Last August, Google (GOOG) Chief Executive Officer Larry Page fulfilled a pledge made to one of his senior executives, a square-jawed former attorney named Dennis Woodside. Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook had been trying to poach Woodside to make him Apple’s head of sales, but Google had convinced Woodside to stay, in part by promising him greater responsibility at the search company, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. Now it was time to make good. Woodside says he was speaking with board member Ram Shriram when Page asked him to run Motorola Mobility, the company Google had just acquired for $12.5 billion. “He said, ‘I know you’ve been looking for a ... Continue reading →
For most of Gossip Girl’s first four seasons, none of the hit show’s glamorous teens carried the most talked-about smartphone of the last five years: Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone. Because of a product placement deal, they could only be seen with phones chosen by Verizon Wireless. Then, this season, shortly after the deal lapsed, several main characters started receiving their “Xoxo, Gossip Girl” texts on Apple’s hit device. The cast’s sudden conversion cost the Cupertino (Calif.)-based iPhone maker nothing. Apple has spent decades strengthening its subtle but powerful grip over Hollywood, and unlike many companies, says it never pays for its products to appear on television or in movies. The company’s gadgets were discussed or shown 891 times on TV in 2011, up from 613 in ... Continue reading →
Next LinkedIn for Journalists training is Thursday, May 24th, 2012, at 9am PST/noon EST The session takes about 35 minutes and I'll stay on the line afterward to answer any additional questions you might have. All you need for the call is to be logged into your own LinkedIn account and to follow along with me. If you'd like to attend the Thursday, May 24th, 2012, at 9am PST/ noon EST, please comment below in the discussion thread and I can send you the details for the call after you comment. I do have international dial in numbers so don't worry if you're outside of the US. (Just let me know if you are in a country other than the one that's currently set as ... Continue reading →
IPad: The PC Killer By Peter Burrows, Jim Aley and Ashlee Vance March 21, 2012 8:51 PM EDT After he unveiled the iPad at a San Francisco conference center in early 2010, the late Steve Jobs spent a few minutes asking people holding the device for the first time what they thought of it. A reporter suggested it might make consumers forget why they needed a laptop computer. Jobs shrugged his shoulders and said, coyly, “We’ll see.” Jobs was a master not just at anticipating paradigm shifts but creating them. If tablets eventually did eclipse the laptop and desktop businesses, Jobs was determined that Apple would reap the windfall. That day has arrived. On March 19, the same day Jobs’s successor, Tim Cook, declared Apple ... Continue reading →
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Apple CEO Tim Cook's decision to offer a dividend will cost the company about $10 billion a year. Steve Jobs didn’t spend much time worrying about shareholders’ complaints. I recall talking with him in 2008 about some mini-crisis that had caused Apple’s stock to dip. “Who gives a s– about the stock price,” he let slip before getting back on point. It was a moment of unscripted honesty that spoke volumes about his belief that Apple knew more than any shareholder about what was best for the company. New CEO Tim Cook is taking a different approach. By announcing dividends and stock buybacks that could reach $45 billion in the next three years, he’s responding to years of complaints about Apple’s ... Continue reading →
Photograph: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis was Tim Cook's first big product unveiling since Steve Jobs died last year. Yesterday’s iPad unveiling was Apple’s first big announcement since the death of Steve Jobs, whose legendary skills as a pitchman set the bar for product introductions. How did CEO Tim Cook & Co. do? As others have pointed out, the presentation lacked the build-up and drama of a “Stevenote.” Cook moved quickly through the update on Apple’s recent accomplishments, and before we knew it, Eddy Cue had announced the Apple TV. Then product marketing chief Phil Schiller was on stage for the main event. But there was no big reveal of an actual iPad on stage, and no “one more thing” — a trademark of The Apple Show. ... Continue reading →
Photography: Ebrahim Norouzi, IIPA/AP PhotoIranian technicians work at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2010. A computer worm known as Stuxnet is believed to have damaged Iran's centrifuges that year. For the past few months, a team of computer hackers has engaged in an aggressive form of cyber subversion. Its work has enraged critics and led to accusations that it is endangering people’s lives. It’s not Anonymous. The group causing the uproar is a team of professional researchers that has embraced an extreme approach to cyber security. Dale Peterson, who runs a Sunrise (Fla.)-based security company called Digital Bond, has recruited six elite hackers to help him show the world how to sabotage the computer systems that run nuclear power generators, oil and gas pipelines, ... Continue reading →
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