Friday, October 14, 2011
Dispute Over Apple Image Shows Internet's Reach
HONG KONG — Few personal journeys can shed as much light on the age we live in as the one traveled by Jonathan Mak in the past week.
Mr. Mak, a university student in Hong Kong, went from being an unknown, aspiring graphic designer to an Internet sensation after an image he produced spread rapidly across digital platforms following the death of Steven P. Jobs, the co-founder of Apple.
Mr. Mak’s design of a silhouetted profile of Mr. Jobs in the Apple company logo was shared across the Web and reported by news media. The actor Ashton Kutcher posted the design on his Twitter account.
And then, nearly as fast, Mr. Mak found himself being vilified.
With a speed fitting for the technological age that Mr. Jobs helped usher in, Mr. Mak became the subject of derisive Internet postings and negative news media reports. His design, it turned out, closely matched one produced earlier this year by Chris Thornley, a British graphic artist.
“It’s been a very overwhelming experience,” Mr. Mak, 19, said by telephone between classes at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design. “I still attend classes and lessons as usual. But as far as following my assignments, it’s been difficult.”
Mr. Mak said he had developed his design in late August — a white Apple logo on a black background, with a black silhouette of Mr. Jobs indented in the apple — as a tribute to Mr. Jobs after he stepped down as chief executive of Apple.
Mr. Mak said he had searched across the Internet both for inspiration and to ensure he was not copying another design. He said his searches had not uncovered Mr. Thornley’s design.
He then posted the tweaked Apple logo on his blog . Mr. Mak also asked the public to alert him if they spotted similarities between his work and others.
The design lay quietly on his blog for weeks until Mr. Jobs’s death on Oct. 5.
“Overnight, my Web site went from getting 80 responses to tens of thousands,” he said. “At first I was very happy.”
But by the weekend, Mr. Mak said, people began informing him how similar his design was to Mr. Thornley’s, which featured a black Apple logo on a white background, with a white silhouette of Mr. Jobs at a slightly different angle.
Mr. Mak said he had received notification Sunday night from Mr. Thornley’s wife, Julia, about the similarities of the two designs.
In the world of graphic design, similarities between images are quite common, said Juliette Cezzar, director of the communication design program at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. But Mr. Mak’s case shows how easy it has become to unearth similar images or outright copies.
“If we were living in a different age, it would take weeks, maybe months to discover copies,” Ms. Cezzar said. “Now it can take 24 hours. That is a good thing.”
In a statement released to the news media, Mr. Thornley said he had followed the controversy while receiving treatment for a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He said he had first developed his design in May “because I wanted to celebrate the fact that someone who had cancer was still working, still driving forward and still thinking positively about the future.”
Mr. Thornley, a 40-year-old living in Darwen, England, acknowledged the dangers the digital age presented to creativity.
“The Internet can be a double-edged sword,” he said. “You need to use the Internet in order to promote yourself, but in order to do this you are making yourself vulnerable to these situations.”
Mr. Thornley said he hoped to speak with Mr. Mak soon about the two designs.
“J. Mak has been as honest as he can about the situation, I think,” he said. “It is important to have the debate about this, and J. Mak has to be credited for opening up the debate and not hiding from it.”
Such an environment “is really stressful for designers,” said Ms. Cezzar. “You don’t want to be called out in front of the world and called a copier.”
For his part, Mr. Mak said the past week had provided a lesson he could apply as a graphic designer.
“It really taught me to be very careful about what I say and do,” Mr. Mak said. “With all the negative publicity I received in Hong Kong, it taught me to be very careful. At the same time, I need to stay true to my sense of aesthetics.”
Mr. Mak, a university student in Hong Kong, went from being an unknown, aspiring graphic designer to an Internet sensation after an image he produced spread rapidly across digital platforms following the death of Steven P. Jobs, the co-founder of Apple.
Mr. Mak’s design of a silhouetted profile of Mr. Jobs in the Apple company logo was shared across the Web and reported by news media. The actor Ashton Kutcher posted the design on his Twitter account.
And then, nearly as fast, Mr. Mak found himself being vilified.
With a speed fitting for the technological age that Mr. Jobs helped usher in, Mr. Mak became the subject of derisive Internet postings and negative news media reports. His design, it turned out, closely matched one produced earlier this year by Chris Thornley, a British graphic artist.
“It’s been a very overwhelming experience,” Mr. Mak, 19, said by telephone between classes at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design. “I still attend classes and lessons as usual. But as far as following my assignments, it’s been difficult.”
Mr. Mak said he had developed his design in late August — a white Apple logo on a black background, with a black silhouette of Mr. Jobs indented in the apple — as a tribute to Mr. Jobs after he stepped down as chief executive of Apple.
Mr. Mak said he had searched across the Internet both for inspiration and to ensure he was not copying another design. He said his searches had not uncovered Mr. Thornley’s design.
He then posted the tweaked Apple logo on his blog . Mr. Mak also asked the public to alert him if they spotted similarities between his work and others.
The design lay quietly on his blog for weeks until Mr. Jobs’s death on Oct. 5.
“Overnight, my Web site went from getting 80 responses to tens of thousands,” he said. “At first I was very happy.”
But by the weekend, Mr. Mak said, people began informing him how similar his design was to Mr. Thornley’s, which featured a black Apple logo on a white background, with a white silhouette of Mr. Jobs at a slightly different angle.
Mr. Mak said he had received notification Sunday night from Mr. Thornley’s wife, Julia, about the similarities of the two designs.
In the world of graphic design, similarities between images are quite common, said Juliette Cezzar, director of the communication design program at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. But Mr. Mak’s case shows how easy it has become to unearth similar images or outright copies.
“If we were living in a different age, it would take weeks, maybe months to discover copies,” Ms. Cezzar said. “Now it can take 24 hours. That is a good thing.”
In a statement released to the news media, Mr. Thornley said he had followed the controversy while receiving treatment for a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He said he had first developed his design in May “because I wanted to celebrate the fact that someone who had cancer was still working, still driving forward and still thinking positively about the future.”
Mr. Thornley, a 40-year-old living in Darwen, England, acknowledged the dangers the digital age presented to creativity.
“The Internet can be a double-edged sword,” he said. “You need to use the Internet in order to promote yourself, but in order to do this you are making yourself vulnerable to these situations.”
Mr. Thornley said he hoped to speak with Mr. Mak soon about the two designs.
“J. Mak has been as honest as he can about the situation, I think,” he said. “It is important to have the debate about this, and J. Mak has to be credited for opening up the debate and not hiding from it.”
Such an environment “is really stressful for designers,” said Ms. Cezzar. “You don’t want to be called out in front of the world and called a copier.”
For his part, Mr. Mak said the past week had provided a lesson he could apply as a graphic designer.
“It really taught me to be very careful about what I say and do,” Mr. Mak said. “With all the negative publicity I received in Hong Kong, it taught me to be very careful. At the same time, I need to stay true to my sense of aesthetics.”
Apple's iPhone 4S goes on sale, fans say tribute to Jobs
SYDNEY/TOKYO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's iPhone 4S finally went on sale in stores around the globe on Friday, with fans snapping up the final gadget unveiled during Steve Jobs' lifetime, many buying the phone as a tribute to the former Apple boss.
"I think a lot of people are going to buy the iPhone 4S because it was the last iPhone Steve worked on," said Wil Batterham, 15, who with his school friend Tom Mosca were the first to buy the new phone in Sydney's Apple store.
"People are saying it was named after him, like iPhone 4S, for Steve," said Batterham, clutching his new phone.
Asked what will be the first function they use on the iPhone 4S, Mosca said he would ask the new iPhone's voice-activated "personal assistant" software: "Where's Steve?."
CEO Tim Cook and his executive team hope the first device launched without Apple's former visionary leader at the helm will safeguard their global market share lead.
Samsung, Apple's arch-rival with smartphones powered by Google's Android software, expects to overtake Apple as the world's biggest smartphone vendor in terms of units sold in the third quarter.
The iPhone 4S -- introduced to the world just a day before Jobs died -- was dubbed a disappointment because it fell short of being a revolution in design, but glowing reviews centered around its "Siri" voice-activated software have since helped it set a record pace in initial, online sales orders.
Apple fans showed no disappointment in Sydney on Friday as they purchased the phone, ahead of sales in Japan, Germany, France, Britain and North America.
Hundreds queued around the block of the Sydney Apple store, many rugged up against the chilly morning, as Apple staff chatted and clapped a countdown to the store opening. Apple's 13 Australian stores were the first to open their doors at 8.00 a.m. local time (2100 GMT, Thursday) to sell the iPhone 4S.
The vast majority of iPhone 4S buyers at the Sydney store appeared to be existing Apple customers, many having bought the original iPhone and upgrades each time.
Only one out of 10 people surveyed by Reuters was a new Apple customer. That buyer was replacing his HTC smartphone with the new iPhone 4S.
"I have been waiting for the iPhone 5 for a long time. But since Jobs died, I wanted to make sure I had a new iPhone with some advantages over the old," said Mark Du, referring to his concern over future Apple gadgets without Jobs at the helm.
Apple said it did not release sales figures on launch day, so gauging the initial sales may be difficult. Apple said it had taken more than 1 million online orders in the first 24 hours after its release, exceeding the 600,000 for the iPhone 4, though that model was sold in fewer countries.
Some analysts expect fourth-quarter iPhone shipments of as much as 30 million or more, almost double from a year ago.
Apple's fifth-generation iPhone uses chips from Qualcomm Inc, Toshiba and a host of smaller semiconductor companies, according to repair firm iFixit, which cracked the device open on Thursday.
SPEECH RECOGNITION A WINNER
Analysts say Apple CEO Cook needs to move out from under his former mentor's enormous shadow soon, and avoid clinging to the Jobs' mystique to preserve its brand.
Apple fans in Sydney made sure to remember Jobs as part of the iPhone 4S launch, with a small flower, candle and photo shrine erected outside the glass-fronted store.
The iPhone -- seen as the market's gold standard -- is Apple's highest-margin product and accounts for 40 percent of its annual revenue. It is the world's biggest selling smartphone, for now maintaining a slim market-share lead over Samsung's Galaxy, at 18.4 versus 17.8 percent worldwide.
In a sign of how tough the competition is, two doors along from the Sydney Apple store, Samsung has been selling its new Galaxy SII for only A$2 to its first 10 customers each day, prompting Samsung fans to also camp out on the footpath.
But analysts point to several factors in Apple's favor: a $199 price that matches up well with rival devices such as Amazon.com Inc's "Fire" tablet; availability promised on more than 100 carriers by the end of 2011, far more than its predecessors; and glowing reviews.
Apple's iconic smartphone comes with a faster processor and a better and more light-sensitive camera, but little else to separate it from its predecessor. But tech experts say the real gems lie beneath the phone's familiar sleek casing.
Influential reviewers Walt Mossberg and David Pogue raved about "Siri" -- a voice-command activated assistant that responds to spoken commands and questions in context, such as queries about the weather or a friend's phone number.
"I'm buying it mainly for the voice activated Siri, its like your own personal secretary," said Shane Gray, 42, one of the Sydney buyers.
(Reporting by Michael Perry in SYDNEY, Edwin Chan in LOS ANGELES, Isabel Reynolds in TOKYO, Editing by Mark Bendeich)
"I think a lot of people are going to buy the iPhone 4S because it was the last iPhone Steve worked on," said Wil Batterham, 15, who with his school friend Tom Mosca were the first to buy the new phone in Sydney's Apple store.
"People are saying it was named after him, like iPhone 4S, for Steve," said Batterham, clutching his new phone.
Asked what will be the first function they use on the iPhone 4S, Mosca said he would ask the new iPhone's voice-activated "personal assistant" software: "Where's Steve?."
CEO Tim Cook and his executive team hope the first device launched without Apple's former visionary leader at the helm will safeguard their global market share lead.
Samsung, Apple's arch-rival with smartphones powered by Google's Android software, expects to overtake Apple as the world's biggest smartphone vendor in terms of units sold in the third quarter.
The iPhone 4S -- introduced to the world just a day before Jobs died -- was dubbed a disappointment because it fell short of being a revolution in design, but glowing reviews centered around its "Siri" voice-activated software have since helped it set a record pace in initial, online sales orders.
Apple fans showed no disappointment in Sydney on Friday as they purchased the phone, ahead of sales in Japan, Germany, France, Britain and North America.
Hundreds queued around the block of the Sydney Apple store, many rugged up against the chilly morning, as Apple staff chatted and clapped a countdown to the store opening. Apple's 13 Australian stores were the first to open their doors at 8.00 a.m. local time (2100 GMT, Thursday) to sell the iPhone 4S.
The vast majority of iPhone 4S buyers at the Sydney store appeared to be existing Apple customers, many having bought the original iPhone and upgrades each time.
Only one out of 10 people surveyed by Reuters was a new Apple customer. That buyer was replacing his HTC smartphone with the new iPhone 4S.
"I have been waiting for the iPhone 5 for a long time. But since Jobs died, I wanted to make sure I had a new iPhone with some advantages over the old," said Mark Du, referring to his concern over future Apple gadgets without Jobs at the helm.
Apple said it did not release sales figures on launch day, so gauging the initial sales may be difficult. Apple said it had taken more than 1 million online orders in the first 24 hours after its release, exceeding the 600,000 for the iPhone 4, though that model was sold in fewer countries.
Some analysts expect fourth-quarter iPhone shipments of as much as 30 million or more, almost double from a year ago.
Apple's fifth-generation iPhone uses chips from Qualcomm Inc, Toshiba and a host of smaller semiconductor companies, according to repair firm iFixit, which cracked the device open on Thursday.
SPEECH RECOGNITION A WINNER
Analysts say Apple CEO Cook needs to move out from under his former mentor's enormous shadow soon, and avoid clinging to the Jobs' mystique to preserve its brand.
Apple fans in Sydney made sure to remember Jobs as part of the iPhone 4S launch, with a small flower, candle and photo shrine erected outside the glass-fronted store.
The iPhone -- seen as the market's gold standard -- is Apple's highest-margin product and accounts for 40 percent of its annual revenue. It is the world's biggest selling smartphone, for now maintaining a slim market-share lead over Samsung's Galaxy, at 18.4 versus 17.8 percent worldwide.
In a sign of how tough the competition is, two doors along from the Sydney Apple store, Samsung has been selling its new Galaxy SII for only A$2 to its first 10 customers each day, prompting Samsung fans to also camp out on the footpath.
But analysts point to several factors in Apple's favor: a $199 price that matches up well with rival devices such as Amazon.com Inc's "Fire" tablet; availability promised on more than 100 carriers by the end of 2011, far more than its predecessors; and glowing reviews.
Apple's iconic smartphone comes with a faster processor and a better and more light-sensitive camera, but little else to separate it from its predecessor. But tech experts say the real gems lie beneath the phone's familiar sleek casing.
Influential reviewers Walt Mossberg and David Pogue raved about "Siri" -- a voice-command activated assistant that responds to spoken commands and questions in context, such as queries about the weather or a friend's phone number.
"I'm buying it mainly for the voice activated Siri, its like your own personal secretary," said Shane Gray, 42, one of the Sydney buyers.
(Reporting by Michael Perry in SYDNEY, Edwin Chan in LOS ANGELES, Isabel Reynolds in TOKYO, Editing by Mark Bendeich)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
RIM says BlackBerry outages started in Europe
A technical failure in Europe is suspected of causing a huge backlog of messages worldwide for BlackBerry users, who have experienced three days of outages, Research In Motion said Wednesday.
RIM's chief technology officer, David Yach, said messages coming into Europe from Asia and the Americas to BlackBerry users got backed up and started affecting BlackBerry users globally.
Outages for RIM's instant messaging service, email and internet browsing started at the beginning of the week in Europe and spread to the Middle East and Africa and to Canada as the company worked to restore service.
Areas of South America, as well as Asian markets including Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and India were also affected.
It's in overseas markets where RIM has had its fastest growth in the last two years.
Shares in the Waterloo, Ont.-based firm closed down more than three per cent Wednesday as investors worried that the problem would undermine its reputation for reliability.
RIM shares fell 87 cents, or 3.46 per cent, at $24.27 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Yach told a media briefing that the firm was throttling traffic to order to "stabilize service" and clear the backlog. RIM promised that all messages will be delivered.
Yach said the company believes it has found the cause and has found no evidence of hacking.
The BlackBerry outage even reached Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office.
Andrew MacDougall, spokesman for the prime minister, took to social networking site Twitter and tweeted: "Am being impacted by RIM/Berry service outage — please call if you need to reach me."
On Tuesday, the firm announced the problems were caused by a core switch failure within the company's infrastructure. RIM said a transition to a backup switch did not function as tested, causing a large backlog of data.
"The resolution of this service issue is our No. 1 priority right now and we are working night and day to restore all BlackBerry services to normal levels," the company said in a statement Wednesday.
RIM also apologized.
"We are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and we apologize to our customers for any inconvenience," RIM said.
However, an apology didn't seem to be good enough for the government of Colombia, which reportedly asked RIM to compensate users affected by the glitches.
RIM's last outage was in December 2009 and it also experienced an outage in 2008.
"It's a huge embarrassment for a company that has built its reputation on notion of service and reliability and when all else fails your BlackBerry will still work," said Michael Gartenberg, director of research at U.S.-based Gartner Inc.
The outage doesn't help the company's perception with consumers or businesses, Gartenberg said.
"It's coming at a time when RIM is facing increasing competition from companies like Google and Apple and Microsoft, all launching new products," Gartenberg said from New York.
Apple's iPhone 4S, announced last week, is set to hit stores Friday.
Technology analyst Troy Crandall said he expects the outages to have more of an effect in the corporate market.
"That's the bread and butter still for RIM," said Crandall of Montreal-based MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier. "It just kind of puts the thought in people's heads — might it be time for a switch?"
RIM has about 70 million BlackBerry subscribers around the world.
RIM earns revenue from both the sale of its smartphone devices and a monthly fee subscribers pay to use its secure email services and instant messaging capabilities, which means users switching to other phones could eat away at its profits.
RIM's chief technology officer, David Yach, said messages coming into Europe from Asia and the Americas to BlackBerry users got backed up and started affecting BlackBerry users globally.
Outages for RIM's instant messaging service, email and internet browsing started at the beginning of the week in Europe and spread to the Middle East and Africa and to Canada as the company worked to restore service.
Areas of South America, as well as Asian markets including Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and India were also affected.
It's in overseas markets where RIM has had its fastest growth in the last two years.
Shares in the Waterloo, Ont.-based firm closed down more than three per cent Wednesday as investors worried that the problem would undermine its reputation for reliability.
RIM shares fell 87 cents, or 3.46 per cent, at $24.27 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Yach told a media briefing that the firm was throttling traffic to order to "stabilize service" and clear the backlog. RIM promised that all messages will be delivered.
Yach said the company believes it has found the cause and has found no evidence of hacking.
The BlackBerry outage even reached Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office.
Andrew MacDougall, spokesman for the prime minister, took to social networking site Twitter and tweeted: "Am being impacted by RIM/Berry service outage — please call if you need to reach me."
On Tuesday, the firm announced the problems were caused by a core switch failure within the company's infrastructure. RIM said a transition to a backup switch did not function as tested, causing a large backlog of data.
"The resolution of this service issue is our No. 1 priority right now and we are working night and day to restore all BlackBerry services to normal levels," the company said in a statement Wednesday.
RIM also apologized.
"We are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and we apologize to our customers for any inconvenience," RIM said.
However, an apology didn't seem to be good enough for the government of Colombia, which reportedly asked RIM to compensate users affected by the glitches.
RIM's last outage was in December 2009 and it also experienced an outage in 2008.
"It's a huge embarrassment for a company that has built its reputation on notion of service and reliability and when all else fails your BlackBerry will still work," said Michael Gartenberg, director of research at U.S.-based Gartner Inc.
The outage doesn't help the company's perception with consumers or businesses, Gartenberg said.
"It's coming at a time when RIM is facing increasing competition from companies like Google and Apple and Microsoft, all launching new products," Gartenberg said from New York.
Apple's iPhone 4S, announced last week, is set to hit stores Friday.
Technology analyst Troy Crandall said he expects the outages to have more of an effect in the corporate market.
"That's the bread and butter still for RIM," said Crandall of Montreal-based MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier. "It just kind of puts the thought in people's heads — might it be time for a switch?"
RIM has about 70 million BlackBerry subscribers around the world.
RIM earns revenue from both the sale of its smartphone devices and a monthly fee subscribers pay to use its secure email services and instant messaging capabilities, which means users switching to other phones could eat away at its profits.
BlackBerry has outages in Europe, Africa, India
LONDON - BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India suffered email outages for several hours on Monday, adding to the woes of struggling manufacturer Research in Motion, increasingly seen as a takeover target.
Twitter users and Reuters correspondents from Britain to Dubai to New Delhi reported disruptions or complete outages of their email and BlackBerry Messenger services.
RIM said in an email sent to Reuters New Delhi: "We are working to resolve an issue currently impacting some BlackBerry subscribers in Europe, Middle East and Africa and India."
In Europe and Canada, it put out an identical statement but omitted the reference to India.
"We are investigating, and we apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused whilst this is resolved," RIM said, declining to provide further detail.
RIM, which once owned the corporate mobile email market, has been losing share to smartphone rivals led by Apple’s iPhone as employees from the boardroom down demanded more choice.
A poor reception for its Playbook tablet computer has increased pressure on RIM’s top management, while a string of senior staff have left.
Monday’s outage follows last month’s BlackBerry Messenger disruption in the Americas.
Last month, investors drove RIM stock down by 20 percent, or $3 billion in value, after dismal quarterly results, raising prospects of a break-up, sale or new leadership.
Twitter users and Reuters correspondents from Britain to Dubai to New Delhi reported disruptions or complete outages of their email and BlackBerry Messenger services.
RIM said in an email sent to Reuters New Delhi: "We are working to resolve an issue currently impacting some BlackBerry subscribers in Europe, Middle East and Africa and India."
In Europe and Canada, it put out an identical statement but omitted the reference to India.
"We are investigating, and we apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused whilst this is resolved," RIM said, declining to provide further detail.
RIM, which once owned the corporate mobile email market, has been losing share to smartphone rivals led by Apple’s iPhone as employees from the boardroom down demanded more choice.
A poor reception for its Playbook tablet computer has increased pressure on RIM’s top management, while a string of senior staff have left.
Monday’s outage follows last month’s BlackBerry Messenger disruption in the Americas.
Last month, investors drove RIM stock down by 20 percent, or $3 billion in value, after dismal quarterly results, raising prospects of a break-up, sale or new leadership.
RIM scrambles to end global BlackBerry outage
LONDON/TORONTO - Research In Motion said Wednesday it was working frantically to end a three-day global disruption of BlackBerry services that has frustrated millions of smartphone users and put more pressure on the company for sweeping changes.
The Canadian company, in a hastily announced conference call, vowed to deliver all email and instant messages to the tens of millions of customers who have been affected by the outage. It later told some clients the huge backlog may not clear until Thursday morning on the U.S. East Coast.
"Think of it like a dam and the water is the data," said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek. "Once the dam bursts it's really difficult to get the water back behind the dam. That's what they're attempting to do right now."
Shares of RIM dropped 3.9 per cent in Toronto trade after the late-afternoon call, which RIM arranged days after the disruptions began in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. The outage later spread to the Americas.
BREAKINGVIEWS: Hastening BlackBerry's slide: 1/8ID:nN1E79B0FM 3/8 Q+A: RIM's secretive BlackBerry network 1/8ID:nN1E79B1PJ 3/8 BlackBerry outage frustrates bankers 1/8ID:nnN1E79B0CV 3/8
Even though the drop in RIM's share price was relatively modest, the stock has already tumbled more than 50 per cent since the beginning of the year after a series of profit warnings, product missteps and little hope of an early turnaround.
This week's disruption, the worst since an outage swept North America two years ago, is likely to fuel calls for a management shake-up and a possible sale or split of the company, which has failed to keep pace with Apple and other rivals in a rapidly changing market.
The troubles could damage RIM's once-sterling reputation for secure and reliable message delivery and risks a further devaluation of its proprietary BlackBerry offering.
"Our priority is to get the service up and running, because at the end of the day what's going to make our customers happy is to have their BlackBerrys working again," David Yach, RIM's chief technology officer for software, said during the call.
UNIQUE SYSTEM
RIM is unique among handset makers, as it compresses and encrypts data before pushing it to BlackBerry devices via carrier networks. Apple and others rely on the carrier networks to handle all routing and delivery of content.
But even before this week's disruptions, many companies had started to balk at paying a premium to be locked into RIM's secure email service. Some are allowing employees to use alternative smartphones, particularly Apple's iPhone, for corporate mail.
"It's a blow upon a bruise. It comes at a bad time," said Richard Windsor, global technology specialist at Nomura.
"One possibility could be that it encourages client companies to look more at other options such as allowing users to connect their own devices to the corporate server and save themselves the cost of buying everyone a BlackBerry."
At the same time, RIM is getting ready to shift its line of BlackBerry smartphones to new software first used in the poorly received PlayBook tablet. A successful transition is considered crucial for its efforts to regain market share as the iPhone and devices powered by Google's Andriod become ever more popular with consumers.
The service disruptions prompted BlackBerry users to vent their frustration at the company and what they said was its failure to keep its customers informed.
"Totally appalled at the lack of communication from RIM," wrote Lynn Murdoch on RIM's BlackBerry Facebook page. "Love my Berry, but furious at the fact that no one can actually give a time frame of how long its going to take to fix. Utterly disappointed!"
"I'm right at the edge where I might be saying goodbye to my BlackBerry," said Tony Vitali, a BlackBerry user in New York. "The device freezes twice a day. . . . It's a very frustrating device."
BAD TIMING
From a marketing standpoint, the timing could hardly have been worse for RIM.
Apple on Wednesday launched an major upgrade to its iOS operating system that includes iMessage, an instant messaging service for users of Apple's iPhones, iPads and some iPods that is a direct competitor to RIM's BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM.
The service, which allows BlackBerry users to send free text messages to other BlackBerry users, has made the devices a popular choices with young consumers. That has partially compensated for its losses in the corporate market in North America and Western Europe.
RBC Capital Markets analysts Mike Abramsky and Paul Treiber said the latest crisis could hurt RIM's reputation in these key markets, particularly after high-profile tussles with jurisdictions whose governments demanded access to encrypted communications for security reasons.
On Wednesday RIM's shares closed down 3.46 per cent at C$24.27 on the Toronto Stock Exchange and down 2.17 per cent at $23.88 on the Nasdaq.
The Canadian company, in a hastily announced conference call, vowed to deliver all email and instant messages to the tens of millions of customers who have been affected by the outage. It later told some clients the huge backlog may not clear until Thursday morning on the U.S. East Coast.
"Think of it like a dam and the water is the data," said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek. "Once the dam bursts it's really difficult to get the water back behind the dam. That's what they're attempting to do right now."
Shares of RIM dropped 3.9 per cent in Toronto trade after the late-afternoon call, which RIM arranged days after the disruptions began in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. The outage later spread to the Americas.
BREAKINGVIEWS: Hastening BlackBerry's slide: 1/8ID:nN1E79B0FM 3/8 Q+A: RIM's secretive BlackBerry network 1/8ID:nN1E79B1PJ 3/8 BlackBerry outage frustrates bankers 1/8ID:nnN1E79B0CV 3/8
Even though the drop in RIM's share price was relatively modest, the stock has already tumbled more than 50 per cent since the beginning of the year after a series of profit warnings, product missteps and little hope of an early turnaround.
This week's disruption, the worst since an outage swept North America two years ago, is likely to fuel calls for a management shake-up and a possible sale or split of the company, which has failed to keep pace with Apple and other rivals in a rapidly changing market.
The troubles could damage RIM's once-sterling reputation for secure and reliable message delivery and risks a further devaluation of its proprietary BlackBerry offering.
"Our priority is to get the service up and running, because at the end of the day what's going to make our customers happy is to have their BlackBerrys working again," David Yach, RIM's chief technology officer for software, said during the call.
UNIQUE SYSTEM
RIM is unique among handset makers, as it compresses and encrypts data before pushing it to BlackBerry devices via carrier networks. Apple and others rely on the carrier networks to handle all routing and delivery of content.
But even before this week's disruptions, many companies had started to balk at paying a premium to be locked into RIM's secure email service. Some are allowing employees to use alternative smartphones, particularly Apple's iPhone, for corporate mail.
"It's a blow upon a bruise. It comes at a bad time," said Richard Windsor, global technology specialist at Nomura.
"One possibility could be that it encourages client companies to look more at other options such as allowing users to connect their own devices to the corporate server and save themselves the cost of buying everyone a BlackBerry."
At the same time, RIM is getting ready to shift its line of BlackBerry smartphones to new software first used in the poorly received PlayBook tablet. A successful transition is considered crucial for its efforts to regain market share as the iPhone and devices powered by Google's Andriod become ever more popular with consumers.
The service disruptions prompted BlackBerry users to vent their frustration at the company and what they said was its failure to keep its customers informed.
"Totally appalled at the lack of communication from RIM," wrote Lynn Murdoch on RIM's BlackBerry Facebook page. "Love my Berry, but furious at the fact that no one can actually give a time frame of how long its going to take to fix. Utterly disappointed!"
"I'm right at the edge where I might be saying goodbye to my BlackBerry," said Tony Vitali, a BlackBerry user in New York. "The device freezes twice a day. . . . It's a very frustrating device."
BAD TIMING
From a marketing standpoint, the timing could hardly have been worse for RIM.
Apple on Wednesday launched an major upgrade to its iOS operating system that includes iMessage, an instant messaging service for users of Apple's iPhones, iPads and some iPods that is a direct competitor to RIM's BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM.
The service, which allows BlackBerry users to send free text messages to other BlackBerry users, has made the devices a popular choices with young consumers. That has partially compensated for its losses in the corporate market in North America and Western Europe.
RBC Capital Markets analysts Mike Abramsky and Paul Treiber said the latest crisis could hurt RIM's reputation in these key markets, particularly after high-profile tussles with jurisdictions whose governments demanded access to encrypted communications for security reasons.
On Wednesday RIM's shares closed down 3.46 per cent at C$24.27 on the Toronto Stock Exchange and down 2.17 per cent at $23.88 on the Nasdaq.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Hong Kong student's Apple tribute is Internet hit
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A Hong Kong design student said Friday he was overwhelmed and "flattered" after his sombre logo in tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs caused a worldwide Internet sensation.
The design, featuring Jobs's silhouette incorporated into the bite of a white Apple logo on a black background, has gone viral on the Internet since news of his death.
"I feel so unreal," Jonathan Mak, a second year graphic design student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told AFP, after he was inundated with hundreds of emails and messages on his Twitter account.
The 19-year-old said he had received queries from newspapers in the United States and Germany about buying the copyright to use his logo and had been offered jobs after it spread like wildfire on the Internet.
"I am flattered by the attention but I would like to focus on my study before taking on any full-time job," said the bespectacled student, adding that he was trying to cope with his new-found fame.
"I'm quite busy now actually as I'm trying to finish a school project," he said.
When asked about whether he would be targeting commercial opportunities, Mak said he was considering contacting Apple on copyright issues because his design is based on Apple's own logo.
Some merchandisers have reportedly used his logo for commemorative memorabilia for Jobs such as t-shirts and caps that are being sold on the Internet.
"I will consider using any proceeds I make from the copyright for cancer research, as suggested by some people to me on the Internet," he said. Jobs died at 56 of pancreatic cancer.
Mak said he first came up with the design after Jobs announced his resignation in late August, but the logo received little attention at the time.
The teenager said the Apple founder had inspired him in his design.
"He was a minimalist, which is the way I would like to emphasise in my design -- fewer elements but a powerful message."
"Steve Jobs strongly believed in his own ideas and continued with his beliefs no matter how people criticised him. He was courageous," said Mak.
Jobs authorized biography so his kids can know him
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| Andreas Raptopoulos, of Palo Alto, looks upon the flowers, candles and apples which adorn the sidewalk outside the home of Steve Jobs in Palo Alto, California, in the early morning October 6, 2011. |
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Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs stands beneath a photograph of him and Apple-co founder Steve Wozniak from the early days of Apple during the launch of Apple's new "iPad" tablet computing device in San Francisco, California, in this January 27, 2010 file photo.Steve Jobs' touching last move for his kidsCUPERTINO, Calif./SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Steve Jobs, in pain and too weak to climb stairs a few weeks before his death, wanted his children to understand why he wasn't always there for them, according to the author of his highly anticipated biography. "I wanted my kids to know me," Jobs was quoted as saying by Pulitzer Prize nominee Walter Isaacson, when he asked the Apple Inc co-founder why he authorized a tell-all biography after living a private, almost ascetic life. "I wasn't always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did," Jobs told Isaacson in their final interview at Jobs' home in Palo Alto, California. Isaacson said he visited Jobs for the last time a few weeks ago and found him curled up in some pain in a downstairs bedroom. Jobs had moved there because he was too weak to go up and down stairs, "but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant," Isaacson wrote in an essay on Time.com that will be published in the magazine's October 17 edition. Jobs died on Wednesday at the age of 56 after a long battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Outpourings of sympathy swept across the globe as state leaders, business rivals and fans paid respect to the man who touched the daily lives of countless millions through the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Jobs had struggled with health issues but said very little about his battle with cancer since an operation in 2004. When he stepped down in August, handing the CEO reins to long-time operations chief Tim Cook, Jobs said simply that he could no longer fulfill his duties as chief executive. Apple has been similarly guarded about the circumstances of his death, saying only that their chairman was surrounded by his wife Laurene and immediate family. Jobs had four children from two relationships. Funeral arrangements have not been disclosed and it is uncertain when the company will hold a planned "celebration" of Jobs' life. Officials in Sacramento said there will be no state or public funeral. SOMBER MOOD From Tokyo and Paris to San Francisco and New York, mourners created impromptu memorials outside Apple stores, from flowers and candles to a dozen green and red apples on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. At corporate headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley on Thursday, employees -- current and former -- gathered with their families under an overcast sky to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial on a driveway leading up to the entrance. "He was a very private person, but he's everywhere in the products he created," said Glenn Harada, a 22-year-old former Apple employee. "He didn't work alone but none of this could have happened without him." Employees said they went on with business, but with an undercurrent of sadness. Grief counselors on the payroll had reached out to Apple workers, a spokesman said. "Deep down there's sadness," said Cory Moll, a part-time Apple employee who had tried to organize a union. "We have lost someone who touched us all." With his passion for minimalist design and a genius for marketing, Jobs laid the groundwork for Apple to continue to flourish after his death, most analysts and investors say. But Apple still faces challenges in the absence of the man who was its chief product designer, marketing guru and salesman nonpareil. Phones running Google's Android software are gaining share in the smartphone market, and there are questions about what Apple's next big product will be. The launch of the iPhone 4S -- at the kind of gala event that became Jobs' trademark -- was a letdown to many fans earlier this week, underscoring how Jobs' showmanship and uncanny instincts will be missed. But Wall Street analysts said Cook's new team-based approach and operational savvy will keep the company on track -- at least for now. Apple shares ended down just 0.23 percent at $377.37, though that underperformed the broader U.S. market. "It didn't come as a shock," said Terry Donoghue, an Apple technical writer, whose department boss called an hour-long meeting to reminisce about Jobs. "It's still hard for a lot of people." JOBS' ESTATE: CONFIDENTIAL? Jobs, in his trademark uniform of black mock-turtleneck and blue jeans, was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America. With an estimated net worth of $7 billion -- including a 7 percent stake in Walt Disney Co -- it was not known how Jobs' estate would be handled. The entrepreneur had sometimes been criticized for not wielding his enormous influence and wealth for philanthropy like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. His death revived speculation that some of his estate might be donated to cancer research groups or hospitals. California law requires a will to be filed in probate court within 30 days of death. Jobs and his wife placed at least three properties into trusts in 2009, which legal experts say is a sign he may have been preparing his assets to remain confidential upon his death. Placing stock and real estate into trusts can both minimize estate taxes upon a person's death, and keep them from being publicly disclosed in probate court, said John O'Grady, a trusts and estates attorney in San Francisco. Jobs was given up for adoption soon after his birth in San Francisco to an American mother, Joanne Carole Schieble, and a Syrian-born father, Abdulfattah "John" Jandali. A college dropout, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in his parents' garage in 1976. "I do feel like I did when John Lennon was killed. Also JFK and Martin Luther King. Like Steve Jobs, they gave us hope," Wozniak said on his Facebook page. Jobs changed the technology world in the late 1970s, when the Apple II became the first personal computer to gain a wide following. He did it again in 1984 with the Macintosh, which built on breakthrough technologies developed at Xerox Parc and elsewhere to create the personal computing experience as we know it today. The rebel streak that was central to his persona got him tossed out of Apple in 1985, but he returned in 1997 and after a few years began the roll-out of a troika of products -- the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad -- that again upended the established order in major industries. |
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Steve Jobs – the most brilliant practioner of perfect timing….
There can be no doubt in anyone'ss mind that Steve Jobs was one of the most dynamic, most innovative and most impactful business leaders of our times. Much has already been written about all this. My post today is on a small but different point – how Steve Jobs understood the meaning of perfect timing; and how even the Gods were forced to reward him with the perfect timing for his departure….
There is this concept that everyone knows of – departing on time. A little too early and one feels that one could have done a little more with one’s time. A little too late and one feels that one stayed on for too long. The right timing is what makes the real heroes stand out. Take Gandhiji for example. His timing couldn’t have been more perfect. He found himself at the right time in South Africa – where circumstances pitchforked him into the middle of the anti-colonial struggle there. He came back to India to find a near-vacuum in the struggle against the British. Through more than thirty years of his struggle in India, he managed to get the timing right for the Khilafat movement, the non-cooperation movement and eventually the Quit India movement. Not before he got the full independence for India did Gandhiji rest. Not till the last of the British left the Indian soil could anyone stop Gandhiji. Gandhiji’s departure from this planet was perfectly timed – just after he had delivered his goal to his countrymen. Not minute too soon. Not a minute too late. The gods conspired to confer greatness on the father of the nation.
Steve Job’s case is something similar. There could not possibly have been a better time for him to depart from this life.
Just look at the financial performance of his company. In the 3rd quarter of this fiscal (Apple fiscal ends September each year), Apple clocked revenues of $28.6 billion, a growth of 82% over the previous year. Mind you, these are not the results of an upstart, small company which would naturally record fast growth rates. Apple was already a monolith a year back – nearly the same size as other iconic companies like Pepsico and nearly double of Coca Cola Company Limited. Apple’s 3rd quarter profits stoo at $.7.3 billion, a growth of 125% over the same period last year. Such results are simply unheard of in the corporate sector – especially in America where revenue growths of 10% are considered excellent. Even Indian companies – with their much smaller bases – are unable to record such high rates of growths. These results are a tribute to the genius of Steve Jobs.
All through his life, Steve Jobs understood the meaning of timing. While othere management gurus could only talk about it, Steve Jobs practiced perfect timing. His first award winning product was no doubt the humble ipod in 2001, even though the Mac had been launched earlier. This simple product was able to put “1000 songs” into a mini frame that could easily be carried in a small wallet or even a shirt pocket. From 2001 to 2004, Apple milked the success of the ipod. As sales of the original ipod started declining, Apple introduced a new model of ipod with incessant regularity – starting with the ipod mini in Jan 2004, the ipod music+photo model in Oct 2004, the ipod shuffle in Jan 2005, the ipod nano in Sept 2005 and ipod video player in Oct 2005. But even as these design innovations perked sales up, Jobs knew that the ipod was going to go into decline. Pronto, in June 2007, the iphone was launched and the company revenues soared again. Jobs followed the same relentless spirit of innovation and perfect timing with the iphone launching a new model every year with the iphone 3G coming out in June 2008, the iphone-3 in June 2009 and the iphone-4 in June 2010. Just a few weeks back, the company unveiled the latest iphone – the iphone 4S.
With the launch of the iphone, Steve Jobs took Apple into a different orbit altogether. Under normal circumstances, one would have expected Jobs to milk the iphone for a few years before introducing the next big innovation. But maybe Jobs knew of what the future held for him. His sense of timing had to be perfect. And so, while the iphone sales were still soaring, the ipad was launched in April 2010 and the follow-up model, the ipad-2, was launched a year later in March this year.
It’s not surprising then that Apple has been recording revenue growths of the kind not seen before. Revenue growths were 33% in FY04, 68% in FY05, 39% in FY06, 27% in FY07, 53% in FY08, 14% in FY09 and 52% in FY10. And then of course, the way FY11 is going, Apple will beat its own past records by growing perhaps at more than 80% this year. In just 8 years, Apple’s turnover would increase from just $ 8 billion to perhaps more than $100 billion this year. The sense of timing is apparent again here, as the FY11 revenue growth numbers – the last year of Jobs’ life – are the highest ever in the company’s history. If this is not an example of great timing, what is?
Most people say that the world lost Jobs too early. There is a sense of remorse and sadness that this great innovator died so early. But just think about it – isn’t this the way Jobs himself would have wanted it? To go at the peak of his career. To go when everyone is asking: why? Just like in the case of Gandhiji, looks like the Gods have conspired in the case of Steve Jobs also.
The real truth is that Steve Jobs was brilliant in many things. He was a brilliant innovator; he was a brilliant marketer. But what is not known well enough is that he was a brilliant timer of events. It’s almost like he scripted his own death – timed beautifully with the best period of his company’s life….that’s the true genius of this brilliant man…..
Friday, October 7, 2011
AT&T seeing "extraordinary demand" for new iPhone
AT&T (T.N) said on Friday it has seen "extraordinary demand" for Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) latest iPhone with over 200,000 pre-orders in the first 12 hours.
Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S, which was unveiled on Tuesday, started October 7. The latest smartphone from Apple left Wall Street and fans wishing for more than a souped-up version of last year's device, at a time of heightened competition from rival smartphone makers.
Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S, which was unveiled on Tuesday, started October 7. The latest smartphone from Apple left Wall Street and fans wishing for more than a souped-up version of last year's device, at a time of heightened competition from rival smartphone makers.
Bell is introducing the iPhone 4S in Canada on 14th October 2011.
iPhone 4S picks up where amazing left off. It's the fastest, most powerful iPhone ever. It features an 8-megapixel camera with all-new optics. It lets you record, edit and share stunning 1080p HD video. And it comes with iOS 5 and iCloud.
If you're already a Bell Mobility customer and would like to upgrade to the iPhone 4S, we've set aside phones just for you. Please call 1 800 667-0123 to order yours now.
iPhone 4S picks up where amazing left off. It’s the fastest, most powerful iPhone ever. It features an 8-megapixel camera with all-new optics. It lets you record, edit, and share stunning 1080p HD video. And it comes with iOS 5 and iCloud.
Why you’ll love an iPhone
There are many reasons why iPhone is the world’s best-selling smartphone. It’s so easy to use, you don’t need a manual. The hardware and software are engineered by Apple to work together perfectly. And iPhone gives you truly long battery life. Some people settle for any smartphone. But iPhone owners love their iPhones.Key selling points:
· Dual-core A5 chip – up to 2X faster performance & 7X faster graphics
iPhone 4S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet. The A5 chip delivers up to 2x faster performance, so it’s quicker at launching apps, loading pages in Safari, and taking photos. And with up to 7x faster graphics, gameplay is even more amazing.· 8-megapixel camera – all new optics
With a custom lens and a new 8-megapixel sensor, iPhone 4S takes photos unlike any you’ve ever seen from a mobile device. You can also record 1080p HD video with image stabilization.· High-resolution Retina display
Thanks to the Retina display, the highest-resolution phone screen, everything you see and do on iPhone 4S looks amazing. The pixel density is so high the human eye can’t distinguish individual pixels. Games, movies, and photos are stunning at almost any angle. Text in books, web pages, and email is crisp at any size.· Over 500,000 apps on the App Store
Browse more than 500,000 apps on the App Store. You’ll find great apps for just about anything: games, social networking, travel, business, news, weather, sports, and more. Search by category or check out the Top Paid and Top Free charts.· iOS 5—the world’s most advanced mobile OS with over 200 new features
iOS 5 is not only advanced, it’s also incredibly easy to use. And with over 200 new features, including Notification Center, Reminders, and Twitter integration, iOS 5 makes iPhone even better.· iCloud—your content on all your iOS devices
iCloud stores your music, photos, documents, and more, and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices. Automatic, effortless, and seamless—it just works. iCloud is the easiest way to manage your content, because now you don’t have to.· 1080p HD video recording
iPhone 4S features:
· HSPA data speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps
Touch up photos right on your iPhone — without the help of photo editing software on a computer. You can crop and rotate photos, enhance the image overall and even remove · red-eye.
· Edit your HD video right on iPhone. Just drag to select start and end points on a filmstrip to trim your clips. Or make a mini-blockbuster in iMovie with Apple-designed themes, titles, transitions and even a soundtrack
· Video stabilization removes unwanted motion caused by unsteady hands. And if you’re recording a scene with subjects in both the foreground and the background, the camera focuses where you want with a tap.
Display:
iOS 5 features:
· Notification center · iMessage · Reminders · Twitter Integration · Newstand | · Lock screen shortcuts · Game center enhancement · Reading List · Sync between iOS devices · Tabbed browsing | · PC-free feature · Wireless updates · AirPlay · Find My Friends · Siri – iPhone 4S only |
- 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
Resolution:
- 960 x 640 pixel resolution at 326 ppi
Storage
- 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB1
Cellular:
- UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
- GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
- CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz)2
Wireless data:
- 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4 GHz only)
- Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
GPS:
- Assisted GPS
Camera:
- 8 megapixel camera
Battery:
- Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery2
Talk time:
- Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 14 hours on 2G (GSM)2
Standby time:
- Up to 200 hours3
Internet use:
- Up to 6 hours on 3G, up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi3
Video playback:
- Up to 10 hours3
Audio playback:
- Up to 40 hours3
Dimensions:
- 115.2 mm x 58.6 mm x 9.3 mm4
Weight:
- 140 g4
In the box:
- iPhone 4S
- Apple earphones with remote and mic
- Dock connector to USB cable
- USB power adapter
- Documentation
Input and output:
- 30-pin dock connector
- 3.5 mm stereo headphone mini- jack
- Built-in speaker
- Built-in microphone
Video:
- Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
Mac system requirements:
- Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
- OS X v10.5.8 or later
- iTunes 10.5 or later
- Apple ID (required for some features)
- Internet access
Windows system requirements:
- PC with USB 2.0 port
- Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3 or later
- iTunes 10.5 or later
- Apple ID (required for some features)
- Internet access
Details:
- 1 GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less.
- CDMA available only if iPhone 4S is sold and activated for use on a CDMA network.
- All battery claims depend on network configuration and many other factors; actual results will vary. Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced by an Apple service provider. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information. For more details of iPhone performance tests for talk time, standby time, Internet use over 3G, Internet use over Wi-Fi, video playback, and audio playback, see www.apple.com/iphone/battery.html.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
9 things you didn’t know about the life of Steve Jobs
For all of his years in the spotlight at the helm of Apple, Steve Jobs in many ways remains an inscrutable figure — even in his death. Fiercely private, Jobs concealed most specifics about his personal life, from his curious family life to the details of his battle with pancreatic cancer — a disease that ultimately claimed him on Wednesday, at the age of 56.
2. College dropout
The lead mind behind the most successful company on the planet never graduated from college, in fact, he didn't even get close. After graduating from high school in Cupertino, California — a town now synonymous with 1 Infinite Loop, Apple's headquarters — Jobs enrolled in Reed College in 1972. Jobs stayed at Reed (a liberal arts university in Portland, Oregon) for only one semester, dropping out quickly due to the financial burden the private school's steep tuition placed on his parents.
3. Fibbed to his Apple co-founder about a job at Atari
Jobs is well known for his innovations in personal computing, mobile tech, and software, but he also helped create one of the best known video games of all-time. In 1975, Jobs was tapped by Atarito work on the Pong-like game Breakout.
6. Celebrity romances
In The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, an unauthorized biography, a friend from Reed reveals that Jobs had a brief fling with folk singer Joan Baez. Baez confirmed the the two were close "briefly," though her romantic connection with Bob Dylan is much better known (Dylan was the Apple icon's favorite musician). The biography also notes that Jobs went out with actress Diane Keaton briefly.
While the CEO and co-founder of Apple steered most interviews away from the public fascination with his private life, there's plenty we know about Jobs the person, beyond the Mac and the iPhone. If anything, the obscure details of his interior life paint a subtler, more nuanced portrait of how one of the finest technology minds of our time grew into the dynamo that we remember him as today.
1. Early life and childhood
Jobs was born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955. He was adopted shortly after his birth and reared near Mountain View, California by a couple named Clara and Paul Jobs. His adoptive father — a term that Jobs openly objected to — was a machinist for a laser company and his mother worked as an accountant.
Jobs was born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955. He was adopted shortly after his birth and reared near Mountain View, California by a couple named Clara and Paul Jobs. His adoptive father — a term that Jobs openly objected to — was a machinist for a laser company and his mother worked as an accountant.
Later in life, Jobs discovered the identities of his estranged parents. His birth mother, Joanne Simpson, was a graduate student at the time and later a speech pathologist; his biological father, Abdulfattah John Jandali, was a Syrian Muslim who left the country at age 18 and reportedly now serves as the vice president of a Reno, Nevada casino. While Jobs reconnected with Simpson in later years, he and his biological father remained estranged.
Reed College
The lead mind behind the most successful company on the planet never graduated from college, in fact, he didn't even get close. After graduating from high school in Cupertino, California — a town now synonymous with 1 Infinite Loop, Apple's headquarters — Jobs enrolled in Reed College in 1972. Jobs stayed at Reed (a liberal arts university in Portland, Oregon) for only one semester, dropping out quickly due to the financial burden the private school's steep tuition placed on his parents.
In his famous 2005 commencement speech to Stanford University, Jobs said of his time at Reed: "It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5 cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple."
Breakout for the Atari
Jobs is well known for his innovations in personal computing, mobile tech, and software, but he also helped create one of the best known video games of all-time. In 1975, Jobs was tapped by Atarito work on the Pong-like game Breakout.
He was reportedly offered $750 for his development work, with the possibility of an extra $100 for each chip eliminated from the game's final design. Jobs recruited Steve Wozniak (later one of Apple's other founders) to help him with the challenge. Wozniak managed to whittle the prototype's design down so much that Atari paid out a $5,000 bonus — but Jobs kept the bonus for himself, and paid his unsuspecting friend only $375, according to Wozniak's own autobiography.
4. The wife he leaves behind
Like the rest of his family life, Jobs kept his marriage out of the public eye. Thinking back on his legacy conjures images of him commanding the stage in his trademark black turtleneck and jeans, and those solo moments are his most iconic. But at home in Palo Alto, Jobs was raising a family with his wife, Laurene, an entrepreneur who attended the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton business school and later received her MBA at Stanford, where she first met her future husband.
Like the rest of his family life, Jobs kept his marriage out of the public eye. Thinking back on his legacy conjures images of him commanding the stage in his trademark black turtleneck and jeans, and those solo moments are his most iconic. But at home in Palo Alto, Jobs was raising a family with his wife, Laurene, an entrepreneur who attended the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton business school and later received her MBA at Stanford, where she first met her future husband.
For all of his single-minded dedication to the company he built from the ground up, Jobs actuallyskipped a meeting to take Laurene on their first date: "I was in the parking lot with the key in the car, and I thought to myself, 'If this is my last night on earth, would I rather spend it at a business meeting or with this woman?' I ran across the parking lot, asked her if she'd have dinner with me. She said yes, we walked into town and we've been together ever since."
In 1991, Jobs and Powell were married in the Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite National Park, and the marriage was officiated by Kobin Chino, a Zen Buddhist monk.
5. His sister is a famous author
Later in his life, Jobs crossed paths with his biological sister while seeking the identity of his birth parents. His sister, Mona Simpson (born Mona Jandali), is the well-known author of Anywhere But Here — a story about a mother and daughter that was later adapted into a film starring Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon.
Later in his life, Jobs crossed paths with his biological sister while seeking the identity of his birth parents. His sister, Mona Simpson (born Mona Jandali), is the well-known author of Anywhere But Here — a story about a mother and daughter that was later adapted into a film starring Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon.
After reuniting, Jobs and Simpson developed a close relationship. Of his sister, he told a New York Times interviewer: "We're family. She's one of my best friends in the world. I call her and talk to her every couple of days.'' Anywhere But Here is dedicated to "my brother Steve."
Joan Baez
In The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, an unauthorized biography, a friend from Reed reveals that Jobs had a brief fling with folk singer Joan Baez. Baez confirmed the the two were close "briefly," though her romantic connection with Bob Dylan is much better known (Dylan was the Apple icon's favorite musician). The biography also notes that Jobs went out with actress Diane Keaton briefly.
7. His first daughter
When he was 23, Jobs and his high school girlfriend Chris Ann Brennan conceived a daughter, Lisa Brennan Jobs. She was born in 1978, just as Apple began picking up steam in the tech world. He and Brennan never married, and Jobs reportedly denied paternity for some time, going as far as stating that he was sterile in court documents. He went on to father three more children with Laurene Powell. After later mending their relationship, Jobs paid for his first daughter's education at Harvard. She graduated in 2000 and now works as a magazine writer.
When he was 23, Jobs and his high school girlfriend Chris Ann Brennan conceived a daughter, Lisa Brennan Jobs. She was born in 1978, just as Apple began picking up steam in the tech world. He and Brennan never married, and Jobs reportedly denied paternity for some time, going as far as stating that he was sterile in court documents. He went on to father three more children with Laurene Powell. After later mending their relationship, Jobs paid for his first daughter's education at Harvard. She graduated in 2000 and now works as a magazine writer.
8. Alternative lifestyle
In a few interviews, Jobs hinted at his early experience with the psychedelic drug LSD. Of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Jobs said: "I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger."
In a few interviews, Jobs hinted at his early experience with the psychedelic drug LSD. Of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Jobs said: "I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger."
The connection has enough weight that Albert Hofmann, the Swiss scientist who first synthesized (and took) LSD, appealed to Jobs for funding for research about the drug's therapeutic use.
In a book interview, Jobs called his experience with the drug "one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." As Jobs himself has suggested, LSD may have contributed to the "think different" approach that still puts Apple's designs a head above the competition.
Jobs will forever be a visionary, and his personal life also reflects the forward-thinking, alternative approach that vaulted Apple to success. During a trip to India, Jobs visited a well-known ashram and returned to the U.S. as a Zen Buddhist.
Jobs was also a pescetarian who didn't consume most animal products, and didn't eat meat other than fish. A strong believer in Eastern medicine, he sought to treat his own cancer through alternative approaches and specialized diets before reluctantly seeking his first surgery for a cancerous tumor in 2004.
9. His fortune
As the CEO of the world's most valuable brand, Jobs pulled in a comically low annual salary of just $1. While the gesture isn't unheard of in the corporate world — Google's Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt all pocketed the same 100 penny salary annually — Jobs has kept his salary at $1 since 1997, the year he became Apple's lead executive. Of his salary, Jobs joked in 2007: "I get 50 cents a year for showing up, and the other 50 cents is based on my performance."
As the CEO of the world's most valuable brand, Jobs pulled in a comically low annual salary of just $1. While the gesture isn't unheard of in the corporate world — Google's Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt all pocketed the same 100 penny salary annually — Jobs has kept his salary at $1 since 1997, the year he became Apple's lead executive. Of his salary, Jobs joked in 2007: "I get 50 cents a year for showing up, and the other 50 cents is based on my performance."
In early 2011, Jobs owned 5.5 million shares of Apple. After his death, Apple shares were valued at $377.64 — a roughly 43-fold growth in valuation over the last 10 years that shows no signs of slowing down.
He may only have taken in a single dollar per year, but Jobs leaves behind a vast fortune. The largest chunk of that wealth is the roughly $7 billion from the sale of Pixar to Disney in 2006. In 2011, with an estimated net worth of $8.3 billion, he was the 110th richest person in the world, according toForbes. If Jobs hadn't sold his shares upon leaving Apple in 1985 (before returning to the company in 1996), he would be the world's fifth richest individual.
While there's no word yet on plans for his estate, Jobs leaves behind three children from his marriage to Laurene Jobs (Reed, Erin, and Eve), as well as his first daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs.
[Image credit: Ben Stanfield, Heinrich Klaffs]
This article originally appeared on Tecca
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