Tim Cook

Tim Cook is scheduled to attend the opening of Apple’s latest offices in Israel early next week, according to a report from Israeli daily business newspaper Calcalist.

The report says the new offices will be located in Herzliya, Israel, and hold around 800 employees in approximately 180,000 square feet.
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During Tim Cook’s talk at the Goldman Sachs Tech Conference 2015 today, the Apple CEO announced a new initiative that will see the company build a solar farm in Monterey County, California that Cook called Apple’s “biggest, boldest and most ambitious” energy project yet.
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As mentioned earlier today, Tim Cook is speaking momentarily at the 2015 Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference where his remarks will be live streamed, and below we’ll update with the latest from the Apple CEO. In previous years, Cook has used the platform to share insight about product performance including the Apple TV and tease future roadmaps as the CEO often does. Today’s appearance follows Apple’s record quarter for any company with more than $74 billion reported in revenue and over 74 million iPhones sold. Apple is also positioned to release the Apple Watch in April, Cook recently mentioned, so today’s remarks should be interesting.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook is scheduled to speak at a White House “cyber summit” at the end of the week, The Hill reported today. The White House is expected to unveil a new cybersecurity program during the summit, and is bringing together leaders in technology and government to address the issue.

Cook’s exact talking points haven’t been revealed, but Apple has previously taken strong stances on issues of customer privacy—putting it in direct conflict with the Department of Justice at times.

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Apple is looking to hire individuals across the US for a team of IBM Business Development Executives that “will be accountable for all aspects of the Apple and IBM partnership for a defined geographic and account set territory.” That means Apple is hiring a team of individuals that will act as company liaisons to help roll out and oversee sales teams pushing the new Apple/IBM iOS solutions to enterprise customers. The positions, which are industry and region-specific, also show Apple’s plan for the upcoming expansion of its enterprise solutions for new industries including manufacturing and healthcare. 
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IDC is out today with its numbers on tablet shipments for Q4 2014 showing Apple remained on top of the market both last quarter and throughout 2014 despite a slight drop in overall market share.

Apple sold 21.4 million iPads during the holiday quarter last year, which gave the company around 28% market share compared to 33% with 26 million units sold during the same quarter last year. Apple beats out number two Samsung, according to IDC, which grabbed 14.5% of the market in Q4 with 11 million units shipped. Samsung also dipped in overall market share from 17.2% with 13.5 million units shipped in the year ago quarter.
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Apple announced a lot of numbers during its fiscal Q1 2015 earnings call today in addition to confirming the Apple Watch will ship in April. Some of Apple’s highlights include numbers on Apple Pay since its launch in October, the 1 billionth iOS device shipping in November, and big growth in China as Apple sells a record 74.4 million iPhones during the quarter.

Head below for a roundup of stats and milestones that Apple announced during the call:
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As it revealed earlier this month, Apple will have its quarterly conference call today at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM Eastern to discuss earnings from its fiscal year 2015 first quarter results. These results include sales 74.4 million iPhones, 21.4 million iPads, and 5.5 million Macs. Earlier today the company reported that it earned $74.6 billion in revenue during FY 2015 Q1.

While Apple’s previous quarter included the opening weekend of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales, today’s numbers include the bulk of the sales in the United States and the initial sales of the new models in key markets including China. Today’s reported numbers do include the first sales numbers for the iPad since Apple began shipping the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, and the first Mac numbers since the Retina 5K iMac went on sale. Apple Pay will also be an area of interest for listeners as the mobile payment service only launched the day of the last quarterly conference call.

Investors and analysts will have an opportunity to ask Tim Cook and company questions during the earnings call, and we’ll be listening closely to bring you coverage.
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(Image via Michael Steeber)

Apple announced its Q1 2015 earnings results today reporting $74.6 billion in revenue earning $18 billion in profit during the three-month period.

Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 first quarter ended December 27, 2014. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion and record quarterly net profit of $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $57.6 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $2.07 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.9 percent compared to 37.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 65 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

In addition to its revenue and profit disclosure, Apple reported sales numbers for the following categories:

• iPhone: 74.4 million units
• iPad: 21.4 million units
• Mac: 5.5 million units
• iTunes: $4.7 billion
• Accessories: $2.6 billion

Totals:

• Revenue: $74.6 billion
• EPS: $3.06 per share

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the following regarding the quarter:

“We’d like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our revenue grew 30 percent over last year to $74.6 billion, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal.”

Apple CFO Luca Maestri added this:

“Our exceptional results produced EPS growth of 48 percent over last year, and $33.7 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter, an all-time record,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We spent over $8 billion on our capital return program, bringing total returns to investors to almost $103 billion, over $57 billion of which occurred in just the last 12 months.”

Ahead of today’s earnings report, sales numbers for both the iPhone and iPad were particular areas of interest. Q1 2015 held the bulk of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales in the United States and saw the new iPhone models debut in key countries like China. Meanwhile, the iPad sales numbers were particularly interested following last quarter’s year-over-year shipment decrease and the release of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 in October.

Apple’s Q1 2015 numbers follow last quarter’s results of $42.1 billion in revenue and sales of 39 million iPhones, 12.3 million iPads, and 5.5 million Macs. For the same quarter a year ago, Apple reported $57.6 billion in revenue and sales of 51 million iPhones, 26 million iPads, and 4.8 million Macs. Compare also to profit last quarter of $8.5 million and a year ago of $13.1 billion.

Apple will hold its conference call today at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM Eastern to discuss the quarter’s numbers, follow along for our coverage then. Both Cook and Maestri will likely share prepared remarks then answer a round of questions from analysts on the call.

For Q2 2015 Apple is providing guidance between $52 billion and $55 billion. The full Q1 earnings results release is below:

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Apple CEO Tim Cook shared the grand opening photo via Twitter

Apple’s latest massive retail store—the Westlake Apple Store in Hangzhou, China—had its opening to the public today as officially scheduled. Naturally, much attention has been paid to what is now the largest Apple Store in Asia with Apple teasing the store’s grand opening earlier this month with a magnificent mural by artist Wang Dongling. You can see more shots from the scene around the new Westlake Apple Store below:
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If you were puzzled by the fact that the $73M compensation package paid to retail head Angela Ahrendts dwarfed those awarded to other senior Apple execs, including Tim Cook’s $9.2M, Apple explained that it was in large part to compensate her for unvested Burberry stock she lost by leaving the company … 
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Update 2/5: Auction just wrapped up at $3,250 just over the estimated value.

Former Beats Music CEO and current Apple employee Ian Rogers is participating in a charity fundraiser through the online auction site Charitybuzz. With the estimated value pegged at $3,000, the fundraiser has a starting bid of $600, and runs for two weeks starting today. The highest bidder will have the opportunity to meet the former Beats Music CEO in either Los Angeles (where Beats is headquartered) or Cupertino (near Apple’s campus) for a private lunch meeting.
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Bloomberg reports that a Manhattan District Attorney is challenging recent moves by Apple, Google and other tech companies by suggesting government pass laws that prevent mobile devices from being “sealed off from law enforcement.” In an interview this week, the government official called it “an issue of public safety.”
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A Fortune interview with Disney CEO Bob Iger, featured on the magazine’s cover (seen below) today, makes much of the importance of Iger’s relationship with Steve Jobs.

Fortune’s Michal Lev-Ram writes: “If there is one particular relationship that has most shaped [Bob Iger’s] thinking, it’s the six-year friendship he had with another CEO: the late Steve Jobs […]

Ed Catumull, Disney’s animation president, says of the Iger/Jobs relationship: “Steve recognized that in Bob he actually had a partner. In the subsequent years they thought of each other as true partners. That’s what he wanted, and that’s not what he had previously.”

The mutual respect the pair felt for each other was reflected in the fact that Jobs, before his death, asked that Iger be invited to take his place on the Apple board … 
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<em><a href="http://9to5mac.com/2014/09/09/apple-offering-new-u2-album-songs-of-innocence-for-free-on-itunes/">Tim Cook and U2 at this year’s iPhone 6 event</a></em>

Apple CEO Tim Cook ranked well on CNN Money’s list of best CEOs of 2014 taking the top spot of CEO of the year. The news organization said Cook has “arguably the toughest CEO job in America” as he battles critics skeptical of his performance running Apple without Steve Jobs and cited the company’s 40% stock climb this year as well as the debut of the iPhones 6 and Apple Pay ahead of the Apple Watch early next year.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a “generous personal financial investment” in Project One America, an LGBT equality campaign focused on three Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin announced the donation on the civil rights organization’s blog today.

When Tim first learned about HRC’s Project One America – our bold, comprehensive campaign to dramatically advance equality for LGBT Americans in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi – he said, “I’m in.” Thanks to his generous personal financial investment in the program, together we will move the needle forward at the local and state level, tearing down misperceptions and providing concrete protections for those who need it most.

In announcing the Apple CEO’s personal donation to Project One America, the HRC also praised Tim Cook’s personal essay from October in which he became the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company:
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Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a company-wide email today recapping the year’s accomplishments and looking forward to 2015. Cook praises the “most innovative lineup ever” and expresses his pride in the hard work his employees have put into each product.

The executive highlights this year’s 30th anniversary of the Mac and the release of the latest iPhones, iPads, Mac hardware, and mobile and desktop operating systems, as well as the first public announcement of the Apple Watch. He refers again to Apple’s commitment to helping promote education, and reveals for the first time that this year’s App Store and Apple Online Store (PRODUCT)RED promotions helped the company donate over $20 million to fighting AIDS this year.

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