Apple Archive
Apple Now Debt-free with $4.8B in Bank
An internal Apple memo has been posted that states that Apple has just paid off its remaining $300 million in debt and is now debt-free. This concludes an amazing journey that has taken the company from a debt of $1 billion in Apple's darkest days to the current cash reserves of $4.8 billion.
A Proposition for Apple: Port Cocoa to Java
Apple Computer is possibly in a better shape than it has been in for a long while. With the second coming of Steve Jobs and the renewed focus on innovation, Apple scrambled back from the brink to a relatively healthy company. The question is how will Apple ensure its position, if not strengthen it going forward?
Scientists: The Latest Mac Converts
"For our landing site work, we always get the highest-end desktop Mac we can find, so we just got one of the G5s with dual 2 GHz processors and 8 GB of RAM," Matt Golombek, a planetary geologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the E-Commerce Times.
Where Does Apple Go from Here?
Macintosh market share continues to decline, but the iPod and iTunes are hit products. Where does Apple Computer’s future lie? An interview with HBS professor David Yoffie.
Enterprise Sales Exec Leaves Apple, ThinkSecret Reveals
Exclusive Sebastian Gunningham, the high-profile executive wooed to lead Apple's enterprise sales division, has left the company, Think Secret has learned. Gunningham's hiring was considered a sign that Apple was serious about taking on corporate markets, and his departure raises questions about Apple's success in future enterprise sales.
Short Commentary: Will Apple Go .NET?
According to statistics, Java continues to have the crown of the most used VM-based platform in the industry. However, Microsoft's C# and .NET gain ground every day. While C# might or might not overcome Java in the following years, the fact remains that more and more programmers want the choice of C# among their developer tools. So, where does this situation leave Apple?
Apple’s Mouth says ‘No’ to Enterprise, Yet Other Signs Point to ‘Yes’
If you take Apple at its word, the company has no long-term strategy of aiming its products beyond its traditional markets. That message was repeated every which way I posed the question to Jon Rubinstein, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, when we sat down at the 2004 Macworld. In the context of an Xserve road map, I asked Rubinstein whether Apple built products with a target audience in mind. The answer was no. “It was our customers who asked us to build these products,” Rubinstein said. It seems video editors in particular wanted more performance, he added.
A Better Measure of Apple’s Success?
Steve Jobs says analysts should stop worrying about market share and focus on profits. And moving the company beyond Macs could boost both. Yet Apple's market share has slipped inexorably. It dropped from 9.4% in 1993 to just 3% in 1997, the year Jobs was rehired to run the company. According to Gartner's preliminary market-share data, Apple held just 1.8% of the worldwide PC market in the fourth quarter of 2003. And some think Apple's share will fall further, if it can't keep pace with surging overall PC demand. In the meantime, the Street yawned when Jobs & Co. recently reported strong results, citing slack sales of the new G5 and ignoring plenty of good news.
Happy 20th Birthday, Macintosh
Twenty years ago, on January 24, 1984, Apple launched the Macintosh. The machine—which introduced the first mass-market graphical user interface, mouse and 3.5-inch floppy drive—revolutionized the computer industry and changed millions of lives. Find over at MacMinute a collection of articles and special reports on the 20th anniversary of the Mac.
Apple’s New Core: iPod
As the Mac marks its 20th year, the iPod may define the company's new era of an open strategy.
Apple VP: Music is Apple’s No. 1 Priority
"For us, all of a sudden, music is the No. 1 priority of the company," Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of applications marketing, told Reuters. "We're trying to be a part of the music evolution overall" he said. Our Take: I wonder where that leaves Apple's Mac OS X. While Apple always was and remains a hardware company, MacOS was always at the core of the whole deal. Is the Mac OS X and Macs of the future going to serve merely as the platform to do the "music stuff that sell" instead of being the main focus of the product line? This reminds me a whole lot of Be, Inc.'s focus shift to Internet Appliances and the grandual demise of BeOS.
MacWorld San Francisco 2004 Report
January's MacWorld Expo brought about several exciting hardware and software products from Apple worth getting excited about. Editorial contributor Mike Banks Valentine had the fortunate pleasure to be among those that attended the show and provided osViews with a detailed report about what was announced as well as a handful of other Apple-centric news events that occured around the same time.
Retro Reading: How the Macintosh computer grew
(Note: First published in the Mercury News in January, 1984): "When Apple Computer Inc. rolls out its Macintosh computer on Jan. 24, the company's self-proclaimed ``pirates'' will have delivered their treasure. Since 1981, when Macintosh took form in an internal memo, Apple founder Steve Jobs, now 28, has led a maverick clan of programmers and designers on a mission to prove that the success of the Apple II was not a fluke."
The 20 Macs That Mattered Most
This month is the 20th anniversary of Apple Computer's Macintosh. To mark the occasion, Wired News is running several stories this week about the groundbreaking machine, the people who created it and the Mac's impact on computing and culture in general.
A Microsoft-Friendlier Macworld
While light on Gates-baiting at this year's confab, Steve Jobs still gets his digs in: "Microsoft is copying us again, and it's fun!"
MacWorld: Apple Announces New Products
iBook Issues? You’re Not Alone
My First Mac Experience; More Painful Than it Should Have Been?
I have been using Windows in its various guises for the past 10 years. I am comfortable with Windows. It has served me well. I am a happy Windows user. However, unlike a majority of Windows users, for the past 5 years I have harboured a secret passion - an unfulfilled desire. Since 1998 I have wanted to own an Apple computer.
Steve Jobs, Apple, and the Limits of Innovation
The battle over digital music is just another verse in Apple's sad song: This astonishingly imaginative company keeps getting muscled out of markets it creates. So what does Apple have to tell us about innovation?