Corporate

Apple establishes Philippine Typhoon Relief donations via iTunes

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 12, 2013

Thousands of lives were lost after Typhoon Haiyan made landfall and ripped through the Philippines last Friday. As you could imagine, companies and organizations around the world are banding together and contributing to the relief efforts with donations. This includes Apple, which on Tuesday activated Red Cross donations through iTunes to help with relief efforts.

Apple normally takes its customary 30 percent cut on iTunes proceeds, but the company surrendered the commission for the relief effort. You can donate $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 or $200 and Apple will transfer 100 percent of your donation to the American Red Cross in the region, to help distribute food and relief supplies to survivors and help with search and rescue efforts...

Feast your eyes on new iSpaceship renderings

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

Apple has overcome the last hurdle as the City of Cupertino in October approved the spectacular ring-shaped glass structure called Campus 2, also known as the iSpacehip project. Now, it's already over budget and behind schedule so don’t look forward to working in outer space before late-2015 or early-2016, when Campus 2 is slated for completion.

Wired has obtained a batch of new renderings which depict some interesting Campus 2 tidbits, including detailed shots of the interior design, including the cafeteria, the gym area, the upper level of the 1,000-person underground auditorium and even the parking garage. Jump past the fold for the full gallery...

The harsh realities of getting a job in Apple’s supply chain

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 7, 2013

Current CEO Tim Cook under Steve Jobs used to run Apple's vast network of suppliers and contract manufacturers and has largely been credited with turning the company into a well-oiled money-printing machine. But making sure trains run on time involves the incredible complexities associated with hiring tens of thousands of workers - and fast, too - who tediously assemble iPhones and iPads in factories located in China and Taiwan.

Apple and its manufacturing partners have been taking a lot of heat over worker treatment in these sweatshops so the iPhone maker eventually started tracking the work hours of 1+ million supply chain workers and took other proactive measures to ensure fair hiring.

But now, another issue is making headlines: the inhumane treatment of would-be employees by employment brokers who take high advance fees from workers and their families, contrary to Apple's rules. Read on...

Sprint’s Q3 losses shrink to $398M, courtesy of iPhone

Ed Sutherland ∙ October 30, 2013

Sprint, America's third-largest wireless carrier, announced Wednesday that 1.4 million of the five million smartphones it sold during the third quarter were iPhones, of which 40 percent were to new customers.

The iPhone sales are just under the 1.5 million Apple smartphones Sprint activated during the same period in 2012.

The iPhone numbers have helped the carrier reduce the gap from a $398 million operating loss, rebounding from a $767 million loss during the same quarter in 2012. By comparison, Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest carrier, announced selling about 3.9 million iPhones during the third quarter...

Apple’s upcoming iSpaceship auditorium looks like a hovering flying saucer

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

Now that the City of Cupertino Council has approved Apple’s upcoming flying saucer-shaped, 2.8 million square feet corporate building called Campus 2 (or iSpaceship, informally), the company's slated to break ground real soon. The 4-story, eco-friendly building is already $2 billion over budget and should open by 2016.

The project includes a massive 1,000-person auditorium designed for hosting Apple's theatrical product unveilings. We've seen incredibly detailed mockups and the wonderful scale model by the world-renowned architect Sir Norman Foster and now come renderings of Apple's auditorium which looks like a flat saucer hovering over the ground...

Icahn pushes Apple to buy back stock ASAP

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 1, 2017

If you run a multi-billion dollar corporation and your secretary tells you activist investor Carl Icahn is on line 2, the very thought of that should send chills up your spine. Icahn is known for his ominous "increase shareholder value" mantra and stops at nothing to put forward massive corporate stock buyback programs, even pushing for board and CEO changes if need be.

Yesterday, Icahn tweeted he "just sent a letter to Tim Cook" concerning Apple's buyback program. And now, the contents of the letter has been published on his newly launched website called the Shareholders' Square Table.

Should Tim Cook be worried? Read on...

Watch iSpaceship approval press conference vid

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 17, 2013

Apple's upcoming spaceship-shaped corporate building, called Campus 2 or iSpaceship, has cleared the last hurdle as the City of Cupertino Council approved the project. Encompasses more than 2.8 million square feet, Steve conceived iSpaceship to house office space, various amenities and roughly 12,000 employees (to put that in perspective, the city of Cupertino has a population of just over 60,000).

Cupertino Mayor Orrin Mahoney and Apple's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer spoke at a press conference yesterday, officially announcing the approval of the Apple Campus 2. They also filed a bunch of sometimes nonsensical questions, have a look after the jump...

Verizon activates 3.9M iPhones, representing 51% of its Q3 smartphone activations

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

The leading wireless telco in the United States, Verizon Wireless, this morning released its third quarter results revealing 3.9 million iPhone activations (which is different than the actual unit sales).

It's the same as its previous quarter and 26 percent up from 3.1 million iPhone activations in Q3 of 2012.

Apple's share of total smartphone activations at the Big Red carrier, however, has jumped from 43 percent in the second quarter of 2013 to as much as 51 percent of the 7.6 million total smartphone activations in the third quarter.

Due to iPhone supply constraints, there will be some carryover in sales to the fourth quarter, Verizon cautioned. Year-over-year smartphone activations at the carrier were up by 26 percent and revenue improved 4.4 percent to $30.28 billion, CFO Fran Shammo said in an earnings call with investors. More tidbits after the break...

Ireland to alter tax laws in wake of Apple uproar

Ed Sutherland ∙ October 16, 2013

Ireland's Finance Minister announced plans to close a loop-hole in the country's corporate tax laws, eliminating the ability for companies such as Apple to operate as virtually 'stateless' firms ungoverned by any nation's taxing authority. The change in the Irish laws means the iPhone maker cannot avoid declaring tax residency in either the U.S. or Ireland.

Earlier this year, Apple's ability to funnel payments through a unit in Ireland to avoid paying taxes brought U.S. scrutiny by the Senate and testimony by Apple CEO Tim Cook...

Tim Cook issues email to troops commenting on Apple’s new SVP of Retail

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 15, 2013

In a surprising late-night press release, Apple said it's finally found its new retail chief. In case you missed it, soon-to-be-former CEO of clothing retailer Burberry will be joining the iPhone maker as its new SVP of Retail, responsible for both Apple's online and offline stores and retail operations across the world.

Today, CEO Tim Cook issued a memo to Apple employees explaining why Angela - after John Browett's much maligned and short stint as Ron Johnson's replacement - is "the best person in the world for this role"...

Apple sends out invites for October 22 iPad event: ‘we still have a lot to cover’

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

The Wall Street Journal-owned technology blog, AllThingsD, reported last week that Apple's next media event will take place on October 22, that's next Tuesday. Sure enough, the company just sent out invites for the October 22 event to select members of the press. The invitation-only press conference will be held at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco and will begin at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT, John Paczkowski of AllThingsD first reported and The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple subsequently confirmed.

The invite graphics features a close up of the Apple logo set against the white background and a bunch of colorful apple leaves. "We still have a lot to cover," reads the tagline...

BlackBerry pens open letter explaining why the world shouldn’t write it off (yet)

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2017

You can tell the end is nigh when a company buys full-page print ads to post an open letter making the case for its future. In the case of Canada's BlackBerry, formerly Research In Motion, the writing has been on the wall ever since Steve Jobs took the stage at the January 2007 MacWorld Expo to introduce the world to the iPhone.

Given its former co-CEO's state of denial and just plain stubbornness, I'd written off BlackBerry in my book long before first signs of trouble became public knowledge. Of course, BlackBerry continues to defy critics by insisting that it'll find a way out of the hole it'd dug for itself.

Starting tomorrow, the BlackBerry feel-good aimed at customers, developers and investors will appear in over 30 major print newspapers across nine countries, including The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal in the United States.

Here's the crux...