Tim Cook

Just a few days later after Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed his thoughts about the NSA and data collection transparency, Apple has posted an update to its website with new information regarding account data requests. The company’s press release comes as US Department of Justice comes to a settlement with technology companies over how they are allowed to disclose information about government data requests.

A statement from the DOJ explains the agreement will allow “detailed disclosures about the number of national security orders and requests issued to communications providers, and the number of customer accounts targeted under those orders and requests including the underlying legal authorities.” Due to these new guidelines, Apple has now been able to report FISA and National Security Letters separate from law enforcement requests as show in its graphics above and below.  It also notes the new data released today replaces the U.S. data from its Feb. 5 2013 Report on Government Information Requests.

As expected, Apple just announced its fiscal year 2014 first quarter results for the all-important holiday quarter. It’s Q3 report only included less than a month of sales for the new iPhone 5s, 5c and revamped MacBooks, making today’s report the first to include a full three-month period of sales for the new devices on top of the expected boost in revenue leading into the holidays. It’s also the first report since Apple shipped the new Retina iPad mini, iPad Air, and Mac Pro.

Apple reported record quarterly revenue of $57.6 billion, which lands between its guidance for the quarter of $55-$58B and estimates by analysts averaging approximately $58.1B. It also reported net quarterly profit of $13.1 billion, or $14.50 per diluted share. Those numbers compare to the revenue of $54.5 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion reported in the same quarter last year.

Break down of device sales for Q1 2014 include 51 million iPhones, 26 million iPads (both all-time quarterly highs), 6 million iPods and 4.8 million Macs. Prior to today’s report the consensus from an average of analyst estimates predicted Apple would sell approximately 55M iPhones, 25M iPads, and 4.6M Macs.
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New documents leaked by Edward Snowden and reported by The New York Times, The Guardian and ProPublica detail how the NSA and its British counterpart can collect users’ personal data through smartphone apps. The reports specifically mention popular apps like Angry Birds, Twitter, Google Maps and Facebook and claim the NSA is capable of intercepting information ranging from location, age, and sex of users to address books, buddy lists, phone logs, geographic data and more:

The N.S.A. and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters were working together on how to collect and store data from dozens of smartphone apps by 2007, according to the documents, provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor. Since then, the agencies have traded recipes for grabbing location and planning data when a target uses Google Maps, and for vacuuming up address books, buddy lists, phone logs and the geographic data embedded in photos when someone sends a post to the mobile versions of Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and other services.

At least one of the app developers, Rovio, is not surprisingly unaware of any of the activity mentioned in the documents, but it will be up to the app developers, Apple, and Google to address the issue and clarify for users if their personal data is safe. In a recent interview with ABC, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the controversy over surveillance programs and promised he would press congress for more transparency:
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=janYipFwV34]

Yesterday we posted some excerpts from an ABC interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives that officially aired on the network last night. In the interview, Cook is joined by Apple’s Apple Senior VP Craig Federighi and Apple software VP Bud Tribble to talk about the 30th anniversary of Mac, the new made-in-America Mac Pro, iWatch (iRing?), secrecy at Apple and the recent NSA surveillance controversies.

Cook on NSA surveillance programs:

Number one, we need to be significantly more transparent. We need to say what data is being given, how many people it affects, how many accounts are affected, we need to be clear. And we have a gag order on us right now so we can’t say those things… .Much of what has been said isn’t true. There is no backdoor. The government doesn’t have access to our servers. They would have to cart us out in a box for that, and that just will not happen. We feel that strongly about it.

Cook didn’t say much that we didn’t already see in the excerpts, but you can check out the full uncut interview from ABC above.

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Last night we reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook has been interviewed by ABC in celebration of 30 years of the Mac. Tonight, the interview will air on World News with Diane Sawyer, but this morning, a tease of the interview was given on Good Morning America. ABC has sent us the above video excerpt of the video. As you can see in the video, Cook is joined by Apple Senior VP Craig Federighi and Apple software VP Bud Tribble.

Interviewer David Muir does not hold his questions back, and specifically asks the trio about secrecy, Apple’s plans for its Arizona plant, and about the iWatch. The interview takes place inside of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, and we learn some new tidbits about Cook from this interview. According to Muir, the Apple CEO wakes up at 3:45 AM each morning and receives between 700 and 800 emails from customers each day. The CEO says Apple wants to make even more made-in-the-USA products (besides the Mac Pro), and he confirms that the new Mesa, Arizona Apple plant is to develop sapphire crystal.

Oh, and the iWatch? Cook jokingly says Apple is making a “ring” instead.

Tonight, the rest of the interview will showcase Cook’s thoughts on the NSA and more. You can watch the full (very interesting!) excerpt below:

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Update: We’ve got video of the interview, which also includes Craig Federighi and Bud Tribble.

ABC News has announced that it has interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook regarding the 30th anniversary of the Mac. The interview will air tomorrow night on World News with Diane Sawyer at 6:30 PM EST. A small portion of the interview will be presented at 7 AM EST on Good Morning America…

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As planned, iPhone sales have started via China Mobile, the largest carrier in China, today. The official iPhone China Mobile deal, which covers both the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, was announced in December. Earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook promoted the event with multiple interviews, calling the partnership a “beginning.” Subsequent reports indicated that millions of iPhones have already been ordered through China Mobile…

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Apple CEO Tim Cook informed Apple employees today via email that the company has settled with the United States Federal Trade Commision over an in-app purchases dispute. Cook says that Apple and the FTC have been negotiating for “several months.” The issue in the App Store comes down to the controversies surrounding children spending money too easily in the App Store without the consent of their parents.

Cook notes that “protecting children” has been a priority for everyone at Apple, and Cook notes that the App Store has industry leading controls for security and privacy, making the need to deal with the FTC surprising. Cook’s email details the safeguards in place for the in-app purchase system. Cook also notes the great lengths that Apple went to in order to appease customers who may have been harmed by in-app purchases:

Last year, we set out to refund any in-app purchase which may have been made without a parent’s permission. We wanted to reach every customer who might have been affected, so we sent emails to 28 million App Store customers – anyone who had made an in-app purchase in a game designed for kids. When some emails bounced, we mailed the parents postcards. In all, we received 37,000 claims and we will be reimbursing each one as promised.

Cook also says that it doesn’t feel right that the FTC intervened here. Alas, a settlement has been reached:

It doesn’t feel right for the FTC to sue over a case that had already been settled. To us, it smacked of double jeopardy. However, the consent decree the FTC proposed does not require us to do anything we weren’t already going to do, so we decided to accept it rather than take on a long and distracting legal fight.

Here’s Cook’s email in full:

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In a rare TV interview, Tim Cook described this week’s launch of the iPhone on China Mobile as “a watershed day” for the company. While the soft-spoken Apple CEO is noted for the humbleness with which he speaks, it’s hard to imagine him describing Apple as being “honored” to do business with many other companies.

I’m so honored to be doing business with … China Mobile. It’s a huge announcement…we’re incredibly impressed with them, we have deep respect for them, and have had from the very first discussion that we’ve had together” … 
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Photo: mashable.com

ComputerWorld noted that Apple’s SEC filing on Friday revealed that Tim Cook lost out on $4M worth of stock as a result of his request to the board in August to revise his compensation arrangements to a deal he felt was fairer to shareholders.

Earlier this year Apple’s board revised Cook’s vesting schedule at his urging. Rather than the two monster stock handouts — which only relied on his continued employment — Cook asked that they be spread out over a 10-year period and tied to the company’s stock performance … 
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This morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a lengthy memo to employees as a reflection of the soon-ending 2013 and the upcoming year of 2014, according to multiple sources. In the letter, Tim Cook discusses people experiencing Apple products this holiday season, the Apple products launched throughout 2013, and corporate initiatives. “This holiday season, tens of millions of people around the world, from all walks of life, are experiencing Apple products for the first time. Those moments of surprise and delight are magical, and they’re all made possible by your hard work,” Cook says in the beginning of the email.

Cook notes Apple’s new manufacturing process for the Assembled in the USA Mac Pro and calls iOS 7 an “extraordinarily ambitious project.” “We extended our lead in the smartphone market with iPhone 5s; launched iOS 7, an extraordinarily ambitious project; released OS X Mavericks for free to our customers; introduced the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina display; and this week began shipping the Mac Pro from a manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas,” Cook told employees. Cook also notes his pride over Apple reaching 50 billion App Store app downloads this year. Apple reached this milestone in approximately five years…

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The December supply of Mac Pros?

The new Mac Pro is an awesome machine for those with several thousand dollars to spend on a computer and a need for all the power that comes with that thermal core, but managing to get one is going to be difficult for the next few months even if you have the credit card ready. Yesterday, Apple announced that the Mac Pro would go on sale today, December 19th. The store went live last night with the Mac Pro shipping the very last non-holi-day of 2013, December 30th.

As we noted earlier today, Apple’s customers in its home state of California awoke to Mac Pros being quoted to ship in February. But it gets worse…

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Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is not known for many video recorded public appearances outside of Apple events, spoke at length regarding equality at an Auburn University event. At the event, Cook accepted Auburn University’s College of Human Sciences Lifetime Achievement award. AllThingsD first wrote about Cook’s appearance and notes Cook’s discussion of two of his inspirations: Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy:

“They sacrificed everything, including their lives, as champions of human rights and of human dignity,” Cook said. “Their images inspire me. They serve as a reminder to me every day that regardless of the path that one chooses, there are fundamental commitments that should be a part of one’s journey.”

Cook also quotes the late Nelson Mandela (who Apple is currently honoring on its homepage). Interestingly, Cook’s quote from Martin Luther King is the same one that he sent via video to Apple employees late in November. “The time is always right to do what’s right,” the quote reads. The video (above) of Cook is well worth a watch for the life lessons it provides. Cook also provides insight into Apple’s approach to making its technologies accessible for everyone.

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Fortune is out today with its annual Businessperson of the Year list and this time around a couple notable Apple connections have made the list. Coming in at #4 behind #1Elon Musk, activist investors, and Tencent CEO ‘Pony’ Ma Huateng, is Apple’s recently hired Head of Retail, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts. 
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Apple executives have reached out to employees today in a company wide email urging them to review Apple’s Business Conduct Policy, a document describing how employees should conduct themselves in and outside the company while representing Apple. An email from Apple’s SVP and General Counsel Bruce Sewell (below) was accompanied by a new version of the policy available to employees in iBooks format and a video from CEO Tim Cook discussing the policy.

It’s unclear if there was a situation at Apple that could have prompted the email and video from Apple executives to employees. Apple notes that the policy “explains in very clear terms how you are expected to conduct yourself with our customers, business partners, government agencies, and fellow employees.” The document also covers legal principles  “like antitrust and anti-corruption laws” that all employees are expected to follow.

In the video, Tim Cook quotes Martin Luther King Jr saying “The time is always right to do what is right” and urges employees to speak up about other employees not following the code of conduct. Cook’s full quote from the video below:

As Dr. Martin Luther King once said, the time is always right to do what’s right. At Apple, we do the right thing. Even when it’s not easy. If you see something that doesn’t meet our standards, speak up. Whether it’s a quality issue or a business practice, if it affects Apple’s integrity, we need to know about it.
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Customers entering an Apple Store (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/klingon65/3840822757/in/photolist-6RpdN2-6RtfAW-6RJAHC-6TMNPK-6YaK9g-72ym3y-72ym69-76vgUH-76zcSC-7a46eP-7a46j2-7a46rZ-7a46vV-7a7VFJ-7bk1Cx-7dWBrd-7ebgkw-7fwqc8-7hjdSo-7pJoH8-7pJryH-7pNgDU-7pNhNW-7pNkxW-7rwhLM-7sVwEs-7tYcdD-bqqpoE-bqqqXs-bqqq3L-bDkiMB-bqqqwu-8gRXYQ-dDbgNk-crXJFW-dLxppW-co1G8N-dFMpEd-9SH1T9-bQrD92-aVVDhv-8gRXQC-8gRXR7-8gRXU7-8gNFZz-8gNFZV-8gRXSb-8gNG26-8gNG2H-8gRXTw-8gRXSw/">Photo by Gary Burke</a>)

iOS 7’s flashy launch earlier this year overshadowed a breakthrough new feature: iBeacons, a location-based technology with profound implications for industries such as retail. An iBeacon system could allow a store to install transmitters that would wirelessly connect to an iPhone and tell the phone its location with respect to items on shelves. This iPhone could then perform additional functionality if it is equipped with a specialized application. According to multiple sources, Apple is planning to soon enable just that in its retail stores…
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