Keeping you in the loop on some of the things that happened around
Talking to the tax man. Apple CEO Tim Cook went to Washington, D.C. this week to address a bi-partisan Senate subcommittee that criticized the company for using tax loopholes and keeping the majority of its cash overseas to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes. Sen. Carl Levin and Sen. John McCain had harsh words for Apple in their opening statements and in the report assembled by the committee’s staff detailing why Cook and co. are tax dodgers. But when Apple's CEO took his seat at the table before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the criticisms were tempered with lots of praise for the company and its products – something comedian Jon Stewart was quick to point oun in his riff on the hearings. For the record, Cook said Apple has paid “every single dollar” of the U.S. taxes its owes, but that it also does take advantage of the current tax system, which he says needs to be “dramatically simplified.” And for the record, Apple is doing what many other U.S. multinationals are doing -- including Microsoft, Oracle and HP -- when it comes to minimizing their U.S. taxes.
New Macs assembled in Texas. As part of his testimony, Cook also said that Apple – “an American company” – will spend $100 million to build a Mac product line in the U.S. this year. “The product will be assembled in Texas, include components made in Illinois and Florida, and rely on equipment produced in Kentucky and Michigan,” Cook said. There’s no word yet on which Mac model it plans on assembling here (Apple's products are currently assembled for the most part in China), but speculation is that it’s the Mac Pro desktop, which is long overdue for an update. Cook promised last year that Apple would update its most powerful desktop computer this year.
Eschewing skeuomorphic designs. Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, to be held June 10-14 in San Francisco, as usual, at Moscone Center West, as usual, will start with a keynote on opening day, as usual, to be hosted by Tim Cook once again. While we might not see new iterations of the iPhone or an updated iPad mini with a Retina display, Cook might introduce the aforementioned Mac Pro as well as the long-rumored iRadio music subscription service. That’s all speculation. But one thing Apple fans do expect is the update to the mobile operating system used in the iPhone and iPad – iOS. Development of Version 7 is being overseen by design chief Jony Ive. Apple rumor site 9 to 5 Mac, said the software’s new interface is “black, white, and flat all over. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements,” according to sources. “In software design meetings with Apple’s iOS designers, accompanied by Apple’s Human
A surprising new twist in the e-book saga. The federal judge presiding over the Department of Justice’s case against Apple over e-book scheming said this week that the government has a strong case. "I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books, and that the circumstantial evidence in this case, including the terms of the agreements, will confirm that," U.S. District Judge Denise Cote said in a pretrial hearing on May 23 in New York. The DOJ last year accused Apple and five publishers of conspiring to raise prices on e-books in a bid to undermine Amazon.com’s lead in the market. All five publishers have settled. The case goes to trial June 3.
Microsoft mocks Siri. In its latest commercial for the Windows-based Surface tablet, Microsoft takes a rather large potshot at the iPad and Apple’s Siri voice recognition technology and mocks Apple’s own iPad mini ad “chopsticks” commercial. Check it out.
iPhones instead of jeans. San Francisco officials announced that Apple is planning to build a new store in San Francisco’s Union Square, taking over a space currently occupied by the Levi Strauss store. The new store will be about 45 percent larger than the current downtown SF store, which is on Stockton. It’s all part of Apple’s retail expansion plan to open about 30 new stores in total in fiscal 2013, and to complete at least 20 store remodels. The company currently has about 402 stores, which drew 91 million visitors in the second quarter ended in March.
Apple’s marketing help. Apple hired longtime and well-respected technology industry analyst Michael Gartenberg, adding the former Gartner Inc. analyst to its marketing team. According to my sources, he’ll be working under Apple’s global marketing chief Phil Schiller. This isn’t Gartenberg’s first time jumping into one of the tech companies he tracks. In Feb. 2007, he joined Microsoft as an “enthusiastic evangelist” but quit a month later saying he was better suited to the life of an analyst. Guess Apple was able to change his mind.
iWatch display. According to reports out of Taiwan, Apple has been getting samples of 1.5-inch OLED displays from RITEK subsidiary RiTdisplay, presumably for use in its rumored smartwatch. RITEK's joint venture RitFast will be supplying the touch sensor technology for the watch, those sources say. When is the so-called iWatch coming? It's likely one of those products to be released in late 2013 or 2014 that Tim Cook hinted at in Apple's last earnings call.
Commencement speeches. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak gave the commencement speech at his alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley, while Steve Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson delivered the address at Pomona College. The Woz offered up two equations for happiness: 1) Happiness equals S minus F (smiles minus frowns). 2) Happiness equals F cubed -- food, fun and friends. Isaacson shared a few stories about Jobs, whose creative thinking and passion and attention to detail led to the creation of great products. “If you have a passion for a product, you really care about connecting beauty to technology to commerce. And you care about it with a passion, even for the parts unseen.” You can watch Isaacson's speech below.
That's it. Be safe and enjoy the holiday weekend!
If you missed last week's edition of Apple Loop, you can find it here:
Apple Loop: The $610,000 Cup of Coffee, Cook's Tax Talk, Bill Gates on 'Growing Up" With Steve Jobs
