Steve Jobs Apple CEO Resigns

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, co-founder and two-time CEO of Apple, offered his resignation to the company’s board Wednesday. 

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

Jobs has been in poor health for some time. In January, he announced that he would be taking a medical leave of absence from the company. He returned to the public spotlight in March to help launch the iPad 2. 

Jobs advised the board to “execute our succession plan” — by naming Tim Cook to replace him. Cook, formerly the COO of the company, has been standing in for Jobs since January and was widely tipped to be his successor. Cook also stood in for Jobs during his bout with pancreatic cancer in 2004. “The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” said board member Art Levinson, chairman of biotech firm Genentech, in a prepared statement. 

Jobs will not be leaving the company altogether, and the move was clearly well-planned in advance. He has been elected chairman of the board, Apple said Wednesday, and Cook will be joining the board, effective immediately. 

“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it,” Jobs wrote in his resignation letter to the Apple board. “I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.”

Apple stock was down 7% in after-hours trading but rallied and was down just 5% by 7:50 p.m. ET — suggesting Apple’s succession plan had calmed the markets.

Here’s a look at some of the most iconic moments from Steve Jobs’ career at Apple:

Steve Jobs demos Apple Macintosh, 1984
Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh to the world. Computing would never be the same. 

1984 Apple's Macintosh Commercial
Ridley Scott's famous '1984' commercial for the original Macintosh continues to find imitators, even today. In 2011, Motorola attempted to spoof the classic ad in a promotional spot for its Xoom tablet. 

Steve Jobs and Microsoft at Macworld Boston 1997
When Bill Gates appeared on-screen at Macworld Boston in 1997, the audience reacted with boos and hisses. Still, the decision to partner with Microsoft and have Microsoft commit to producing software for the Macintosh was one of the most shrewd -- and likely one of the most intelligent -- decisions that Jobs made upon his return to Apple.

Although many incorrectly believe that Microsoft 'bought' Apple in 1997, the reality is, without Microsoft's investment and commitment to developing Macintosh software, the company may have had a more difficult time getting its next line of products to the market. 

The First iMac Introduction
The iMac helped set the standard for the modern Apple even as we know it today. Designed by Jonathan Ive, the iMac was sleek, modern and affordable. This was not the Macintosh of the early to mid 1990s, it was something new.

With the iMac, Apple became cool. We can vividly remember looking at the egg-shaped all-in-one design with the hockey puck mouse and famous lack of a floppy drive and being transfixed. The iMac marked the beginning of Apple 2.0.

The First iPod Keynote (2001)
Nearly ten years ago, Apple debuted the iPod. Famously ridiculed and dismissed by Slashdot, it would be several years before the device would become iconic, and in the process, change Apple fundamentally as a company.

The premise behind the iPod was simple: 1,000 songs in your pocket. Its the execution that set the device apart from everyone else.

In 2003, Apple flipped the switch again, with the launch of the iTunes Music Store. In a post-Napster industry, most were skeptical that iTunes could drive music sales. Eight years later, iTunes is the number one music retailer by a large margin.

Ten years on, the iPod is getting long in the tooth, but it still remains the leader in its product category. 

Steve Jobs presents the iTunes Phone
After the iPod started to achieve massive success in 2003 and 2004, the rumors of an iPod phone started to swirl.

The first attempt to bring a product like that to the market was in the form of Motorola's Rokr. The Rokr tried to capitalize on the success of the Razr, while also adding compatibility with iTunes.Still, the device was a dud. You can see Steve Jobs' own frustration with the device in this demonstration. The Rokr was an example that only Apple could build an Apple product. 

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005
Steve Jobs' commencement speech at Stanford University in 2006 is one of our favorite Jobs moments. It's riveting, inspirational and every bit as good as any Apple product keynote. 

Introducing the new iPhone PART 1
All hail the Jesus Phone. The iPhone changed the mobile industry. Full stop. The mobile world and ecosystem that we know today would not exist in the same way that it does now without the iPhone.

The iPhone also changed Apple as a company and helped further cement Jobs' place in history. 

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Together: Part 1
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are two of the most powerful and influential men of our times. Seeing them together at D5, just ahead of the iPhone's US launch, was amazing. 

Apple iPad: Steve Jobs Keynote Jan 27 2010 Part 1
In January 2010, Apple changed the game again with the iPad. Like the iPod and iPhone, the critics dismissed it and predicted its failure. Its success has outpaced nearly every other technology product launch in history and is having a seismic impact on education, publishing, media consumption and computing in general.

The PC era might not be over, but I'm willing to bet that the computer I use every day in ten years will have a lot more in common with the iPad than it does the MacBook Pro.

Read More

Hollywood filmmaker Stanley Kubrick designed the first ever iPad : Samsung

Stanley Kubrick

Hollywood filmmaker Stanley Kubrick designed the first ever iPad, and not Apple Inc, says rival company Samsung in a bizarre patent suit that cites the director's '2001: A Space Odyssey' as evidence, according to a media report.

Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career. Kubrick was noted for the scrupulous care with which he chose his subjects, his slow method of working, the variety of genres he worked in, his technical perfectionism, his reluctance to talk about his films, and his reclusiveness regarding his personal life. He maintained almost complete artistic control, making movies according to his own whims and time constraints, but with the rare advantage of big-studio financial support for all his endeavors.

Kubrick's films are characterized by a formal visual style and meticulous attention to detail. His later films often have elements of surrealism and expressionism that eschew structured linear narrative. His films are repeatedly described as slow and methodical, and are often perceived as a reflection of his obsessive and perfectionist nature. A recurring theme in his films is man's inhumanity to man. While often viewed as expressing an ironic pessimism, some critics feel his films contain a cautious optimism when viewed more carefully

The two companies are 'suing each other all over the world' for patent infringement, after Apple accused Samsung of 'blatant copying' of its products, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Apple won a temporary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Europe. In Australia, it forced Samsung to agree not to sell the device until it can satisfy Apple that it does not infringe on its iPad patents.

A patent case against the Galaxy Tab is also running in the US and Samsung has filed its reasons as to why Apple should not be granted an injunction.

One of Samsung's exhibits was a still image and a YouTube clip taken from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film '2001: A Space Odyssey'. The clip shows two astronauts eating while at the same time using what appear to be personal tablet computers, the report said.

Samsung says this was an example of 'prior art' for the general design of the iPad.

It also cited a scene from the 1970s British TV series 'The Tomorrow People', which appears to depict a tablet computer.

Consultant and blogger Florian Mueller, who first uncovered the Kubrick reference, said it would be 'amazing' if the court agreed with Samsung.

Mark Summerfield, a senior associate with a Melbourne intellectual property law firm, believes Samsung 'may have a case'.

'Generally science fiction is not legitimate prior art to a utility patent, because it does not inform the public how to make the fictional apparatus,' said Summerfield.

But there was no reason why science fiction could not be 'invalidating prior art' to a registered design, he said.

'For example, if I were to copy the Star Trek communicator as a novelty mobile phone, I would have no right to claim a monopoly in that design. I did not devise it myself,' he said. 'I think that Samsung probably has a viable defence here.'

Read More

Think & Innovate like Apple's CEO Steve Jobs

Do you want to think and innovate like Steve Jobs? Well Apple University is the place that you need to be with. This place is the ultimate galore to take lessons of leadership and long term vision that will benefit your organization.

Way back in 2008, Apple University was launched with the sole motive to teach Apple employees on how to think like Steve Jobs and make decisions he would make. The ultimate goal is to teach the executive team the thought process to be the future leaders.

Steve Jobs

"Steve Jobs is the person who oversees the whole process surrounding Apple University. Joel Podonly, who was a former Yale professor, is the manager of Apple University. Tim Cook, COO and Apple CEO, and Ron Johnson, senior Vice President is the teachers of Apple University."

According to Forbes, Job is ensuring that his teachings are being collected, curated and preserved so that future generation of Apple's leaders can consult and interpret them.

According to Business Insider, the company prepares case studies of major decisions that Apple executives have made throughout their history, such as why they decided to build Apple retail stores, or focus on having one factory in China manufacture the iPhone, and then they discuss them in class.

These are precious lessons that will shape up the future course of leadership in Apple. And every organization desperately wants to get the format in which apple cultural phenomenon had worked. It has cultivated the tradition of working in a more creative, forward-thinking environment. Their strategy is remarkably common sense more down-to-earth than artsy.

Apple ignores what's going on in the tech industry instead the company develops products by paying strict attention to its audience, high-end consumers. And one of the reasons of their high voltage anticipation of its products is their vaunted secrecy that keeps industry buzzing all the time about its next move. They develop their marketing strategies and executions by listening to their audiences instead of aping the competitor up the street. Moreover, the best things get done by top-down leadership.

Apple also turns down many more ideas than it approves for production. The company believes in the principle of perfection. Apart from its creative arena, it also outsells all other organization as far as the marketing strategies is concerned. Apple is totally a user experience, especially when it comes to serving their customers.

Apple University is not the only educational initiative of Apple. There is also Apple University Consortium, iTunes U and also a special store developed specially for students and educational institutions. Apple University Consortium fosters Apple technologies in universities. It works for about 37 member universities and associate members, including Australian National University, University of Melbourne and University of Queensland. It offers low cost technologies grants and scholarships.

Apple University has been called as solution to Apple after Steve Jobs. And the future of Apple surely lies on Apple University.

Read More

Nokia N9 challenges iPhone 4

Bangalore: The launch of Nokia's latest innovation N9 has been sending thunder waves among its primary competitors 'Apple' and 'Google's Android.' It is all set to capture its lost throne of being the largest handset maker which currently is dominated by Apple, but introduction of this meego based button-less touch screen smartphone can very well do that. Nokia N9 is claimed to give iPhone a run for their money as far its features are concerned.

The history of Nokia sales has been very interesting. There was a point when Nokia accounted for at least 8 out of every 10 phones sold in Asia. This year Apple surpassed Nokia as the world's largest phone vendor by revenue. This milestone was achieved by Apple by its incredible revenue of $11.9 billion in the last quarter from iPhones. While Nokia's revenue slipped down to $9.4 billion.

Faced with stiff competition and falling smart phone market share, Nokia hoped to revive its fortunes with Microsoft partnership. The Finnish entity would be using Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 as the main software for its smart phones. The initiation of Nokia N9 ahead of a Windows Phone came as a surprise to everyone. However the features of this new introduction will pose some serious concern for the rising sales of Apple iPhone.

Let us first go through their specific and unique features of both the smartphones and then go through a comparison to find out the best in them.

Nokia N9

Nokia N9 displays AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors with a resolution of 480x854 pixels and measures 116.5x61.212.1mm, weighs 135g. Moreover the screen is scratch resistant and employs Gorilla Glass technology. It has multi touch input method, accelerometer, and proximity sensor for auto on/off and is anti glare to be easily used in broad daylight. It is powered by Meego OS v1.2 Harmattan, has 1 GHz Cortex A8 processor, and packs a solid 1 GB of RAM.

It is available with 16/64 GB of internal storage. The smartphone is Wi-Fi802.11b/g/n, GPS with A-GPS, EDGE, GPRS, and Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR. The phone has a full HTML and WAP 2.0/xHTML browser that provides seamless browsing. N9 has games preloaded with Angry Birds, Galaxy on Fire and Rea, Golf.

The camera of this devise gives promising pictures due to its dual camera which comes with a rear 8 MP camera that is auto focus and has LED flash and geo tagging. It can capture HD videos in 720p. It also has a secondary camera to make video calls. N9 is packed with standard Li-ion battery (1450mAh) that provides a talk time of up to 7 hours in 3G.

The two new things that one can find in Nokia N9 is that users can switch between applications with a thumb avoiding any need to return to the main menu or press button. And secondly it has incorporated a sculptured 4 inch glass screen and a polycarbonate plastic body.

iPhone4

iPhone4 on the other hand has capacitive touchscreen and a resolutions of 640x960 pixels and measures 115.2x58.6x9.3mm, weighs just 137g which making it one of the slimmest and lightest smartphones in the market. It is remarkably scratch resistant with an oleo phobic surface and has features like accelerometer, gyro sensor, multi touch input method and a proximity sensor. It has the ubiquitous 3.5 mm audio jack at the top.

It comes with a rear 5 Mp camera that shoots pictures in 2592x1944 pixels, is auto focus with LED flash, is capable of geo tagging and can record HD videos in 720p and also has a secondary camera to make video calls.

iPhone 4 is powered by iOS 4.3, has a powerful Cortex A9 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM and is available in two models with 16 GB and 32 GB internal storage as it does not support micro SD cards.

The phone has connectivity like Wi-Fi802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetoothv2.1 with A2DP, EDGE and GPRS (class 10), and GPS with A-GPS and comes with HTML (Safari) browser that provides seamless browsing. It provides a long talk time of up to 7 hours in 3G as it is packed with standard Li-ion battery (1420mAh).

On comparison, both the devices look stunning as far as the features are concerned. However, there are certain key differences between them which is going to decide their sales in the market. The present trend is to flaunt a bigger display and in this area Nokia steals the show with its display of 3.9 inch than iPhone 4 which has a 3.5 inch. But if you are looking for better resolution than iPhone will be your ideal choice as it has a resolution of 640x960 pixels than N9 480x854 pixels. Moreover iPhone 4 is thinner (9.3mm) than N9 (12.1mm).

Nokia N9 runs Meego which do not seem too applauding for the consumers, compared to iPhone 4 which runs on iOS. It would have been more triggering if N9 would have been powered by Windows.

But N9 has a striking feature that the RAM which is of 1 GB but iPhone4 comes with a RAM of 512 MB. And when it comes to camera N9 has a better camera with 8 MP than iPhone4 5 MP. The camera of N9 shoots with higher resolution (3264X2448 pixels) than iPhone 4 (2592X1944 pixels).

The most unique feature of all is that N9 has a UI that provides 3 home screens that are lacking in iPhone 4.

Hence now it up to the consumers which one to opt for. The choice is yours so get the best out of your investment.

Read More