Rico's rants: Apple news

David Streitfeld has an article in The New York Times about the latest at Apple:

The annual meeting of the most valuable company on Earth was winding toward a close when a determined shareholder grabbed the microphone and brought up the plight of the oppressed masses. These suffering souls have been much in the news of late, and this shareholder wondered if Apple’s hundred billion in cash— one of the greatest corporate hoards ever— could improve their lives just a bit.
“Please buy Greece,” the young man said.
What? You were expecting maybe this to be about China, where workers toil to make iPhones and iPads under conditions that could fairly be described as grim? Not a chance. Apple’s meeting, held at its Cupertino, California headquarters, yielded no official mentions of China, or even indirect references to the workers there. That was left to the protesters outside the auditorium.
“Stop iSweat shop,” they demanded, a slogan that needs an overhaul before people will start listening to it. The number of demonstrators did not top two dozen.
One concrete change came out of the meeting: advocates of improved corporate governance won a victory when Apple said it would start electing board members by a majority rather than a simple plurality. The company previously opposed such a move.
Tim Cook’s remarks, his second shareholder address as chief executive but the first since Steve Jobs died, began with a tribute to Jobs. Cook spoke of his “intense determination to continue the journey”, because he knew that was what Jobs would want.
And what a profitable trip it has been. Cook took a quick survey of the many accomplishments of the company: Siri, the voice-recognition software in the new iPhone, (“many people’s best friend”). Twenty-five billion apps downloaded (“It’s hard to even intellectually think about a number that big”). The iPod (“continues to be the top music player in the world”). Macs (“Arguably, we’re the only company innovating in the personal computer space”). Apple stores (a million people a day come through). And of course the amazing growth in revenue last year (“More growth than H-P, Nokia, HTC, Google” —and here Cook seemed to genuinely forget the name of a once-formidable competitor whose very survival is now being questioned— “and RIM put together”).
As for the shareholders, here is what was on their minds, aside from Greece. (No, that question did not make any more sense if you were there). What is going to happen with that $100 billion? Facebook: friend or foe? (Answer: friend!) The closest anyone got to activism was complaining that Apple advertised on shows like Family Guy that were not kid-friendly. By the way, what is going to happen to that $100 billion?
In a never-revealed-before Apple Fact, Cook said Apple gave away or discounted equipment worth $750 million to educational institutions last year. As for that $100 billion in cash, well, they are thinking about it.
The proceedings ended after about an hour. Outside, the protesters had long since dispersed. Shareholders, accosted at random, said Cook was doing a great job. Nadine Samuels, a Frenchwoman who now lives in Berkeley, California, did allow that it was a little odd that the oppressed masses in China did not at least get a mention. “I was expecting Cook to comfort shareholders, to say that they’re on the problem,” she said. “It would have been nice to hear a word or two.”

There was a slightly out-dated link (which used up Rico's last free article, damn, from the NYT for the month) to this, from 2009:

We don’t know what’s wrong with Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive. But it’s got to be serious. You don’t take a six-month leave of absence, as he is, just because you’ve got a stomachache.
So that raises the question, for investors and customers, about whether Apple’s amazing record of innovation and financial success are at risk while Jobs is on leave— and even more so if he never returns.
The answers in each of those two scenarios are very different.
In the short run, Apple is on a roll. It refreshed its notebook line last fall with a new technology. The iPhone has a lot of momentum, and we can assume work is well under way for a third hardware version and a stream of software updates.
There are several gaps in its product line. In the face of a serious recession, will the company compete harder to sell computers that cost less than $1,000? (Yes, there is a $600 Mac Mini, but it’s certainly not been a priority.) And can Apple develop the Apple TV product to have a stronger play in the living room?
But it’s not clear that Jobs had any interest in taking action on any of these questions. And putting them off may not derail Apple, even if it misses out on some potential sales.
Also, here is a key line from the email Jobs sent to Apple employees: “As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out.” So, assuming his health allows, Jobs will still keep his hand on the tiller.
But the risk to Apple is far higher if we imagine the grim possibility that Steve Jobs is unable to return to work. I’m not saying that because there is any shortage of good people at Apple. The company’s top management ranks are filled with some very skilled executives, including Tim Cook, the company’s chief operating officer, who will step in for Jobs while he is on leave.
But the essence of Steve Jobs— the obsessive visionary who involves himself in the smallest details of Apple’s products and advertising— has fostered what is in effect a corporate operating system that will need to be completely upgraded whenever a successor is named.
After all, however talented the executives at Apple, one skill they all need is an understanding of how to work with, and when appropriate, defer to, the whims of Steve Jobs.
It’s almost impossible to imagine the next chief executive of Apple having the same sort of autocratic and impulsive personality. That’s not the style of the people who work there. (There’s only one queen in the hive.) And what outsider coming into the top job of a company doing as well as Apple would have the guts to be so strong-willed and independent?
Of course, Apple’s board should hardly look for a Steve Jobs clone if it needs to fill his chair. Executed with less than unnatural perfection, anyone trying to emulate the Jobs style risks being a bullying buffoon. I even wonder if some of the obsessions and paranoias that are part of Jobs’ worldview always work to Apple’s benefit.
Steve Jobs can be replaced, even if he can’t be duplicated. There are lots of ways to run successful and innovative companies. And Apple couldn’t be in better shape, financially or in its public image, to withstand a change.
But the inevitable process of reworking the entire corporate operating system, changing the culture of how decisions get made and how executives relate to each other, entails enough risk that investors and customers are right to wonder whether Apple after Steve Jobs may lose its way.

Rico says he should've known it wasn't current, but he was curious anyway. (And they didn't get to $500 a share without "some of the obsessions and paranoias that are part of Jobs’ worldview"...)
But, wait, there's more news, from a column by MG Siegler at TechCrunch:

With the countdown underway to 25 billion total app downloads, there’s no disputing the success of Apple’s App Store. We live in a world of hyperbole, but Apple’s entry into this space really has changed the entire mobile world. But the App Store is far from perfect. And with its immense scale, a few problems have been revealed. The biggest one is app discovery. There are now over half a million apps, so how do you find anything?
Right now, it’s hard and getting harder by the day. The strong get stronger while new apps often have trouble breaking in. But with an acquisition that Apple has just made, they hope to change that. Apple has bought the app search and discovery platform Chomp, we’ve learned.
We first covered Chomp in November of 2009 to announce their seed funding. Since then, they’ve grown their scope to include not only iPhone apps, but Android apps as well. In fact, Chomp currently has a deal with Verizon to power all of their Android-based app searches. That relationship, obviously, is going to get a bit awkward with this acquisition.
My understanding is that such deals will remain intact for now but are likely to end once the Chomp team and product fully transitions over to Apple. The same is likely true for Chomp’s stand-alone products.
I haven’t been able to learn the exact terms of the deal, but I hear that all the investors should be very pleased with the outcome. This is not a cheap “acqui-hire”; Apple has bought the Chomp team and technology and plans to use both to completely revamp App Store search and recommendations, I hear. And they clearly have the money to do it: Apple has nearly $100 billion in cash (and cash equivalents) in the bank now, coming off their monster quarter.
Chomp had raised a little over $2.5 million over two rounds of funding. The company has twenty-some employees, all of whom should be heading over to Apple.
Chomp CEO and co-founder Ben Keighran wrote a guest post for TechCrunch a year ago entitled: For Mobile Apps, It’s 1996 All Over Again. His company was obviously a big bet in that direction. And it just paid off big time.