Edible Apple

It turns out that Bob Mansfield, in addition to others, simply wasn’t a fan of Forstall’s way of doing things. Indeed, his decision to come back out of retirement and return to Apple for two years was due, in part, to Forstall’s impending departure.

As one source close to the company told AllThingsD, “The timing of Bob’s return is not coincidental.”

To begin, Mansfield was not a fan of Forstall’s confrontational management style, and sources said he generally tried to avoid the iOS exec. Indeed, Bloomberg last year reported that Mansfield would meet with Forstall only if Cook was present to mediate. I’ve heard many similar stories.

“It wasn’t a him-or-me situation,” one source said of Mansfield’s return and Forstall’s ouster. “But, put it this way, I think Bob was much more willing to commit to two more years once he knew Scott was on his way out.”

It’s also been reported previously that Jony Ives and Forstall also didn’t see eye to eye on a number of issues.

via All Things D

The Next Web reports:

If you take a look at Amazon’s website, you’ll note that the Kindle Fire HD is selling for $199 while being stacked up against the iPad mini, which starts at $329. In a typical marketing strategy, Amazon has listed the advantages of its tablet device while also so eloquently pointing out the shortcomings of Apple’s.

To make it more interesting, it has elected to use a quote from gadget publication Gizmodo to highlight the difference:

…your [Apple’s] 7.9-inch tablet has far fewer pixels than the competing 7-inch tablets! You’re cramming a worse screen in there, charging more, and accusing others of compromise? Ballsy.”

CNET reports:

If you’re going to burgle a house, iPhones can be very useful.

Sadly, for 23-year-old Emmanuel Jerome, his iPhone was useful to the police as well as himself.

Being of evidently subtle mind, Jerome decided not to turn the lights on at a home he and some of his friends burgled. Instead, he apparently used his iPhone as a flashlight.

Perhaps because his fingers were shaking with excitement or because his subconscious was desperate for him to be caught, he pushed another button too — which ultimately plunged him into a painful darkness.

You see, he seems to have been involved in several other unlawful pilferings, after which he was arrested.

Funny stuff per usual from John Elerick and his team.

Hot Damn! Some primo Apple news here, son.

Peep the press release below.

“Apple today announced executive management changes that will encourage even more collaboration between the Company’s world-class hardware, software and services teams. As part of these changes, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will add more responsibilities to their roles. Apple also announced that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim.

“We are in one of the most prolific periods of innovation and new products in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “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.”

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.

Eddy Cue will take on the additional responsibility of Siri® and Maps, placing all of our online services in one group. This organization has overseen major successes such as the iTunes Store®, the App Store℠, the iBookstore℠ and iCloud®. This group has an excellent track record of building and strengthening Apple’s online services to meet and exceed the high expectations of our customers.

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.

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.

Additionally, John Browett is leaving Apple. A search for a new head of Retail is underway and in the interim, the Retail team will report directly to Tim Cook. Apple’s Retail organization has an incredibly strong network of leaders at the store and regional level who will continue the excellent work that has been done over the past decade to revolutionize retailing with unique, innovative services for customers.”

So it may not be as cheap as the Kindle, but all models of the newly announced iPad Mini are now sold out.

The Washington Post is reporting that it’s full steam ahead for the iPhone and Android at the DoD. Things continue to look grim for RIM.

During yesterday’s earnings conference call, the increasingly engaging Tim Cook fielded a question about a new tablet-comer on the scene, the Microsoft Surface tablet.

Cook responded, while sighing for dramatic effect, “I haven’t personally played with the Surface yet but what we’re reading about it that it’s a fairly compromised, confusing product.”

Indeed, a number of reviews have painted rather unflattering opinions regarding Microsoft’s first homegrown foray into the tablet space.

Josh Topolsky of The Verge, for example, wrote that “instead of being a no-compromise device, it often feels like a more-compromise one.” Another high profile reviewer noted that it was tough to discern just what type of consumer the Surface was geared towards.

But reviews aside, let’s get back to Cook and his Alabama style zingers.

“I think one of the toughest things you do with each product is to make hard tradeoffs, and decide what a product should be,” Cook added. “And we’ve really done that with the iPad. And so the user experience is absolutely incredible.”

“I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don’t think it would do all those things very well. I think people, when they look at the iPad versus competitive offerings, are going to conclude they really want an iPad. And I think people have done that to date. And I think they will continue to do that.”

An interesting blurb from CEO Tim Cook during Thursday’s earnings conference call regarding component shortages and Apple’s recently introduced iMac:

In terms of iPad and iPhone… I don’t see a component shortage gating us for the quarter in the numbers that we’ve given you and the guidance… i think we saw some challenges there and feel good about our position… in terms of general shortages… on the iMac we’ll be constrained for the full quarter in a significant way… there will be a short amount of time to manufacturer and ramp those and I expect demand to be robust… we will have a significant shortage

“Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2012. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $36.0 billion and quarterly net profit of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $28.3 billion and net profit of $6.6 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. 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.

The Company sold 26.9 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 58 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 14.0 million iPads during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.9 million Macs during the quarter, a 1 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 5.3 million iPods, a 19 percent unit decline from the year-ago 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.

“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.””

via Apple

AT&T yesterday announced their earnings for the third quarter of 2012 and amongst the sea of numerical and financial data they noted that they activated 4.7 million iPhones during the quarter gone by. Compared to Q3 of 2011, that represents an increase of about 1 million units.

Instead of battling the Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire on price, Apple chose to go its own way and not get into a pricing race to the bottom. Still, some feel that $329 is a bit much for a miniaturized iPad, prompting Apple’s senior VP of marketing, Phil Schiller, to respond to such accusations in an interview with Reuters.

“The iPad is far and away the most successful product in its category,” Schiller explained. “The most affordable product we’ve made so far was $399 and people were choosing that over those devices. And now you can get a device that’s even more affordable at $329 in this great new form, and I think a lot of customers are going to be very excited about that.”

Still, that doesn’t speak to the folks who are flocking towards competing tablets on price alone. Then again, Apple has always been about premium products at premium prices.