Posts tagged Apple’s
Exclusive: Interview With Inside Apple’s Adam Lashinsky [Video]
Feb 9th
On Friday, February 3, at the lovely Delancey St. Theater in San Francisco, ReadWriteWeb and our new home company, SAY Media, co-hosted a release party for Adam Lashinsky’s new book, Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired – And Secretive – Company Really Works. It was our first joint event since we joined SAY in December. RWW and SAY are working together to figure out the future of media, so a gathering to discuss a book about Apple was a great place to start.
Apple lives at the center of the worldwide technological transformation that’s underway, and Lashinsky’s new book sheds light on how the enigmatic company works. It profiles Apple’s leaders and their various styles and talents, it describes how the organization is woven around them, and it tells the stories of Apple insiders and outsiders at all levels.
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I got to sit down with Lashinsky for an interview about the book before MC David Richter opened it up to the whole audience. Our conversation touched on three aspects of Apple that tie the book together: the culture, the leaders and the products.
Lashinsky reveals many telling facts and anecdotes about Apple’s culture in the book. We discussed whether Apple’s obsession and perfectionism are creepy, and to what extent this is driven by the personalities of its leaders.
We considered the extreme secrecy imposed on Apple’s lower ranks and what effects that has on morale and the quality of work. We also thought about Apple’s unique sense of timing, taste and presentation that make it such a phenomenon in the culture at large.
Apple’s organization is centrally controlled by a closed group of leaders, and I asked Lashinsky about the importance of their personalities in the way the company operates. We discussed the extent to which Steve Jobs’ legacy shaped the culture and whether those shapes will hold after his passing.
Then we talked about Tim Cook’s new and starkly different style as CEO. Lashinsky has also referred to SVP of iOS Software Scott Forstall as a “CEO-in-waiting,” and the book points to the contrast between him and Cook as one of the upcoming dramas in Apple’s next chapter.
Finally, we looked at the products, the part of the company where Apple meets the public. We discussed the powerful influence of Jobs’ last products and how we’ll have to wait for the ones that come after him to see the real face of a post-Jobs Apple.
I found our conversation illuminating, and the whole evening was a lot of fun. Here’s the full video of my interview with Adam Lashinsky:
All photos and video by the excellent team at SAY Media
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Apple’s Siri Drives 25 Percent Of Wolfram|Alpha Queries
Feb 8th
Yesterday knowledge engine Wolfram|Alpha announced an intriguing new paid service Wolfram|Alpha Pro. Gary Price wrote an overview of the new service, which will likely appeal to academics, data geeks and a range of other specialized users. Wolfram|Alpha is by no means a mainstream…
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How to Take Advantage of Apple’s Rise to Mobile Market Dominance
Feb 8th
Apple is the king of mobile. With an expanding market share, Apple is poised to break records yet again in 2012; though they must improve their iAd inventory to compete with Google. Here are the implications for mobile marketers.
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Why Petitions Won’t Change Apple’s Labor Practices Anytime Soon
Feb 1st
Not even 24 hours after Apple reported its jaw-dropping Q1 financial results, the company found itself as the target of some relentless investigative journalism by the New York Times. In particular, as part of an ongoing series about Apple, the Times published a detailed investigation of some of the tech giant’s biggest overseas suppliers, ugly labor abuses and all.
From deadly plant explosions and poisonous screen-cleaning chemicals to unsafe working conditions and long hours, the report was anything but forgiving. In response, there is a small but growing chorus of consumers asking Apple to do more about these issues. A petition demanding a more ethically-built iPhone 5 and other products is said to have amassed 40,000 signatories in its first 24 hours.
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Apple has already made some efforts to improve labor practices among its suppliers, something the Times article acknowledges. It has thoroughly audited its suppliers, in many cases pressuring them to change more egregious practices. This year, the company even published a list of its suppliers for the first time, in an effort to be more transparent. Still, as the Times report illustrates, many abuses persist.
The company, like others that make consumer electronics, remains in an awkward position as its quest to meet growing demand clashes with the ethical concerns that naturally arise when the manufacturing is done in countries that lack the U.S.’s labor laws. Apple has stated that achieving the level of efficiency they now boast simply wouldn’t be possible in the United States, where manufacturing has waned, labor is costly and regulations too strict to allow for lightning speed turnaround on last-minute changes. To stay competitive, it needs to keep its operations in places like China.
E-Signatures vs. Wallets: Which Votes Count More?
Forty thousand signatures may sound like a lot, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to 37 million. That’s how many iPhones Apple sold in its last quarter, in addition to more than 15 million iPads. The pressure from consumer and human rights groups may well ramp up in the coming weeks and months, but for the time being the number of people voicing their concern is only .07% of the number that bought iPads and iPhones in the last quarter. That’s not counting iPods and Macs.
To make a substantial impact, there would need to be an actual boycott of Apple products widespread enough to make a noticeable dent in their sales numbers. Some may decline to buy the iPhone 5, iPad 3 or iTV in protest, but probably not enough to make a difference.
Alternatively, the issue would need to turn into a much bigger PR problem for Apple, leading consumers to think twice or forcing the company to preempt an exodus by pressuring suppliers to shape up.
This isn’t to suggest that a concerted enough Web-fueled protest couldn’t generate the pressure required to encourage change. We saw it happen in more ways than one with the SOPA and PIPA debate. Still, this is Apple we’re talking about. Rather than asking citizens to phone their representatives, such a protest would be asking millions to break their addiction to some of the most popular consumer electronics products of all time. These are devices that have woven themselves deeply into our day-to-day lives.
If people were to flee Apple, where would they go? To one of Apple’s competitors? They’re not exactly innocent either.
What do you think? Are labor rights issues enough to cause you to reconsider buying devices like smartphones and tablets? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Why Apple’s Restrictive iBooks Author Rules May Not Be Legally Enforceable
Jan 25th
When Apple unveiled plans last week to ramp up its efforts in the education space, the company’s announcement was met with decidedly mixed reactions. While many welcomed Apple’s foray into digital textbook publishing, others were less enthusiastic. The idea of delivering textbooks via tablets may have promise in theory, but Apple’s initial execution doesn’t look all that disruptive yet.
The latter part of the announcement covered the impressive expansion of iTunes U and the launch of iBooks Author, a DIY tool for publishing digital textbooks. If anything could pose a threat to the status quo in the textbook industry, it would be such an application. But wait. As it turned out, the so-called “Garage Band for e-books” wouldn’t be quite as open and revolutionary as some thought.
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That’s because the end-user license agreement (EULA) governing how its end products could be distributed turned out to be especially restrictive, a fact bemoaned by our own Marshall Kirkpatrick. Even stalwart Apple supporter John Gruber chimed in to call the iBooks Author EULA “Apple at its worst.”
So what’s the big deal? The agreement contains a provision stating that “if your Work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service), you may only distribute the Work through Apple,” and then proceeds to outline further limitations on the paid distribution of one’s e-books. So much for iBooks Author being a groundbreaking, industry-shaking move.
As troubling as the iBooks Author EULA looks, it’s questionable whether or not the agreement can be legally enforced under current copyright law, explains Philadelphia-based lawyer Max Kennerly on his blog.
The issue, says Kennerly, comes down to the difference between exclusive and non-exclusive licenses. Apple seeks to establish an exclusive license with users, in which, by legal definition, “the copyright holder permits the licensee to use the protected material for a specific use and further promises that the same permission will not be given to others. The licensee violates the copyright by exceeding the scope of this license.”
A provision in the Copyright Act requiring a written “transfer of copyright ownership” may serve as an unintended legal loophole for those seeking to go around Apple’s restrictions and selling their e-books.
Explains Kennerly:
In the end, the iBooks Author EULA leaves both Apple and the author in a strange stand-off: Apple doesn’t actually have the right to tell the author not to take their work somewhere else, but the author can’t do that without breaching the EULA — even though they retain full rights in their copyright.
Of course, this is just one legal expert’s interpretation of the legal niceties, based in part on somewhat obscure concepts and court-established precedents. Still, on paper it would appear that the legal enforceability of the iBooks Author EULA isn’t entirely clear, and this may leave the door open to authors brave and curious enough to find out.
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Apple’s Growth Rate Is Simply Incredible… And It’s Accelerating
Jan 24th
There are plenty of impressive stats in Apple’s December quarter earnings report, such as 37 million iPhones shipped, $46 billion of overall sales, and $13 billion of profit.
But Apple’s most impressive stat continues to be its growth rate: Apple is not only huge, but it is growing at a rate far greater than its peers. And, even more incredible, its growth rate is accelerating.
As a company gets bigger, or as a market matures, its growth rate typically falls. It’s only natural: The numbers get bigger, so the percentage of change eventually shrinks. But for Apple, during the Christmas quarter — its busiest time of the year — that hasn’t happened yet.
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Specifically, last quarter, Apple’s overall sales totaled $46.3 billion, an increase of 73% over the previous December quarter. That’s an acceleration over Apple’s growth rate from the December 2010 quarter, when it posted 71% growth. And that was better than the year before, when it grew 32%. That, too, was faster than the year before, when Apple posted a 6% growth rate in the bowels of the recession. So for the third year in a row, Apple has accelerated its Christmas quarter sales growth.
Why is this so impressive? Because maintaining your growth rate when you’re Apple’s size — never mind increasing it — takes a lot of work!
This past Christmas, Apple needed to add an extra $20 billion in new sales to grow by 73%. The year before, it “only” needed to generate an additional $11 billion in new business to grow by 71%. It’s pretty astounding, especially considering that Apple’s product lineup didn’t even change that much last year.
The reason it happened, of course, was the iPhone 4S “perfect storm.” Not only was it a new iPhone, but it launched during what is already Apple’s busiest time of the year, the holiday quarter. And it expanded Apple’s footprint to new carriers, such as Sprint. Add pent-up demand to the mix, and Apple was easily able to shatter its iPhone sales record. Then consider that the iPhone is Apple’s biggest business by revenue and profits, and the big numbers fall into place.
Can it happen again? It’s only going to get harder. To match this year’s growth — 73% — Apple’s December 2012 quarter would have to beat $80 billion in sales. That’s a lot of iPhones. The way the smartphone market is growing, and the way the iPad looks like it’s going to do, anything’s possible. But it’s not going to be easy.
More charts: Apple’s Monster Quarter In Charts
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Apple’s iPhone Strategy Cutting Into Android Market Share
Jan 18th
Apple’s strategy to take over the lead in the smartphone market from Android is working. In new numbers from research firm Nielsen, 37% of recent (within the last three months) smartphone buyers chose the iPhone, well above the 25.1% that did so in October 2011. Android still holds the market lead but the margin is beginning to shrink.
Android rose to the top of the smartphone heap by sheer volume. It has a plethora of original equipment manufacturers pumping out new devices every week that are distributed across the four major U.S. mobile carriers along varying price points. Why has Apple caught up? Well, because it now does that too.
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For the most of the life of the iPhone, what was its major limiting factor? Primarily, the fact that it was only available at AT&T. In March of 2011, the iPhone 4 came to Verizon and the world seemingly rejoiced. While Verizon iPhone sales have been solid, they have not been quite as killer as Apple or the pundits had originally thought. People have expensive contracts and early termination fees to contend with and the notion of jumping from one carrier to another does not make sense for a lot of consumers.
Those AT&T contracts are starting to expire. That does not mean users are dropping the nation’s second largest cellular operator in droves, but freedom of choice has finally be awarded to would-be iPhone buyers. There are also a variety of price points available. The iPhone 3GS is now free from AT&T on a contract. The iPhone 4 is $99 on Verizon and AT&T with a contract while the iPhone 4S is available across AT&T, Verizon and Sprint for $199. That makes the iPhone available to more than 260 million Americans whereas it used to only be available to the 95-100 million or so on AT&T.
Market depth plus price point … more smartphone sales. It should come as no surprise and we have been curious to see these numbers since Apple made the announcement of the 4S last October. It is also no surprise that the 4S is leading the charge. Of new iPhone buyers, 57% chose the 4S.
Of all smartphone owners (not just recent acquirers) that Nielsen surveyed, 46.3% are Android owners. Apple has risen several points in the overall market share to 30%. Research In Motion’s BlackBerry has dropped precipitously in these types of surveys, going from near 22% at this time last year to 6% of new buyers in Q4. Windows Phone and Windows Mobile (which indeed still exists) made up for 3.8% of new users and 5.9% overall in Nielsen’s numbers with Windows Mobile making up for 4.6% of that.
The nature of the smartphone market is cyclical. Apple made its big push with iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S in the fall. The company is likely to do that again this year with a late season rollout of the iPhone 5. Meanwhile, it is time for Android to reassert itself as version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich makes its way to new devices across carriers. The seesaw battle will continue and when we see Nielsen’s numbers for Q1 or Q2, the tone of this story might be quite different.
It is not like Android is losing much steam. Of recent acquirers, more than half chose Android at 51.7% in Q4. The growth of Android and Apple comes to the detriment of, well, everybody else, but especially RIM. Of all smartphones purchased in Q4, 88.7% were either iOS or Android. That leaves several billion dollar companies such as Microsoft, RIM and to a certain extent Hewlett-Packard to battle over a very small slice of the pie.
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Cartoon: Apple’s Product Development Process REVEALED!
Jan 15th
As you get older, you start to see the great cycles of life emerge. Hope and disillusionment and hope again; pride crushed by defeat and then rising again; and of course, the rising wave of speculation in advance of every Apple product launch.
No surprise, then, that Morgan Stanley analysts are getting plenty of news coverage this week for predictions of a March iPad 3 release and a June iPhone 5. They join plenty of other pundits, and the predictions are more or less coalescing around quad-core chips, a higher resolution screen for the iPad and a slimmer profile for the iPhone.
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Here is the part where I’m supposed to write that people who obsess over those product rumors (unless they’re investing in Apple or it’s competitors) are shallow fools destined to spend the next Apple keynote gnashing their teeth in fury that the latest new iDevice doesn’t come with the tachyon emitters that MacRumourLicious.com swore were coming.
Except that I get it. I understand the appeal. For a lot of us, speculating about the next iPhone’s processor or whether the iPad’s touch-screen will be pressure-sensitive (yes, fine, I’m the only one speculating about that) or what the next version of Android will offer is about more than just speed ratings or raw performance. It’s about what we can do with the new features or increased power of the device: what we’ll be able to create, how we’ll be able to collaborate, and how we can foster richer and more satisfying connections with each other.
OK, it’s also about whether the next version of Angry Birds will be able to have 3D-rendered shadows and photo-realistic explosions. But it’s also about that humanity-lofty stuff, too.
See more Noise to Signal cartoons
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Amazon Launches iPad Kindle Store to Dodge Apple’s Restrictions
Jan 11th
Amazon has launched a more touch-friendly, Web-based iPad Kindle Store. A tablet-optimized Kindle store was available through the HTML5 Kindle Cloud Reader Amazon launched last August, but the new iPad Kindle Store is a standalone Web app. Upon visiting amazon.com/iPadKindleStore from Safari, a pop-up prompts the user to add it to the home screen. This is the most seamless way for Kindle users to buy books on the iPad.
Apple’s in-app purchasing rules prevent e-book sellers from offering stores in their native apps (without giving Apple a 30% cut). The route around that was to include a link to the Web store inside the native reader app. Last July, Apple forced Amazon and other e-reader apps to remove this link, so users of e-book platforms other than Apple’s iBooks must buy their books in the browser, in a separate place from where they read.
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Amazon’s first strike against this rule was to launch the Web-based Kindle Cloud Reader, so that users could read and buy books from the browser on any device, not just the iPad. It’s a nice experience, but the native Kindle app’s performs better and is more useful offline, even though it doesn’t offer direct access to the bookstore.
In December, Amazon brought the Kindle Fire Newsstand to the iOS app, so iPad users could receive subscription publications from Amazon in the Kindle app, in competition with Apple’s own Newsstand. After beefing up the Kindle app, the new standalone Kindle Store Web app better serves Kindle users who want to use the native reader instead of the browser-based one.
Apple and Amazon come at each other head-on in this market. Their approaches are basically opposite. Apple wants controls over the media available on its devices, because content is an inclusive service it provides to make its profitable devices more attractive. Apple breaks even on content, but it wants to lock users into its devices with the convenience of that service.
Amazon’s business is selling content on razor-thin margins. Its Kindle devices are the service, while the content is the product. That’s why Amazon offers so much support for iOS devices, even though it just launched its own Kindle Fire tablet. Amazon loses $2.70 on each Kindle Fire, but it’s sure to make up the loss in media purchases. Sales to iOS users are pure profit for Amazon. The new iPad Kindle Store is its best possible solution for its customers allowed on Apple’s devices.
Do you read e-books? What’s your set-up?
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Hints About the Future of iOS UI Design Come From Apple’s New Hire
Dec 13th
When it comes to UI design, Apple’s iOS evolves pretty slowly. They rolled out one of the biggest enhancements to its mobile operating system this year with the launch of iOS 5. A radically redesigned notification system was the biggest visual overhaul and prior to that, there was the addition of folders in iOS 4.
Whenever the next big upgrade to iOS’s look and feel may be, a few hints about what might be included can be found in one of Apple’s latest hires. Jan-Michael Cart, a mass media arts student in Athens, Georgia announced that he was hired by the company as a design intern.
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Cart is best known for producing UI design concepts for iOS and posting them online. One of his ideas includes Lion-style multitouch swiping between applications, which works by holding down the Home button and swiping from side to side with three fingers. Other proofs of concept include improvements to the OS’s Notifications Center and a desktop client for iMessage, something that’s rumored to be in Apple’s pipeline.
Cart also put together a video prototype showing dynamic icons on the iOS home screen. The redesigned icons include fluid animations and live data about recent activity from within the app. For example, rather than a static red circle showing the number of notifications, the Facebook iOS app might show what kind of notifications they are. Are they mentions? Wall posts? Messages? Friend requests? Dynamic icons can provide more context while still maintaining a fluid and simplified design.
These ideas apparently have enough merit in the eyes of the company to warrant their bringing Cart on board to help execute a few of them. It’s not the first time Apple has hired people who have tinkered with their products and come up with viable ideas. The company famously hired known iOS jailbreaker Nicholas Allegra, also known as @Comex as an intern in August of this year.
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