Corporate

Apple reports earnings Wednesday: Here’s what analysts expect

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Apple reports its quarterly earnings on Wednesday for the January to March quarter - a typically slow time for technology companies following the Christmas quarter crunch.

On its last earnings call in January, Apple told investors to expect revenue between $42 billion and $44 billion, gross margin between 37 percent and 38 percent, operating expenses between $4.3 billion and $4.4 billion, other income/(expense) of $200 million, and a tax rate of 26.2 percent. Really, no better than the company did last year.

Analysts have been checking with industry sources, looking at retail logs, and number crunching to predict what Apple will announce on Wednesday. Whether the company misses or beats the expectations could have a big impact on the stock price, which is up roughly 36 percent year-over-year. Last quarter, the stock tanked in after hours following a bad guidance for the numbers that are set to be report on Wednesday. Here's what analysts are expecting:

New iSpaceship video touts ‘the most energy-efficient building of its kind’

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 21, 2014

In addition to a press tour of its upcoming data center and solar array installation in the Nevada desert, a nicely done 'Better' video narrated by Tim Cook and fresh updates on its Environmental Responsibility microsite, Apple in advance of Earth Day 2014 also posted an overview video of its monstrous Campus 2 project, affectionally dubbed by the press the iSpaceship.

The footage was actually first shown at a city planning commission meeting in October of last year, but Apple has now decided to make it available to the general public in high-definition to tout its "office of the future"...

Apple to webcast March quarter earnings

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Apple is scheduled to release its second fiscal quarter earnings Wednesday, April 23. Like it always does, the iPhone maker is going to provide a free live audio stream of the conference call with analysts and investors through its website.

The firm has issued a media release confirming that the conference call will be available as a QuickTime webcast on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices running iOS 4.2 or above, Macs running OS X 10.5 or above and Windows PCs running QuickTime 7 or later.

The live webcast will begin at 2pm PDT on Wednesday, April 23, 2014...

Apple confirms iPhone UI creator’s departure, shoots down ill-founded power struggle claim

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Yesterday, blogger Mark Gurman reported that Apple's Vice President of Human Interface, Greg Christie, will be leaving the company. Christie's name is on a hundred Apple patents, among them the famous slide-to-unlock invention asserted in its second California patent trial against Samsung.

The herald of Apple’s iOS design aesthetic, his departure was framed as a significant loss for the company based on Gurman's assertion that Christie was forced out due to his falling out with Jony Ive, Apple's SVP of Design, over iOS design direction.

However, turns out that Gurman's sources were wrong: Apple on Thursday denied the claim of an internal power struggle. Christie's departure after 18 years of service was planned and is part of a leadership transition inside the Human Interface group, Apple said in a statement to several media outlets...

iPhone UI creator Greg Christie departing after falling out with Jony Ive over iOS design direction

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 9, 2014

Ever since Tim Cook took the reigns at Apple, the firm's been in a perpetual shakeup mode. The most famous change at the top occurred on October 29, 2012, the day a press release was put out saying "Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple" the following year.

The unexpected change saw Apple's lead hardware designer Jony Ive assume a greater role as he got to "provide leadership and direction" for Apple's Human Interface (HI) group across the company, on top of his longtime role as the leader of Industrial Design.

With Ive in charge of all design at the company, Apple has ushered in a new era of visual simplicity with the release of iOS 7 last September, representing the biggest rethinking of the iPhone's user interface since the handset's inception.

However, a new report asserts that collaboration between Ive and Apple's Vice President of Human Interface, Greg Christie, has been a rocky one

In fact, Christie is rumored to be leaving Apple soon as a result of his falling out with Ive over the iOS's design direction...

Apple poaches VP of Amazon A9′s Search Technology group

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Apple has made another high-profile hire, having poached Benoit Dupin, Vice President of Amazon A9′s Search Technology group, according to the executive's professional business profile on LinkedIn.

Benoit, who brings over fifteen years of international technology industry experience within a wide range of disciplines, has left Amazon to help Apple improve search features in its own mapping service, sources speculated on Tuesday.

He isn't the first Amazon executive to have left for 1 Infinite Loop. Back in October 2012, Apple hired away another prominent Amazon search technologist, William Stasior, who is now working with the Siri team...

Apple’s PRODUCT (RED) contributions top $70 million

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2014

Product Red - styled as (PRODUCT)RED - is a marketing brand licensed to other companies, established in 2006 by U2 frontman and activist, Bono, together with Bobby Shriver of the ONE/DATA, with the goal of raising awareness and funds to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The initiative earns money on each participating Product Red sale and proceeds go straight to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Apple's been one of Product Red backers since its inception, thanks mostly to late Steve Jobs who was on good terms with Bono. Product Red today announced that Apple's contributions to the charity have reached a cool $70 million...

Chomp co-founder leaving Apple after two years

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple bought the popular app discovery engine, Chomp, in 2012 for the reported $50 million. Soon thereafter, Cook & Co. shut down Chomp's web service and native apps, including Chomp for Android.

And now, about two years into the acquisition, Chomp's co-founder and CTO Cathy Edwards will be reportedly leaving the company on April 11, a new report has it.

Apple has bought Chomp for both its talent and the startup's advanced analytics and recommendation engine and is thought to have used Chomp technology's to improve app discovery with a few refinements, including the latest feature that enables related search suggestions in the App Store...

Apple looking to add acquisition analysts to its M&A team

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2014

Apple is looking to boost its Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) team by hiring acquisition integration analysts, giving us a vague indication that a more diligent strategy to snapping up other companies could be in the cards for the Cupertino firm.

The new job position was posted earlier today on Apple’s job listings website and reported on by Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac. A listing for Acquisition Integration Analyst reveals that Apple is looking for an M&A expert to assist in its acquisitions, by working with the company's HR, Legal, IS&T, Real Estate, Operations, Finance and Tax departments...

Spotify snaps up music intelligence provider The Echo Nest

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

The popular Swedish music-streaming startup, Spotify, has just purchased The Echo Nest, a music intelligence company in the business of synthesizing billions of data points and transforming them "into musical understanding to power smarter music applications for our customers".

And just who those customers might be? Well, the startup powers a myriad of music services, among them Spotify rivals like Rdio, iHeartRadio, Nokia MixRadio, Twitter Music and others so this is clearly a well played move on Spotify's part.

While The Echo Nest will meet all contractual obligations to all customers, Spotify's Graham James made it clear his company will scrutinize these relationships and "determine the next business steps"...

Apple announces finance chief Peter Oppenheimer to retire at the end of September

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 4, 2014

Apple has just announced via a media release that its longtime finance chief Peter Oppenheimer will be retiring at the end of September, ending a roughly 18-year career at the technology giant. The company called it a planned transition so he could take time for himself and his family.

In naming his successor, Apple said Luca Maestri, 50, will gradually take over as CFO in June to allow for a smooth transition. As per the release, during Oppenheimer's CFO time, Apple's revenue "grew from $8 to $171 billion".

It's interesting that Maestri left Nokia in February 2011, the same month the struggling Finnish cellphone giant announced they were adopting Microsoft's Windows Phone. He joined Apple in March of last year..

WSJ: Apple hiring engineers from HTC and other Asian firms to speed up product launches

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 5, 2018

Unlike the specs-obsessed technology industry which has always been dependent on frequent product refreshes, Apple continues to traditionally update its iPhone annually. Now, some industry peers - such as Sony - warned that the company may be "missing out" by not updating the iPhone twice per year.

Playing on this sentiment, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is now adding "hundreds of new engineers" and supply-chain managers in China and Taiwan. The company is hiring away these people from various tech firms, including rival HTC, reportedly in order to speed up product development and launch a wider range of devices...