The first walls around Apple’s Campus 2 have begun to take shape, as noted by KCBS reporter Ron Cervi, in a tweet today. Previously, more photos from KCBS showed the site’s considerable excavation under way, and earlier photos from March detailed the demolition work of the former HP campus on the site, which was almost complete at that time.
When Ron Johnson finalized his decision to move from leading Apple’s retail strategy to become the Chief Executive Officer of J.C. Penney, the executive jumped in his car to drive to Steve Jobs’ home and notify the Apple co-founder in his living room of the decision. During his short car ride to Jobs’ Palo Alto home in the summer of 2011, Johnson likely thought about how he would explain his choice. But what Johnson likely did not imagine is that it would take nearly three years for Apple to find a true new leader for the stores the duo created.
In one of current Apple CEO Tim Cook’s first major missteps, the long-time operations maestro hired John Browett, formerly of Dixons, to run retail. Browett’s hire was immediately met with skepticism from Apple customers and retail employees, but Cook defended the hire and called the British executive the “best [choice] by far” to run Apple’s retail division. In the six months that he ran retail, Browett cut back on employee hours, initiated layoffs, and fell out culturally with the rest of the Apple executive team.
Alongside Scott Forstall, Browett was ejected from the Cupertino-based company, leaving Tim Cook and head-hunting firm Egon Zehnder, again, with the tall task of finding a suitable replacement for Ron Johnson. As the man who ran Dixons, the United Kingdom equivalent to Best Buy, Browett was in many ways built in the image of Johnson. Johnson ran Apple Retail for nearly a decade, and before that he was an executive at both Target and Mervyns. But unlike Browett, Johnson fit into Apple’s culture and was close with both Jobs and Cook throughout his tenure.
Apple’s rainbow logo was the symbol of the company from 1977 to 1998, and two of the signs that originally adorned the company’s Cupertino HQ are now being auctioned by Bonhams. They were given to an unnamed “longstanding Apple employee” when they were removed from the building.
The larger of the two signs measures 49×46 inches and is made from 1.5-inch thick foam with vinyl stripes. The smaller version is 36x33x6 inches, made from metal-backed fiberglass, again with vinyl colors.
Although generally thought of as the original Apple logo, the very first version was in fact an intricate drawing of Isaac Newton sitting under a tree with an Apple above his head.
The famous rainbow design was created a year later by Rob Janoff, who says on his website that it was the only logo concept shown to Steve Jobs, and was created in two weeks. The colors were designed to make Apple products look user-friendly, to make them attractive to school-children and to emphasize the Apple II’s unique color display.
Apple briefly switched to a translucent blue logo in 1998 before adopting a monochrome one later the same year, a white aqua version in 2001 and a Chrome variant in 2007.
Update: The Auction is now closed with the winning bidder donating $330,001 to the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights
Going once, going twice, almost sold! Just two and a half weeks ago, Charitybuzz kicked off a campaign to raise money for the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights by offering the opportunity to have lunch with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the company’s campus in Cupertino. The auction’s goal is set at $100,000 – twice that of the previous year’s auction of coffee for two with Mr. Cook – and the clock is about to run out on this year’s chance to dine with the chief executive.
For perspective, last year’s auction for a similar prize (coffee with Cook) and the same charity far exceeded it’s goal of $50,000 raising an astounding $610,000 for the RFK group by the time it ended. This year’s charity auction for lunch with Tim Cook is an absolute bargain in comparison as the latest bid at the time of writing is sitting at only $180,000 with less than five hours before the closing bell…
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As Apple’s Campus 2 site steadily progresses closer toward someday being complete, Architectural Record (via Mac Rumors) has shared a recent Q&A with architect Norman Foster, the designer responsible for the structure and appearance of the future campus. In the interview, Foster describes the evolution of the project and working with Steve Jobs on Apple’s Campus 2, which is currently in the midst of construction after being approved by the city of Cupertino just last fall…
Apple’s new ‘spaceship’ headquarters has been a long time in the coming, with Steve Jobs presenting the plans to the Cupertino city council back in 2011, but work has finally begun. KCBS eye-in-the-sky reporter Ron Cervi took the above Instagram photo, showing that demolition work on the site is now underway.
While we heard last month that the demolition phase was starting, this is the first visible evidence we’ve seen. Apple also recently constructed a full-size mockup of one small section of the building in order to test construction methods and enable the company to see how the concrete elements would look in real life …
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Concept image: Stephen Olmstead
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone seven years ago last week, he described it as “three revolutionary devices” in one: touchscreen iPod, mobile phone and Internet communicator.
The iPhone wasn’t the first touchscreen smartphone. It wasn’t even close: Handspring launched the Treo 180 a full five years earlier (I know this because I owned one). Same with the iPod before it, launched three years after the MPMan (yep, I owned one of those too).
Apple has never been interested in being first to market, so no-one should be remotely surprised that others launched the smartwatch first. The company’s USP is its ability to take a relatively crude piece of technology being used exclusively by geeks and turn it into something so slick, beautiful and cool that mass-market consumers will find irresistible …
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What you see above is the culmination of too many late weekends spent online, dozens of hours studying Google Maps street view, and perhaps a little too much free time. About two years ago I decided to re-create Apple’s Headquarters in Minecraft. The project seemed difficult, but I figured at a modest scale i could accomplish it relatively quickly.
View of the main campus from the on-site auditorium building
Apple will receive the full set of building permits for its ‘spaceship’ campus in Cupertino today, following a formal approval vote by the full council. This final vote was just a rubber-stamping exercise, with the go-ahead effectively granted a month ago.
We have a pretty detailed idea of what to expect, thanks to a detailed scale model, project video and series of renders made available by Apple as part of its planning application.
It’s taken the company some time and work to reach this point. The company initially faced objections from local residents on environmental and traffic grounds, prompting CFO Peter Oppenheimer to send out a brochure to local residents to alleviate concerns, and the project is reportedly $2B over-budget. But work can now begin, with completion expected in 2015 or 2016.
You can watch the video of the full council meeting below.
New renders released by the City of Cupertino from Apple’s planning documents provide the most detailed view yet of what life inside the company’s new spaceship headquarters will be like.
Illustrating everything from cafes to car-parks, the renders are intended to provide a feel for what the building will be like to work in, rather than just its appearance as a structure. They also include additional renders of the upper level of the 1,000-seat auditorium.
Full gallery below …
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEm2fO1nz5A&feature=youtu.be&a]
Earlier this week we told you that the Cupertino City Council had voted unanimously to approve Apple’s planning application for its new spaceship campus with a final vote expected next month on November 15th. Today the City of Cupertino posted the video above of a press conference held to announce the Apple Campus 2 approval. The press conference was held yesterday and attended by Cupertino Mayor Orrin Mahoney and Apple’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer.
Apple is expected to break ground and begin construction of the new campus later this month and begin moving in employees by 2016.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIXme5sh4sU]
(full video below)
Yesterday, we saw Apple’s models for the new Campus 2 project. Today, Cupertino released this video of the council meeting where Apple presented. The Campus 2 video Apple produced looks like an Apple product video. I really like it, especially the Steve Jobs bits.
Apple also released an updated project plan including more solar roofing (below).
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That’s a good number of users running an unreleased operating system in just a short amount of time. Of course it’s coming soon.
Update, July 2: The City of Cupertino just posted the recording of last week’s meeting (above).
Earlier this month Apple published a report detailing its economic impact on Cupertino from the construction of its brand new ‘Campus 2’, aka ‘Spaceship’ campus. Tomorrow, the public in and around Cupertino will get their chance to weigh in on Apple’s impact on the surrounding area with a public comment period. The City of Cupertino will be live streaming the event and is also allowing the public to submit comments through www.cupertino.org/applecomments.
Many of the comments submitted congratulate Apple on its new project, but others are concerned about the removal of trees and other environmental issues:
We are concerned about the fate of the trees in and around the new Apple Campus. A couple of months ago, we met a man who claimed he was an arborist hired by Apple and that he planned to chop down 6000 trees on the Campus and around the streets with replacements of new trees. We don’t know it has been confirmed by the Apple Campus 2 or not.
These trees have been living in our neighborhood for more than 40 years(?) – when we moved into this area in 1989, they were already quite big. And we enjoy so much of these beautiful trees – they give us shade in summer and they make our streets much enjoyable while walking along. Especially they improve our environment and give us clean air. Please let these trees happily live in our neighborhood with us and our children and children’s children. Many thanks
The meeting will take place tomorrow at 6:30 pm local time at Cupertino Community Hall and live streamed at www.cupertino.org/webcast. Cupertino linked to a full copy of Apple’s Campus 2 Draft Environmental Impact Report on its website.
Apple today published a report on its website detailing the “Economic and Fiscal Impacts Generated by Apple in Cupertino – Current Facilities and Apple Campus 2.”
Apple notes that the report, which details a number of topics from job creation to construction of its new spaceship campus, was put together by Keyser Marston Associates, Inc. (KMA) for the City of Cupertino under contract with Apple Inc.
With net annual sales in excess of $156 billion, 16,000 employees currently based in the Cupertino area, and annual purchases from local Silicon Valley-based businesses of $4.6 billion, Apple is a cornerstone of the Silicon Valley economy and of the fiscal resources of the City of Cupertino.
Much of the report focuses on the economic impacts and future contributions of Apple’s currently under construction Apple Campus 2. In the report, Apple details how its new campus will “add an estimated 7,400 new high-quality jobs,” increase revenues for the local economy, and enhance tax revenues for the city and surrounding areas. Apple says it will support 24,000 jobs in Cupertino alone when the campus is ready in 2016.
It also detailed investments being made in public improvements surrounding its new campus including infrastructure and utility improvements and its transportation program:
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Last May, after some residents voiced concern about Apple’s planned Spaceship Campus 2 project, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer sent out a brochure/mailer to local residents, hoping to alleviate concerns about the huge new office building and surrounding Campus 2.
Click to enlarge, via Macrumors
Apple last week updated its Campus 2 plans with the inclusion of walk and bike trails and other specifics on the land use. As Macrumors notes, Cupertino residents have begun receiving updated mailers with the new updated information and focused on the positive environmental impact the buildings will have.
At Apple, the environment is a top priority, and we’ve designed Apple Campus 2 with cutting-edge features to make it energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable. Several of these green technologies are highlighted in this update.
As at our existing campus on Infinite Loop, we are committed to 100% renewable energy to power Apple Campus 2. This will include onsite generation from photovoltaics and fuel cells. As part of this effort, approximately 8 megawatts of photovoltaics will be installed, creating one the largest installations of its kind on a corporate campus anywhere in the world.
Apple started in Cupertino, and we are excited to continue to grow here. As we build the new campus, we also plan to invest in new roadways and intersection improvements, add new sidewalks and better bike lanes, and plant new trees in newly created medians in the surrounding neighborhood.
Find Steve Jobs’ original Campus 2 submission to the Cupertino City Council video below:
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Apple has just revised its plans for its massive upcoming new headquarters, scheduled to be completed by 2016. The revised plans, known as Submittal 6, focus less on the structure of the building itself, instead highlighting the surrounding land and facilities, showing off new bike paths, larger parking areas, and photos of street renderings.
The parking areas have been increased in capacity from 9,000 to 9,240 in the main lot, and 1,500 to 1,740 in an additional location, the report states. Updated bike access plans include new features such as enhanced bike lanes called “buffered bike lanes,” as well as bike boxes and two-stage turn boxes (images below).
Although there will be an incremental increase in gross office and research and development floor area of approximately 20%, the efficient use of the main site will result in almost tripling the landscaped area. Underground and structured parking will replace 9,220 surface parking spaces – creating almost three times more open space.
Apple CEO Tim Cook appears to be offering up his services to charity auction site Charitybuzz in hopes of raising an estimated $50,000 to support the The RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights. By services we mean the winning bidder will get the opportunity to have coffee with Apple’s top exec at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
The auction listing notes that it was “Donated by: Tim Cook” and after opening earlier this morning currently has two bids of just over $5,000.
The estimated value for the auction is set at $50,000, and the winning bid will get two lucky individuals the chance to sit down with the CEO for 30min to 1 hour. However, bids don’t include travel or accommodations and Cook’s guests will also be “subject to security screening” before hand to weed out the crazies. (via @Ihnatko)
If you can’t afford Tim Cook, former U.S. President Bill Clinton is available for less than half the price (via).
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Several job postings looking for both hardware and software engineers reveal that Apple is looking to begin its own chip development in Orlando, Florida.
Last week we learned that Apple is hiring software engineers to work on fingerprint technology at Authentec in Melbourne, Florida, which is about one hour south of the future site of the company’s development labs.
The job posting are interesting as Samsung, which works with Apple to develop the custom chips used in iPhones and iPads, continues to compete with Apple in the smartphone and tablet space.
Following reporting what CEO Tim Cook referred to as another record-setting quarter, today the Apple executive sent out an email to employees congratulating the team. Within the email, Cook thanked employees for their “incredible hard work and focus” and highlighted that the company sold over 75 million iOS devices during the quarter.
Like last year, when Apple held a Town Hall meeting following its Q1 results near a windshield repair Sugar Land TX company, Cook is asking employees to attend an employee communications meeting scheduled for today at 10 a.m. Pacific time. The email sent out last night following Apple’s earnings results conference call, and it noted that employees would be able to submit questions via AppleWeb in advance.
Apple will also broadcast the meeting live throughout Cupertino and other Apple locations. Cook’s full email is below:
Apple just announced on its Investor Page that it would report its Q1 2013 earnings Jan. 23. As it does once a quarter, Apple will issue a press release at 4:30 p.m. EST with the numbers and follow with a conference call at 5 p.m. EST to discuss the results with CEO Tim Cook, CFO Peter Oppenheimer, and more. The report will give us a close look into how Apple fared during the holiday shopping season and its outlook for 2013. As of the last earnings report in October, Oppenheimer said he expected revenue of about $52 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $11.75 for Q1 2013. Past numbers, questions from investors on the conference call typically bring out new, interesting pieces of information from Apple, and you bet 9to5mac will provide full coverage. [Apple]
Mercury News reported that Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has broken ground on a Santa Clara campus that is set to be home to 1,200 employees. The location is just short of the city limits of Cupertino, and it is a 296,000 square-foot space set to be developed by Peery Arillaga. It is said to be a two six-floor building campus—not to be confused with the massive Spaceship-like campus Apple currently has plans for. Earlier this month, we highlighted a few other Apple land grabs, which many believe are temporary offices until the new campus that is set to hold 14,000 employees is completed in mid-2016. The first six-floor building at the new Santa Clara location that is 188,000 square feet will be completed mid-2014, while there’s no word on the second.
Source: Mercury News
Following this morning’s report that Apple’s grand spaceship campus introduced by Steve Jobs in 2011 won’t open until mid-2016, Apple has sent its revised plans to the city of Cupertino this afternoon. The 176-acre campus was originally slated to complete in 2015 after the company was set to start work this year; however, the City of Cupertino still needs to complete an environmental review. Apple notified Cupertino of the time-frame change in the updated project proposal and added, “This schedule may be modified to meet Apple’s business needs.”
According to a report from the Silicon Valley BizBlog, Apple picked up more real estate in and around Cupertino, Calif., after scooping up over 315,000 sq. ft. of office space in Sunnyvale in January. Apple signed leases for two new buildings: a 57,479-square-foot building at 5425 Stevens Creek Blvd. in Santa Clara, and a 11,552 square-foot building in Cupertino. Like its other recent leases, it is possible Apple might only use these buildings temporarily until its new Spaceship campus is ready.
