Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was buried in the Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, California Friday afternoon according to information discovered by Forbes. The memorial park where he was laid to rest includes many other technology greats like HP’s co-founder David Packard and engineer Lewis Terman who were partners with Walter Hewlett — who gave Jobs’ his first summer job at the age of 13.

The site might be a nice place to visit and pay your respects in the years ahead if you are into that sort of thing.

Apple plans on holding a company wide memorial event October 19th to celebrate Steve Jobs’ life, Tim Cook announced in a company wide email yesterday.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py9TfZGie48]

Here’s the official statement from Google and Samsung:

“We believe this is not the right time to announce a new product as the world expresses tribute to Steve Jobs’s passing,” the companies said.

They are likely to make an announcement on the launch late next week.  The new Google phone is built by Samsung and is rumored to have a 4.65-inch, 720P display with dual core 1.5GHz Samsung processor, NFC, 1GB of RAM and other speeds and feeds.  It will likely be one of the stronger competitors the iPhone 4S faces this holiday season.

More at 9to5google.com
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Time is doing a special run of its magazine this week.

Today, TIME releases a special commemorative issue on Steve Jobs to hit newsstands and tablet devices tomorrow, Friday, October 7.

To produce this special issue, TIME stopped the presses on its previously planned issue in order to devote its cover and 21 pages of the full issue to Jobs’ life and career. The issue includes a six-page essay by Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson, a historical report on Jobs career by TIME technology reporters Harry McCracken and Lev Grossman and a photo essay by Diana Walker, who has been shooting Jobs for TIME since 1982.

The cover image (right, click to enlarge) is a photograph of Jobs taken by Norman Seeff in 1984. This is the seventh time Jobs has appeared on the cover of TIME.

The magazine is increasing its print run for this special issue, which will be available worldwide.

Download the special commemorative cover image here: http://bit.ly/nNOCKK
View all Jobs’ TIME covers here: http://ti.me/d0cFZn
See the latest issue here later today: http://www.time.com/time/magazine

Excerpt of Isaacson’s Essay below:

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Update: Simon and Schuster have announced that the book will now be released on October 24th.

The WSJ reports that Steve Jobs and biographer Walter Isaacson knew that he was dying weeks before the end.

According to a person familiar with the matter, Isaacson last interviewed Jobs four weeks ago, right before, and right after he stepped down from his post as the CEO of Apple.

Jobs indicated at that time that he knew he was going to die soon. The scene will appear at the end of the book.

From Isaacson’s upcoming Essay in Time Magazine:

A few weeks ago, I visited Jobs for the last time in his Palo Alto, Calif., home. He had moved to a downstairs bedroom because he was too weak to go up and down stairs. He was curled up in some pain, but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant. We talked about his childhood, and he gave me some pictures of his father and family to use in my biography. As a writer, I was used to being detached, but I was hit by a wave of sadness as I tried to say goodbye. In order to mask my emotion, I asked the one question that was still puzzling me: Why had he been so eager, during close to 50 interviews and conversations over the course of two years, to open up so much for a book when he was usually so private? “I wanted my kids to know me,” he said. “I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.”

In the wake of Jobs’ death, his biography has catapulted to the top of the Best Sellers list at Amazon. Also the “Movers and Shakers” top two is the bio and I, Steve: Steve Jobs in his own words.

Perhaps ironically (because I read almost everything on an iPad now), this might be the last hard cover book I ever buy.

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I had never heard this version until just now. It never aired.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwsuXHA7RA]

Here’s to you, Steve. You were the Crazy One.

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Apple co-founder and visionary CEO Steve Jobs has passed away at the age of 56.

Apple posted the following statement on their website:

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

Below are pieces of remembrance from some of the people surrounding Steve Jobs.

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Do you know what time it is? It is one hour before this iPhone event – and Apple is updating its Store. That means new toys obviously. You ready already?

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In case there was any question, we’ve heard directly from Apple PR that there won’t be a webcast of Apple’s iPhone launch event. Last Year’s September event was live streamed but for unspecified reasons, Apple has chosen to keep this one off the airwaves. They will provide a live closed feed to the UK for European journalists however.

We’ll still be covering the event as it unfolds so make sure to stop by at 10am PT, 1pm ET or your local varient.

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Apple has made its concerns official. The iPhone maker fears Samsung tablet will lure consumers away from the powerful iTunes ecosystem. Apple’s been successfully leveraging iTunes to tie people to the platform through app and entertainment content sales.

The heated Apple vs. Samsung legal battle over who’s copying who is really about the ecosystem rather than the hardware or the patents. That’s the gist of today’s hearing before the Federal Court in Sydney related to an Apple-requested ban on sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia. According to Smh.com.au, lawyers for Apple argued that the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 could take away iPad 2 sales so quickly that buyers may be “seduced” from the iOS platform.

It’s all about the apps and the broader ecosystem, Apple’s legal team told Justice Annabelle Bennett, arguing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 “is vastly the one that is going to be targeting the iPad 2”. IDC numbers released today suggest that that tablet shipments to Australia and New Zealand doubled sequentially in the June quarter, which the research firm attributed to an influx of Android tablets recently released into those markets.

Apple’s lawyers then resorted to the “fire hose” metaphor to make their case:

This is going to be launched on the market with the velocity of a fire hose and it is going to just come in and take away iPad 2 sales so quickly that by the time we get to final hearing the full impact of the patent infringement will be to the detriment of Apple and to the benefit of Samsung.

And this bit about the battle of ecosystems:

They’ll then be Android people and the investment in the apps that they make to purchase on their Galaxy Tab will be something they can’t use on an Apple product.

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Happy 10th anniversary iPod! Now die!!!

In a story that mirrors the ‘Killing of the iPod’ speculation post we did a few weeks ago, TUAW posts that the iPod shuffle and classic are heading out to pasture as Apple focuses on the iPod touch and iPod nano.

If you want to buy an iPod shuffle or iPod classic from Apple, you should do it sooner rather than later. We’ve heard those two iPods are getting the axe this year.

The idea is that Apple wants to focus on touch screen devices that have some innovation left in them. Saving some serious time and effort, here is what we wrote two weeks ago:

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Fortune just released a new Kindle eBook entitled All about Steve: The Story of Steve Jobs and Apple from the Pages of Fortune…

Steve Jobs’ legacy is clear: The most innovative business leader of our time, the man FORTUNE named CEO of the Decade in 2009. Now from the pages of FORTUNE comes an anthology of 17 classic stories spanning the years 1983 to 2011 about the cultural icon who revolutionized computing, telephones, movies, music, retailing, and product design. The stories lay out in unparalleled detail the career of a man with relentless drive and a single underlying passion—to carry out his vision of how all of us would use technology. Writes managing editor Andy Serwer in the book’s foreward: “In the end he was proved right a billion times over, and his company Apple became one of the most successful enterprises on the planet.” All these stories are the product of deep reporting. In many cases FORTUNE’s writers spent hours interviewing Jobs and delving into his mind. The result is a singular journalistic collection, which will leave you with a comprehensive picture of Steve Jobs and Apple, a picture that is complex in the making yet simple in its triumph.

The report includes Adam Lashinsky’s recent investigative piece, Inside Apple, which gives a behind-the scenes look at how the company really works. Lashinsky is also writing a standalone book on Apple due later.

Full Press Release and blown up ‘book cover’ follows:

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AllThingsD, which seems to have a bead on Apple’s Fall Event, says the event will be held on Apple’s campus.

Sources close to the company say the demonstration — currently scheduled for Tuesday October 4 — will be held at Apple’s campus in Cupertino, California. Why? That’s not entirely clear. Perhaps the release date was too much of a moving target to risk booking a large space like Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), which has hosted a number of big product unveils in the past.

OracleWorld is happening in the Moscone/Yerba Buena area during the October 4th announcement so that could be a reason for the move. Though Yerba Buena, the usual venue for such announcements, isn’t marked as booked.

Also, Apple has much more control over the wireless access at its campus auditorium, something that had caused some issues during the iPhone 4 announcement. With all of the wireless devices in the audience, Steve Jobs had trouble demonstrating things like FaceTime and the improved speed of the iPhone 4.

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Fortune does a nice look back on how long Apple has waited from announcement (which seems to be October 4th at this point) and actual launch of the iPhones and iPads. Initial launch windows are huge because there weren’t really competitors in the space quite yet.

Importantly, the general trend is towards a smaller window.

Ten days out, October 14th, seems like a reasonable projection, doesn’t it?

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We’re not sure exactly what caused today’s spike, but Apple stock had a huge day ending up 2.8% at $411.65 a share for a Market Cap of $381.62B against a down market. It had reached as high as $413.23 from a morning low of $395.20. Notably, Apple is now worth over $23B more than Exxon and is approaching the combined value of Microsoft and Google.

As noted by SetteB.it, the Steve Jobs bio “Enhanced eBook” is now set by Simon and Shuster at 656 pages. That’s over 200 additional pages more than the previous page count which may have been a very low estimate. Recently, Walter Isaacson said that Jobs’ resignation would be added to the book, but it seems like a stretch that that chapter would add 50% more content.

Also, the publication date has move from November 21st, to “on or around November 21st”, signaling that there may be some movement in the release date.

You can pre-order the book at Amazon or on Apple’s iBookStore where it still is listed at 448 pages.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrZ3wxpQzNo]

(KTVU News)

Cupertino had its Apple Campus 2 Environmental Impact meeting this evening.  Apple was represented by Campus 2 Project Manager Terry Reagan.

The City of Cupertino will be the lead agency and will prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Apple Campus 2 Project

While most Cupertino residents seem pretty excited about the idea, some are voicing concerns that traffic and other environmental impacts of the huge building could adversely affect their town. Notable from the video above:

• Contrary to previous reports, Mayor Gilbert Wong said the project wasn’t a “done deal”
• Apple Campus 2 Project Manager Terry Reagan (1.21) is no Steve Jobs when it comes to presenting Apple’s case.

Overall, the backlash seems minimal at best and easily surmountable.  Apple doesn’t appear to have overlooked anything.
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Just a quick note on the earlier charity giving email from Tim Cook. It was a lovely gesture and will generate millions of dollars in giving to worthy causes, no doubt.

But to me, this is the first public anti-Jobs move that Apple has made since he resigned the CEO position just a few weeks ago.

• First of all, Jobs is a charity giver but only privately, never on a personal-corporate level, and he certainly never publicly encouraged Apple employees to do so. Of course there is Product(RED) and numerous disaster relief projects. But today’s public email/idea would never have been prioritized by Jobs.
• Second, Apple PR would never have acknowledged an internal email, regardless of its contents to the media. This move was clearly meant to be broadcast to the media. If, for some reason, Jobs had encouraged Apple employees to give to charity it would have been a personal Apple internal-only move.
• Finally, ApplePR doesn’t usually give information, let alone acknowledge rumors blogs. ApplePR told Macrumors that the internal email was legitimate. Jobs would have mowed down those PR reps.
• The move takes a cue from Microsoft, which has had an employee-matching program in place for many years. Microsoft matches up to $12,000 in non-profit donations annually.

This might be a generous move and one that Apple and its employees can feel good about. But it isn’t one that would happen at Steve Jobs’ Apple.

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If you haven’t heard by now, plans for construction of Apple’s 175-acre “Spaceship” campus are well under way. A meeting hosted by Cupertino mayor Gilbert Wong to address any community member’s concerns is scheduled for tonight.

However, it now looks like Apple may have plans to build another campus, as Wong told Mercury News that Apple execs have already approached him with plans for a third campus:

Wong said Apple executives have told him the company is expanding so fast that it expects to start working on Apple Campus 3 at an unknown location after they finish the second headquarters in 2015.

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment. We’re not sure if this is just really early planning for a potential third campus in the future, or if the company has more specific plans. We already know that Apple’s proposed Spaceship campus will be home to 12-13,000 employees.

Perhaps Apple will start moving employees out of Infinite Loop once the spaceship is complete and rebuild a ‘satellite’ campus at that location?

The report from Mercury News also notes that city officials have suggested a sculpture of Steve Jobs be placed on the campus to “honor his contributions as the iconic leader of Cupertino’s biggest taxpayer and cache-maker.”
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U2 frontman Bono responded to the story “The Mystery of Jobs’s Public Giving,” in the NYTimes Opinion pages today telling readers that Jobs was indeed a generous giver through the product (Red) campaign.  Bono further hinted that Jobs is a private person and his donations may not all be on the books.

I’m proud to know him; he’s a poetic fellow, an artist and a businessman. Just because he’s been extremely busy, that doesn’t mean that he and his wife, Laurene, have not been thinking about these things. You don’t have to be a friend of his to know what a private person he is or that he doesn’t do things by halves.

Apple and U2 of course collaborated on a U2 iPod and later Apple built red iPods with a portion of the proceeds going to Bono’s private fund to fight AIDS in Africa. Steve Jobs reportedly said when Bono first approached him about (RED), “There is nothing better than the chance to save lives.”  Apple’s involvement encouraged other companies to get involved.

Jobs has also been active in organ donation causes since his liver transplant.
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TechCrunch points us to this amusing Microsoft blog post articulating the decision to put just about every possible item in the future Windows Explorer 8 bar.

This is clearly an example of trying to put everything somewhere with no regard for clutter or usability or design. It is hard to imagine a better example of why Apple’s ability to say no to extraneous features is better for usage.

Check the video

Abdulfattah John Jandali – Steve Jobs’ Biological Father

In the tumult following Steve Jobs’ resignation, the New York Post and others (here’s a good one translated from Arabic) have been digging up interviews with Steve Jobs’ biological father, Abdulfattah John Jandali, who is a Syrian-born Vice President of a casino in Reno, Nevada.  He’s an 80-year old workaholic who is trying to avoid retirement at all costs (sounds familiar).

The Syrian immigrant says he is overcome with guilt for his treatment of Jobs and only learned recently that the child he gave up for adoption was the famous CEO.

“This might sound strange, though, but I am not prepared, even if either of us was on our deathbeds, to pick up the phone to call him,” Jandali said.

“Steve will have to do that, as the Syrian pride in me does not want him ever to think I am after his fortune,” he said.

“Now I just live in hope that, before it is too late, he will reach out to me, because even to have just one coffee with him just once would make me a very happy man,” he said.

Jandali says although he was in love with his now ex-wife Joanne, her father was a tyrant and would not allow her to marry him since he was from Syria. Joanne then upped and moved to San Francisco to give birth to Jobs without her family or Jandali knowing.

“She did not want to bring shame onto the family and thought this was the best for everyone.”

It is a pretty emotional story overall.  The short of it is that they’ve never talked and, although he has sent Jobs a few emails (haven’t we all?), he’s afraid to call Jobs.  Because of this, he fears they never will communicate.

It was our natural inclination to see what this guy looked like but Google images didn’t return anything.  Therefore, we decided to dig a little deeper.

Without trying to offend anyone, below are some more public pictures of Jobs’ biological father we found on the net.  There is definitely a resemblance!
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