the graphs and diagrams you’ll see below, mixed in with some of my own analysis and thoughts. Please note that the five HTML5 map diagrams are interactive, click on the logos of the four companies to compare their coverage.

Read more

Behind The App: MoneyWiz

Early this year, I set out to find an iPad app that I could enjoy using to manage my finances. After a couple of days of looking, I settled upon MoneyWiz from the developer SilverWiz. Its developers describe it as “beautiful, powerful and easy to use”, and having stuck with the app since late January I’m inclined to agree. In my reviews of the iPad and Mac versions my overall take was mostly positive (there is also an iPhone version, but that I have yet to use).

After exchanging a few emails with Iliya Yordanov, the founder of SilverWiz, I thought it would be interesting to have a Q&A with him and learn a bit more about the app, similar to what we’ve done in previous interviews here on MacStories, but this time, I decided to change things up a bit. For this interview I’ve assembled all the various stories about MoneyWiz and the SilverWiz company that Iliya shared with me into a single story that (hopefully) gives you a fascinating and unique look behind the app and company.

Disclaimer: At the time of publication SilverWiz is one of the advertisers on MacStories; however, this article was in the works before the campaign began. Advertising on MacStories is not handled by editors but by BackBeatMedia, and has no relation to editorial content whatsoever.

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Apple’s Tribute To Steve Jobs, Yo-Yo Ma, And The Prelude From Bach→

Apple’s Tribute To Steve Jobs, Yo-Yo Ma, And The Prelude From Bach

Camillo Miller of Italian website TheAppleLounge noticed an interesting tidbit about the brief tribute to Steve Jobs Apple published on its website today. The song that plays in the video, the prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1, sounds like F# major. The prelude, however, was composed in G major.

Why tuning down the prelude? It comes down to an important detail related to Steve’s tastes in classical music. The version that Apple is using on the website is played by American cellist Yo-Yo Ma. As Walter Isaacson writes in Steve’s biography, Yo-Yo Ma and Steve were close friends:

There was one classic musician Jobs revered both as a person and a performer: Yo-Yo Ma, the versatile virtuoso who is as sweet and profound as the tones he creates on his cello. They had met in 1981, when Jobs was at the Aspen Design Conference and Ma was at the Aspen Music Festival. Jobs tended to be deeply moved by artists who displayed purity, and he became a fan. He invited Ma to play at his wedding, but he was out of the country on tour. He came by the Jobs house a few years later, sat in the living room, pulled out his 1733 Stradivarius cello, and played Bach. “This is what I would have played for your wedding,” he told them. Jobs teared up and told him, “You playing is the best argument I’ve ever heard for the existence of God, because I don’t really believe a human alone can do this.” On a subsequent visit Ma allowed Jobs’s daughter Erin to hold the cello while they sat around the kitchen. By that time Jobs had been struck by cancer, and he made Ma promise to play at his funeral.

As it turns out, Ma plays the first four Bach suites tuning down his cello a full semitone, and there is a specific reason for doing so. In baroque times, instruments like cellos sounded a little different: the musical note A (A440) didn’t have a frequency of 440 Hz, but was more around 415 Hz – something known as the baroque pitch.

Among several modern ensembles, there is a consensus to play baroque music a semitone lower than A440. By tuning down the A to the baroque pitch,  the prelude from Bach sounds like F# major, while still playing it in the original G major; this helps achieve a more vibrant, “full” sound that is closer to the original and resonates beautifully.

The Cello Suites by Yo-Yo Ma are available on iTunes.

In many ways, Apple is still sweating the details.

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