Hasta La Gadget!

An interesting tidbit came our way just now. If we’re to believe Apple’s government liaison Michael Foulkes, then the next two iPhones have already been designed. He says that these designs preceded Tim Cook, meaning that they were designed under the legend himself, Steve Jobs. Steve passed away back in 2011, around the time the iPhone 4S was announced. The revelation comes from San Francisco DA George Gascón, who has been meeting with device manufacturers and carriers in a bid to figure out a plan for curtailing phone thefts.

Gascón isn’t exactly a fan of Apple’s government liaison, the report says. He termed the meeting as underwhelming, adding that Michael would just talk on and on, as if he had been trained in the art of talking and saying nothing. He also talked about a “kill switch” concept that Michael mentioned. The switch in future iPhones could help curtail theft, though the next two iPhones have already been designed. Michael says they were designed before Tim Cook, which basically means that Steve Jobs knew about three generations of iPhone that were going to be introduced after the iPhone 4S.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Stonestown Galleria Store Is Going To Triple In Size, Apple May Lose $13B In Sales Due To China’s Propaganda,

Apple’s annual shareholders meeting was held today, and present were many shareholders who were concerned about Apple’s decline in stock prices since September. Apple’s stock price is down 35% since its $702.10 peak in September. Its stock price is currently sitting at $443.77. This drop in stock price took out a total of $240 billion in shareholder wealth, and shareholders want to know what Apple plans on doing to change things around.

Despite the drop in stock price, Tim Cook still had an amazing 99.1% approval rate in his re-election as CEO. Cook had many discussions with shareholders about the direction Apple is going, and he says that there are many great products that Apple is planning that will help boost the company’s stock price. Cook, however, did not elaborate on what type of products these would be. The shareholders asked that Apple increase its dividends to $2.65 per share, which would turn out to be a total of $10 billion in annual dividend payments.

That’s much lower than David Einhorn, who runs the Greenlight Capital hedge fund, had planned. Einhorn, who was absent from the meeting, wanted Apple to release preferred shares called iPrefs that would offer an annual dividend of 4%. Einhorn even sued Apple in order to block a proposal from the company that would require it to receive the approval of its shareholders before issuing preferred stock.

Cook commented on Einhorn’s suggestions and lawsuit, saying, “I strongly believe it was a silly slideshow, regardless of how the judge ruled on it.” Apple had begun 2013 with $137 billion, which is much more than the $98 billion it had at the start of 2012. There was a huge influx of sales on iPhones and iPads that contributed to this number. Cook also says that he has no worries about Android having a higher market share than Apple, because in the end, all Apple wants to do is create the best products. A shareholder suggested that Apple create a computerized bicycle (iCycle?) to help boost its stock prices, erupting laughter in everyone, including Tim Cook.

[via ABC]

Tim Cook talks financials at Apple’s shareholders meeting is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week in speaking with the crowd at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Tim Cook let it be known that Apple has reached a new high mark in cash paid out to developers. While Apple announced back in early January that they’d paid around $7 billion dollars to developers in all, Tim Cook announced today that Apple has paid out more than $8 billion. That’s one massive up-swing in a very short amount of time!

It was also made clear by Cook that it’s not just with developer payouts that Apple is succeeding. China was spoken about as well, with Cook saying “when I look at what Apple has done in China, I think it is hard for anyone to evaluate, and say it’s not impressive. Apple has gone from a few hundred million in revenue in one year to $3 billion in the next, to $13 billion the next – we’re adding over $10 billion every year!” Cook was more than willing to let the audience know that he was pumped up about Apple’s current path.

Speaking also about what Apple would and would not do to earn cash, specifically with “affordable” products, Cook let it be known that the company’s “North Star” is “a great product.” Cook continued speaking about how they’d actually tried to make cheaper products, but found that instead of creating a Mac for under $500, it made more sense to make the iPad. Thus that product ecosystem was born.

Cook also had a question asked of him about limits in each of their most important “categories” of products. The Apple CEO spoke simply: “There’s that word limit. We don’t have it in Apple’s vocabulary.” Cook continued, “When I zoom out and look at the smartphone market in particular, what I see is a market that is projected to double in the next few years.” A mighty powerful claim for the company that’s been so very undeniably present in the smart device market since its inception.

Read more about these and additional subjects spoken about by Cook this week at the conference via the timeline below – and let us know what you think!

Apple developer payout jumps to $8 billion is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

As Tim Cook spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference this week, a question of “cannibalization” came up, prompting the Apple CEO to speak about the first time he’d ever been asked such a question. Believe it or not, it wasn’t when the iPad mini was introduced – it wasn’t even when the iPhone or the iPod nano was introduced. In fact it was back when the iBook was revealed back in 1999.

The question asked of Tim Cook was about market share – about what the trade-off is for working to keep a product like the iPad the hero of the market. Cook made it clear – Apple is here to win. Cook noted that “the truth is the first time I got asked about cannibalization was when Apple came out with the iBook. Portables went on to be three quarters or more percentage of the Mac and Mac did an all-time record last year.” Cook made clear that information like the analysis reported last month that the iPad was 1 out of every 6 PCs sold in the fourth quarter of 2012 is particularly striking.

Cook continued, speaking about the iPad: “If you look at when we came out with iPad, what did people worry about: they worried, oh my god you’re going to kill the Mac. The cannibalization question raises its head a lot. The truth is, we really don’t think about it that much. Our basic belief is, if we don’t cannibalize, someone else will.” Continuing to speak on the market working with PCs and computing power in general, Cook spoke: “In the case of iPad particularly, I would argue that the Windows PC market is huge and there’s a lot more there to cannibalize then there is of Mac, or of iPad.”

Note also that the iPad mini has been projected to both cannibalize AND drive iPad sales through 2013 – doesn’t seem possible, does it?

Then came the big hit – a gouge at future companies looking to swallow up the industry by following alone: “I think if a company ever begins to use cannibalization as a primary or even a major factor of what products to go to, it’s the beginning of the end.” Have a peek at the timeline below for more information on what Tim Cook spoke about at the conference and be sure to hit up our massive Apple portal for more iPhone, iPad, and Mac than you can handle!

Apple CEO: “if we don’t cannibalize, someone else will” is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week we’re hearing quite a bit about a stockholder issue with Apple surrounding a lawsuit headed by David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital – and today Tim Cook has fired back. In a talk at this year’s Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Tim Cook spoke about how Apple’s biggest shareholder Greenlight Capital is suing the company, saying Apple should be dishing out more money to investors than they already do, saying that Preferred Stocks would be a good idea for the company. Cook spoke up today saying that the issue is being “considered” by Apple, but that in the end, it’s all a bit of a waste of time.

Cook spoke up today responding to a question about the Greenlight Capital situation saying, “I don’t think this is well understood. The disagreement centers around a question on Apple’s policy. We filed this back in February, it’s called Prop 2. It’s not about whether Apple returns cash to shareholders, it’s not about the mechanism Apple uses to return cash to shareholders … what this proposal is about is the rights of shareholders.”

With the Greenlight letter which you can see here, you’ll find that the hedge fund recommends that Prop 2 be turned down. This proposal would “impede Apple’s ability to unlock shareholder value” according to its authors. Cook has responded today saying, “I find it bizarre that we would find ourselves being sued for something that’s good for the shareholders. It’s a silly fight show, honestly. My preference would be that people on both sides take the money they’re spending on this and donate it to a worthy cause.”

Needless to say, Cook is voting yes, but isn’t encouraging either side of the argument to be pushing harder than they need to with campaign dollars. Cook continued, “You’re not going to see a ‘Yes on 2″ sign in my front yard. I support it, I’m personally going to for it. I encourage others to vote for it. … But it’s not something we’re going to spin cycles on.”

[via Apple]

Cook assures Apple wont “spin cycles” on proxy fight is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.