iPod

tony fadell

Apple pays off iPod daddy with $8.4 million in stock

Why did Tony Fadell, the driving force behind the iPod, leave Apple? We know this much: Apple is willing to pay him handsomely not to make a fuss on the way out. Digital Daily notes that he's getting paid $300,000 a year through March 24, 2010. That's a 40 percent paycut from his regular salary of $500,009, but the salary is the least of his post-Apple compensation. according to Apple's 10-K filing. If he keeps his gig as as a "special advisor," doesn't sue Apple, and agrees not to recruit Apple employees to any new venture, he'll get 77,500 shares of Apple stock — currently worth a cool $8.4 million.

9:00 AM on Wed Nov 5 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,078 views, 1 comment

Latest by bhageman: knowing where the bodies are buried sure does pay well... more »

online music

Apple and other online music retailers get their way

The Copyright Royalty Board, an obscure agency which has been thrust into the spotlight thanks to its role in arbitrating rates for digital music distribution, has frozen the price online music stores have to pay to artists and labels at a little over nine cents. The music industry had been lobbying for an increase to around fifteen cents, would likely have erased the notoriously slim margins Apple enjoys at the iTunes Music Store. Not that Apple would have cared, since it's all about the iPod business anyway and the company was ostensibly willing to shut down digital download sales if it didn't get its way.

3:20 PM on Thu Oct 2 2008
By Jackson West
218 views, 1 comment

Latest by WagCurious: Apple was as likely to shut down the iTunes store as you are likely to post the article on the more »

Acqusiitions

Why Apple's forcing Samsung to chase SanDisk

Samsung has launched a hostile $5.9 billion offer for SanDisk, a rival maker of flash-memory chips, which SanDisk has rejected. Toshiba, which manufactures chips in partnership with SanDisk, is considering a blocking bid. The posturing is typical: SanDisk says the bid undervalues the company, while Samsung executives retort that it is "full and fair." Leave aside the deal theatrics: Why does Samsung want SanDisk? More »

1:20 PM on Wed Sep 17 2008
By Owen Thomas
5,949 views, 3 comments

Most discussed jim_rock: Monopsony seems to be a company playing by the majority of the rules and still achieving wild success. Such are more »

iphone

Apple's iPhone chip plans leaked on LinkedIn

A senior chip design manager from PA Semi, Wei-han Lien, let a little light shine on Apple's plans for future generations of the iPhone and iPod by listing "Manage ARM CPU architecture team for iPhone" as his current gig on LinkedIn (Lien's profile has since been scrubbed from the site). CEO Steve Jobs had already let it be known that new Apple subsidiary would be working on chips for the popular mobile devices, and now we know that they will be basing designs on the same ARM architecture that Samsung licensed for the current batch, though with Apple's own proprietary improvements. PA Semi was known for crafting highly efficient, low-power chips. Other features, such as graphics and video processing and multi-touch controls, can also be embedded directly in CPU. Tighter integration with the surrounding electronics in the entire chipset can also be achieved with a custom design. As for PA Semi's role in supplying defense contractors with the company's famously efficient designs, not to worry — a contractor says he'll be able to provision chips popular in military applications for "four to five years."

8:20 AM on Tue Sep 16 2008
By Jackson West
604 views, Comment

great moments in pr

Dan Lyons catches Apple employees pretending to be fanboys

Steve Jobs's latest Applefest was a nonevent, with nothing more to show than updates to the iPod line and iTunes software. But the cheers at the glorified press conference yesterday were as blustery as they ever are at Apple events. Newsweek's Dan Lyons must have been bored by what was being said on stage, because he was paying more attention to the rest of the audience. He reports that much of the crowd was clapping so loud because they were paid to. More »

2:20 PM on Wed Sep 10 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
813 views, 7 comments

Most discussed celery: To be fair, most Apple employees really are starry-eyed Apple fanboys. more »

apple

Steve Jobs looks okay at iPod event

Forget all the colorful new iPods on display at Apple's "Let's Rock" event in San Francisco today — Apple investors are more concerned with the guy who's demoing them. Pictures of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, whose health has been much in question lately, show him looking imperiously slim, not dangerously frail. (Photo by Brian Lam/Gizmodo) [Gizmodo Liveblog]

10:40 AM on Tue Sep 9 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,275 views, 6 comments

Most discussed fedbait: Imperiously slim -- what the hell does that even mean? He looks fucking emaciated. more »

developers, developers, developers

iPhone-app developers say Apple won't let them fix bugs quickly

Something we bet Steve Jobs won't be discussing on stage at this morning's iPod event: The third-party developers who create apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch say Apple takes a week or more to approve updates — even bug fixes. Apple also doesn't communicate with the developers to tell them why or how long their updates will be delayed. Fraser Speiers, who developed the Exposure Flickr application for the iPhone, told Macworld:

I don't have a problem with updates being reviewed but it has to go a lot faster. Given the no-demos rule, an app lives or dies by App Store reviews. It's incredibly frustrating to watch review after review complain about a bug that you fixed and "shipped" two weeks ago.

More »

10:00 AM on Tue Sep 9 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
417 views, Comment

kane kramer

Meet the guy Apple's lawyers say invented the iPod

British engineer Kane Kramer created a device in 1979 called the IXI which could store and play back three and a half minutes of music. He patented the device and even founded a company to sell it. By 1988, funding ran out and he couldn't afford to renew the patents. Improbably, Apple now calls him an inventor of the iPod. The U.K.'s Daily Mail, which first reported the news, says it's the story of a wronged inventor who has never seen a dime from the 163 million iPods sold worldwide. "I can’t even bring myself to buy an iPod for myself," says Kramer, who has closed a legal loophole for Apple, conveniently and cheaply. More »

9:40 AM on Mon Sep 8 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
13,024 views, 13 comments

Most discussed giddieup: they settle out of court, which means that apple prob paid em enuff to satisfy those shitfaces. patent laws needs to more »

rumormonger

Newsflash: Apple to unveil new products at new-products event

At a press conference scheduled for September 9, Apple will unveil "unspecified new products," reports Reuters. Thanks, Reuters guys — that really helps! The event's theme is "let's rock." In August, Digg cofounder Kevin Rose predicted Apple would announce a new iPod Nano, minor changes to its iPod Touch, price cuts to older iPod models and version 8.0 of iTunes — in other words, the same kind of update to its iPod product line Apple makes every fall. Our eternal gratitude, Captain Obvious!

11:40 AM on Tue Sep 2 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
729 views, 6 comments

Most discussed Matthew_Maurice: Is that a carbon-fibre click wheel? more »

breakdowns

Apple confirms iPod Nano fires

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry claims “there have been multiple cases of overheating and fire damage, in particular during recharging" iPod Nanos sold during the model's first year of production in 2005. An Apple spokesperson confirmed that “in very rare cases”, batteries in first generation iPod Nanos sold between September 2005 and December 2006 can overheat. Full statement from Apple: More »

1:40 PM on Tue Aug 19 2008
By Paul Boutin
516 views, 3 comments

Latest by ciscokidinsf: @TheChris2.0: Dunno, The Doors' Jim Morrison would've been a better choice. more »

Valleywag