Why Apple's board is standing by Jobs
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Some companies have ousted their CEOs for merely being around during stock option scandals. Those companies weren't led by Steve Jobs.
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(InfoWorld) - Gartner, IDC, and 451 Group research analysts, this week warned IT administrators to keep iPhones away from their businesses. "We're telling IT executives to not support it because Apple has no intentions of supporting [iPhone use in] the enterprise," Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney said. "This is basically a cellular iPod with some other capabilities, and it's important that it be recognized as such." As if that will stop people from buying them anyway when they hit the market in the U.S. next week. The reality is that no matter how hard IT administrators try, the iPhone will be snapped up by their employees -- and not just the average Joes either. The device is a status symbol that will likely be snapped up by business leaders as the digital technorati. Try telling your CEO the iPhone doesn't play well with your IT systems. Dulaney and other researchers notwithstanding, this device can be good for the enterprise because of the business needs of smartphone users. It is an iPhone, after all, with an emphasis on phone. It offers e-mail -- currently the most popular means of business communications. There's an address/phone Book for quick access to contacts. It offers SMS, a quick way to contact other mobile phone users, and voicemail -- both useful to road warriors. There's a real Web browser -- by far the most underpowered and underappreciated part of a mobile phone. And it contains a slew of enterprise-worthy apps, including a calendar, access to maps, spreadsheets, and a document reader. All of these things are important -- and all can be done to a greater or lesser extent on most business-focused PDA phones. But in the business world, the mobile Web browser is the key to the future of business apps, and it is becoming a platform unto itself. One thing that Apple CEO Steve Jobs made abundantly clear at last week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is that the iPhone would include a full browser. The Symbian and Linux platforms' best browser is Opera Mini -- which isn't that bad -- but it by no means constitutes a full browser. Windows Mobile's browser isn't bad either, but it also falls well short of Internet Explorer 7. Additionally, the iPhone browser has a lot of zooming and panning tricks that make it more usable on the relatively small screen. In that crucial area, advantage: iPhone. Why is the browser crucial? Because most new business applications are being built around it. AJAX and other browser technology innovations over the past few years have turned the browser into a veritable platform. Sure, a lot of legacy applications still require browserless, platform-specific client applications. But those days are numbered. It's not just the isolated applications that are moving to a browser. All of the stalwart office applications are also moving to the Web. With Google Office (which now works with Safari -- the iPhone browser), Soho Office, and even Web-centric versions of Microsoft Office applications, the browser is truly the new business platform. The iPhone is not without its business-use flaws. It doesn't natively sync up with Lotus Notes or Exchange - and Microsoft, at least, will most likely do everything in its power to try to keep it that way to protect its Windows Mobile business. It can, however, hook up to IMAP email, LDAP address books, and WebDav for calendaring; with a bit of tweaking, that will work well for Exchange-based companies. Microsoft SharePoint can also be browsed from the Web interface, but to what extent? Time -- and the work of apps developers -- will tell. A newly anointed relationship with Cisco on all things iPhone should also let the device into the VPN and might even let an iPhone play well with Cisco VoIP solutions. And of course, don't forget the arduous task of getting your conservative IT department to accept the idea of letting loose an Apple phone -- or even MacBook Pro -- into the office. Previews of the phone haven't yet touted an instant messaging client like Apple's iChat or AOL Instant Messenger. It is likely, however, that Apple will include something with instant-messaging functionality in the near future -- there are still four slots left in the iPhone's application window. It's also true that the first-generation iPhone isn't the raw specs winner by any stretch. That honor goes to the Symbian/Windows Mobile 6 Phones coming from Toshiba (the G900), Nokia (the N95), Samsung (the F700) and HTC (the Shift). AT&T's EDGE wireless network is slow by today's standards, and while Wifi connectivity will help, there are questions about why Apple has forsaken the HSDPA/UTMS component and when an update might occur. Given that battery life is a factor -- Apple this week released updated specs that go beyond what it touted in January -- EDGE makes sense because it's more energy efficient. Also, the 8GB max on storage is seems low. At a time when you can buy an 8GB SD card for less than $80, Apple likely looked to keep costs down with an eye on upping that storage when it's economically smart. Most users would likely be happy with a micro/mini/SD card slot now standard on most smartphones. There is, of course, the price. The iPhone's hefty $499 and $599 price tags, depending on which model you buy, is a definite disadvantage in business. With relatively comparable gear (from a corporate standpoint), such as the Motorola Q, which is almost free with a service plan, buying an iPhone requires serious justification. We're talking about spending the equivalent of a budget laptop. Of course, something that you spend half your day using should justify the premium that this delicious piece of hardware demands. And then there are at least two intangibles: Usability. Apple's legendary reputation for making painful tasks easy will totally transform the mobile phone industry. And remember, companies love productivity from their workers. Until now, the big players have been Microsoft Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, and Linux. They all had successes. But it's the last 10 percent of usability that Apple always manages to squeeze out its products will be the differentiator. Apple did the same in the computer industry until Microsoft caught up. Apple has learned from this and patented every minute detail of the iPhone, making it harder for copycats to appear anytime soon. The few seconds here there that the iPhone saves users will quickly add up. It's the little things that make for big savings across an entire enterprise. Business bling, baby. Everyone knows that this is the phone to have. Just look at the buzz ahead of the June 29 launch. Apple has spent the last few years building up its brand across all channels and is reaping the rewards like no other company in the industry. As much as the enterprise IT guys will want to recite better specs for rival Windows Mobile devices, nobody wants to hear that. I can imagine any number of CEOs saying, "I don't care! Just make the iPhone work on our systems!" And if it works for the CEO, you can bet the sales folk will want in on the action, too. Think they'll want to show up to a meeting with an important client and whip out last year's "hot" phone? They might as well wear parachute pants as well.
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(InfoWorld) - Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to give a deposition in the stock option backdating lawsuit against former Apple General Counsel, Nancy Heinen. Citing two sources familiar with the case,Â Bloomberg reportsÂ that the subpoena is not part of an SEC investigation. Jobs' testimony is required as part of aÂ lawsuit brought against Heinen by the SECÂ in April 2007. Heinen is the only former Apple executive charged in the backdating scandal.Â Apple's internal investigation cleared all current executivesÂ of any wrongdoing and the SEC reached a deal with former CFO Fred Anderson in the case. Apple representatives were not immediately available to comment. The SEC says that Heinen granted 4.8 million options to six Apple executives, including herself, Anderson and CEO Steve Jobs, in February 2001. To avoid reporting an US$18.9 million compensation charge, Heinen backdated the options to January 17 when the company share price was much lower, the SEC said. She then told her staff to prepare false documents showing the board of directors had acted on that day. Later, in December 2001, the company granted 7.5 million options to Jobs. Again, Heinen avoided a $20.3 million charge by drafting minutes for a fake board meeting she said happened on Oct. 19, the SEC said. That meeting had never occurred. Heinen has maintained her innocence in the case and a statement by her lawyers said, "Nancy Heinen's integrity is unimpeachable."Apple's backdating problems started in June 2006, when the company announced thatÂ an internal probeÂ had found some irregularities in some option grants issued between 1997 and 2001. Four months later, Apple said a special committee hadÂ found irregularities in 15 of the grantsÂ made between 1999 and 2002. The internal investigation also found that Jobs was aware that favorable grant dates had been selected but didn't receive or benefit from those grants and was "unaware" of the accounting implications. In late December,Â Apple disclosed more backdating-related news,Â again clearing current executives and taking an $84 million charge on its restated earnings. Macworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Forgotten Tech Some say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and when you consider the history of the PDA, that statement holds many truths.â¦
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And it's looking for staff too... Established consoles makers might be quaking in their virtual boots, 'cause Apple has filed documents with the US Patent and Trademark Office that suggest it may be devloping a video games console.â¦
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âNot too long ago, ad agencies, design firms and other creative companies were about the only businesses that widely deployed Macintosh computers to their employees,â writes Seth Weintraub for Computerworld. âBut for a number of reasons, word of the benefits of Apple Inc. hardware  â  and software  â  on enterprise desktops is now spreading.â
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Steven P. Jobs is rebooting Appleâs digital movie effort and putting the company squarely in the middle of an intensifying industry battle.
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Company was pretty sure Apple wouldn't usurp its Windows-on-Mac approach, but staff is relieved when Steve Jobs reiterated that.
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Steve Jobs has a tough act to follow at the Macworld Conference & Expo on Tuesday: himself.
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That's the question that occurs to me as I read this piece in Roughly Drafted. It's about how Apple is kicking Microsoft's butt at the high end of the desktop market, and how Microsoft seems to be bumbling its way out of desktop hegemony anyway. Linux is mentioned only twice in this long piece, but the harbingery of the references are significant. Here's the enclosing quote: Combined with the dominance of the iPod over devices using Microsoft's PlaysForSure, the imminent goring of Windows Mobile by the iPhone, and the shift of support across the industry from Windows to Linux in servers, the days of Microsoft's monopolistic grip on the desktop are winding down.  Apple doesn't have to take a majority share of the desktop market to win, it only needs to take the most valuable segments of the market.  Once that happens, Microsoft will be forced to choose whether it wants to battle Mac OS X for control of the slick consumer desktop, or repurpose Windows as a cheaper, mass market alternative to Linux in corporate sales.  And, at some point, consumer sales as well.
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The company is doing a little better in some ways -- but better enough to save the board?
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Mac fans, brace for impact: The annual speculation about what Steve Jobs has up his sleeve is already at full throttle. At the top of the rumor mill's leaderboard? A very small subnotebook.
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Apple Inc.'s computer business may seem like it's taken a back seat lately to its flashy younger siblings, the iPod and iPhone, but Macs are still a key part of the family. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to use his speech at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday to highlight the upcoming release of Mac OS X, showing that Apple remains a computer company even after dropping "Computer" from its name in January.
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Meanwhile, down in The Apple . . . An organization is exposed.
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Apple should be pushing its Mac OS X software aggressively into corporations running Windows, says a Microsoft solution provider in Massachusetts, but others claim that Apple might be missing
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The company appears to have plenty of the magical gadgets on hand -- but some of its stores sell out every day. Is Apple managing a shortage by deliberately throttling back shipments?
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The company offers a range of predictions. Lots of folks are keying on the guess that Apple will double their U.S. share, but I'm intrigued by other predictions, including forecasts that we'll be traveling without laptops and renting our business software