Apple News, Analysis and Podcasts

This photo of Tim Cook with Speaker Boehner was released a day or so ago and there has been much discussion around it. Many are talking about the Chinese dog on the table, the "mystery" man in the chair next to Tim Cook or even about what the discussion was between these powerhouses.

AppleCare has been a mainstay and profit center since Steve Job's returned to Apple. AppleCare is essentially an insurance policy for your Apple device should it fail prematurely. AppleCare grew in popularity and its "payback" became even better when Apple Stores launched and there was a real person you could talk to about your particular problem and get a real answer (not just "Well, send it in and we'll see what we can do for you.").

The question though is whether AppleCare is a good deal. Sure you're buying more peace of mind by turning a 1-year hardware warranty and 90-day telephone support into an overall three year support contract. The question reamins does paying an extra 10 - 75% of the original purchase price make sense? Is that a good deal?

It is a given that on next Wednesday, March 7th, Apple will reveal the iPad 3. What's not a given is what will happen next. My colleague has written a nice article about how the iPad 2 will probably show up in the $399 price range, yet the mystery beyond March 7th lingers. Apple is good at that. Fortunately, T-GAAP has some hints as to what Apple's roadmap is likely to follow.

When Steve Jobs re-joined Apple in 1997, he drew a grid on a white board that looked something like this

Steve Jobs was an amazing visionary... or was he? If you think about it, the senior managers at Infinity Loop may just have been great fans of Star Trek. For example, we all thought the touch interface used on the iPhone and iPad was revolutionary. But you don't have to look far to see this was really just a copy-cat of something envisioned in the 80's...

In the 60 Minutes interview with Walter Isaacson, the author who wrote the biography titled Steve Jobs, Isaacson is asked about Jobs' view of the afterlife. Jobs thought more about God or and the afterlife the closer he got to death's door. It was 50/50 in Steve's mind, but as he faced his mortality, the afterlife seemed to be a better reality than everything just ending with death of the body.

Isaacson said Jobs thought of the possibility of no afterlife like an on/off switch. We were on one moment and then off the next. This made Jobs uncomfortable, and is exactly why Jobs didn't allow any Apple products to have on/off switches. Look at your Mac, you iPod, your iPad or your iPhone and you know what? There isn't an on/off switch. There is a way to turn Apple products on and off, but isn't a simple switch — and now we know why.

Life after Steve Jobs is a sad thought for most of us who use products thought up, developed and deployed under his leadership. Whether it's the original Macintosh, the first iMac or the iPhone Apple under the leadership of Jobs was an amazing run of products and services which we all benefited.

However, here's the problem. Jobs was the only one on Apple's senior team who didn't finish college. As has been well reported, he was a college drop out after six months. He then was a "bum" who sponged off of the good graces of others for 18 more. When you look at the other executive bios they all have the formal training you'd expect for senior management at a Fortune 500. So now a bunch of "egg heads" are running Apple just like at IBM, just like at HP,...

There isn't much more that can be said about Steve Jobs, until his authorized autobiography is released  later this month. If you haven't had time to search and find some articles on Steve, here is a short-list to what we found to be the most profound columns about Mr. Jobs.

In the wake of Steve Jobs announcing his resignation as CEO of Apple. Inc. this past Wednesday, Apple stock took a $19 plunge in after hours trading, costing AAPL nearly 5.6% of its value. The news of Jobs resignation could hardly be considered unexpected, but would this be a sign that investors viewed Apple as a one-man show or was the after-hours trading a mere knee-jerk reaction?

How many times have I heard the statement "If only AAPL were such and such a price, I would have invested... But it's too high now, so I can't." Spare me the details, it's an old and tried diatribe I've been hearing for the past 10+ years. If you are an individual stock investor, invest in the tech industry and have never purchased a lick of Apple, what's been holding you back from investing in Apple, Inc.?

On January 21, 2000, Apple stock took a 2:1 split, trading at $26 per share. Steve Jobs had rebuilt the company's financials, slashed business units and simplified the product line, delivering a focused Think Different campaign. If you were too young at the time or didn't yet understand that Steve Jobs had a successful vision for company, I can grant one mulligan. But for you investors, beyond that point there is simply no excuse.

Apple will hold their 3Q11 conference call at 2:00pm PT/5:00pm ET on Tuesday, July 19, 2011. 

Whether or not you have interest in Apple's financial results or have never listened to a quarterly financial conference call, we highly recommend you give this Apple financial call a listen. Tim Cook and Peter Oppenheimer will chair the call, and many things can be learned from listening to their tight-lipped commentary via the questions they choose to answer. Sometimes what they don't say is almost as revealing in what they do.

A long time ago I had the opportunity to accompany a friend to an Alcohol Anonymous meeting. It was a very sobering experience (pun intended). The building was old and the room looked like a beat up classroom. Light from outside peeked through the curtain drawn windows and smoke filled the air (this was way before any indoor smoking laws had hit the books).

I learned a lot that day. I learned that if not careful, anyone can slip into addictive, self-destructive behaviors. I learned the power of a support group and accountability. I also learned most of the people in the room were seemingly addicted to something else in place of alcohol. The smoke filled room was one clue. Another was "Bill" who needed to go from one support group to the next in order to stay sober. You may be asking, what does this all this have to do with Apple?

With Apple's announcement of OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud, Ballmer and the Redmond collective must be picking themselves off the floor trying to figure out what just happened.

Alas, not all is lost for Microsoft — if they follow my simple advise. Well, thinking about that again, the chance Microsoft might listen to reason instead of the Windows/Office juggernaut is slim to none —and slim left town!

A group calling itself Apple Retail Workers Union picked up some nice press yesterday when they sent out their own form of a press release to some major media outlets. The goal? Simple. Unionize Apple retail stores. The chances of this happening? None to, well, none.

There are any number of reasons why Apple retail stores won't ever form a union, such as Apple's overall pay being much higher than the average mall store (you won't find any Genius salaries in The GAP), and benefits are good. But there are two key reasons any union effort for Apple retail employees will fail. First, Apple retail employees are a happy, satisfied bunch, because the atmosphere Apple has created for them is top of the class. Secondly, Steve Jobs has no love for unions (so it appears). In 2007 Jobs told a school-reform conference in Texas "I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way..." Jobs also added "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy." As a result of Jobs public stance it would appear Unions have no love for Jobs either.

I had built my presentation in keynote, hooked up the projector just to make sure all was working with my newly acquired MacBook Air. I hit play in Keynote and then grabbed my Apple remote to begin forwarding slides... but nothing was happening.

“What’s going on here?” I thought. Maybe I had a remote with a dead battery so I grabbed another and tried again. Still nothing. To my horror, I quickly learned the newer MacBook Air's no longer have an infrared sensor. The sensor had been replaced with a second USB port. Zoiks! I had a presentation in 2 hours. What was I to do? No way I was going to look like a PeeCee idiot and walk up to my laptop and click the arrow keys every time I needed something to happen.

Apple's Steve Jobs seems to be the wunderkind reborn after his return to Apple in 1997. His first stint with Apple led to the design and launch of the original Macintosh and the original Mac OS. During his second time behind the wheel he brought us the iMac, Mac OS X, and the i-Series of products and iOS operating system.

There's not much that Apple has done under Jobs' leadership that hasn't been a success. One of guiding principle Jobs has used is during his second term is, "Keep Your Friends Close; Keep Your Enemies Closer". There are three examples of this from the recent decade: Intel, Google and Facebook.

I'm a big fan of the original Star Wars films, so without delay, Steve Jobs in Carbonite.

It appears Han Solo has given up his Carbonite casing for Steve Jobs. If you are a Star Wars fan you might find this a great collectible, but not exactly sure how well your iPhone 4 will lay flat on any type of hard surface... Ah, but functionality isn't the real point here is it? Better get this case while you can, as I envision a cease and desist letter coming from Apple very quickly. This case simply makes for a great gift or item to put display on that cubical shelf. You can find it here from the artistic minds at Society6.

Apple hit the airwaves during the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament to air their first advertisement for the iPad 2. There are no more fast interchanges between scenes, or conceptual shots of the iPad. This time around, Apple brings an intimate view of the iPad. The ad delivers tight shots showing off Garageband, and many others content creating-like apps.

The ad begins with the statement "Technology is not enough." The voiceover is performed by Peter Coyote who also performed the voiceover for the original iPad's debut ad. The theme is dead center of Apple's overarching mission: to remove technology and let the user become immersed in experience.

October 2010 came roaring in like a Lion — well, for Mac OS X fans that is. Once again Steve Jobs took center stage for a Keynote presentation that focused on the Mac. He and his executive team announced and demoed a few upcoming features in Lion, Mac OS X 10.7.

Alongside of the software hoopla Steve also introduced an update to the MacBook Air. Faster, better memory, better storage, better display, better battery life and more affordable. However, there was one line during his keynote that still rattles in my brain — like a tune you hear in the grocery store and then can't get out of your head. Steve said this is "...the new MacBook Air… we think it is the future of notebooks."

Circa 1996, Boyz II Men, Happy Gilmore and Doc Martin's were the pop culture of the day. Nordstrom, The Gap and Eddie Bauer were mall favorites and techies were in short supply when it came to the Macy's crowd. But the character and purpose of "Let's go to the mall" was on the precipice of massive change.

Fast forward to May, 2001. Gateway's retail venture had peaked and Sony's radical Matreon in the heart of San Francisco was proving to be a colossal failure. Tech and trend-cool retail just could not co-exist. There was one more small-ish event took place on May 15, 2001. Steve Jobs rounded up some media folk, and introduced them to the first-ever Apple retail store in Tysons Corner mall in Virginia. The mall as we knew it was forever changed.

Steve Jobs took center stage this week at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, unveiling Apple's new iPad 2. Some bloggers, such as Paul Thurrot, mention Jobs physical appearance, while others left Steve Jobs health off the table. Clearly, Wall Street dinged Apple's stock price on the news that Jobs would be taking another leave of absence. However, his appearance, along side the iPad 2 launch, gave investors confidence to once again to pour big dollars back into the company.  

But where is the line in commenting on and covering Steve Jobs health? Is it any business of yours? Is it any business of mine? The answers are diverse and it could be situational.

Yesterday the world read about Steve Jobs "stepping back" from the day-to-day operations at Apple to tend to his health.  Tim Cook, who took over for Steve when Steve took a leave of absence to fight pancreatic cancer, is back at the helm.

However, this time we have not been told what specific ailment has caused Steve to step back to focus on his health. Is it a return of the cancer? Is it a virus or bacterial infection (since his immune system may be weak)? We don't know. What we do know is that Jobs will keep his CEO status and remain involved with Apple at the strategic level but not the day-to-day. Yesterday in Germany the knee-jerk reaction to this news dropped AAPL 8%. Today in the U.S. the reaction is similar, but also somewhat muted.

Apple's launch of the Mac OS X App Store appears to be an instant success. Apple was on center stage Thursday with their iWork apps ready for download, but one application made available today from Apple caught everyone off guard —Aperture.

The arrival of Aperture on the App Store isn't a just a shot across Adobe's bow, that doesn't do Apple's move justice. What Apple did to Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom software is equivalent to hundreds of cannon rounds being fired upon a ship at point blank range. T-GAAP asked Adobe PR if any Adobe apps were heading to Apple's App Store, but we did not receive a response. But it gets worse for Adobe.

Apple's upcoming Mac App Store will open for business the first week of January 2010. This new Mac OS X feature was announced by Steve Jobs on October 20th and was said to be released within 90 days. Apple is keeping its promise.

"The Mac OS X App Store will be a huge boon for smaller developers," says Steve Barham — CEO of Urban Anomaly. "The Mac OS X App Store makes it so we can now port our applications to the Mac and not have to worry about costly, physical distribution. We can continue to focus on making great apps," added Barham.

One thing not found at One Infinite Loop is mediocrity. Since Steve Jobs returned to Apple their success has been built upon designing and executing excellence. Excellence is found in the iOS — an OS designed just for touch systems. Excellence is found in the Mac Book Air with its super thin sleek design, long-lasting battery life and solid state drive. No matter what Apple product you consider, that product has excellence built-in.

Another way to state this is that Apple does not manufacture commodities. A commodity is an item that can't be distinguished from a competitor's product except for by price, delivery or something that has little to do with the product itself. For example, the Windows PC quickly became a commodity. Speeds and price were the only real differentiators, but in essence, one Windows PC was just like the next one. This commoditization significantly reduced the value of the PC Manufacturer while it raised the value of the Operating System. Apple was able to avoid being seen as "just another PC" by making its products different — better and special — through hardware innovation, design and software integration.

In business there is nothing like having enough cash to do what you want to help your business grow. Whether that is hiring key talent, purchasing new equipment or buying out a competitor, having money in hand is important. Matter of fact the number one reason businesses don't make it past year #1 is cash flow. Having enough “walking around money” to take advantage of key opportunities that may only happen once is a critical factor to a business' success.

Fortunately, Steve Jobs and Company know this all too well. Almost every financial quarterly conference call contains a question about, "What is Apple going to do with their billions in cash?"

When September rolled around and we revealed Apple would likely hold a Special Event in October, revealing the all-new MacBook Air, we felt a wee bit apprehensive in doing so. At Three-Guys-And-A-Podcast we can't say we feel any less squeamish about looking forward to Apple's next Mac hardware special event either, but here we go again...

Since Apple has quit attending the MacWorld trade show, MacBook Pro launches roughly follow a fall or spring release schedule. This year proved to be different due to the MacBook air being the major Mac focus for the fall/winter timeframe. January will likely be reserved for Apple's annual iPad refresh. This leaves April as Apple's launching point for the all-new MacBook Pro design. We don't believe this will be a simple refresh of the MacBook Pro, rather, Apple will deliver an all-out redesign, the big brother of the MacBook air.

For almost a year now there have been sightings of Macs running OS X 10.7 in web stats. And soon as Snow Leopard hit the streets, the speculation game began on the next cat-based name for OS X 10.7.

But as usual Apple was quiet.

Now that Apple's exclusive contract with AT&T is rumored to be over, many are questioning why Apple hasn't re-engaged the other big-boy on the block — Verizon?

Verizon was Apple's first choice in carriers, but apparently Verizon told Apple to pound sand (no way Verizon would subsidize Apple's phone more than their other partner's phones). History then tells us what happens when you don't play nice with Steve Jobs:  first he rubs you off his Christmas Card list and second vows to make your company a footnote for the technology history books.

Yesterday, during Steve Jobs presentation at Apple's special event, a rather un-noticed salvo was launched. It wasn't Apple TV's new hardware and software, promising greater things to come, nor was it Ping which set the table for social networking. These products were nothing more than mere flybys. 

Steve Jobs shot straight across the cell carrier's bow, and the weapon used was FaceTime on iPod touch. Perhaps Steve was too subtle, and thus most missed it, but I don't think so. "...and a lot of people call it an iPhone without the phone." said Jobs. Steve also pointed out "It's also an iPhone without a contract." Herein lies the heart of Apple's game.