Corporate

Apple has stopped disclosing how much it spends on advertising

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 25, 2016

Apple has stopped disclosing how much it spends on advertising, as revealed in its annual report (10-K) filed with the United States Securities and Exchange (SEC) commission in October.

Apple's motives behind this move are unclear and the SEC filing makes no mention of its advertising expenses for the whole 2016. In 2015, Apple's ad spend rose fifty percent to a record $1.8 billion.

The decision to stop reporting how much it spends on advertising may have something to do with the fact that the iPhone maker ended 2016 with its lowest operating margin since 2009, partially due to spending more ad dollars to drive total revenue.

President-elect Trump promises tax incentives for Apple to build “Made in USA” iPhones

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 23, 2016

Apple reportedly asked contract manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron to look into assembling iPhones in the United States and now we learn that Tim Cook phoned President-elect Donald Trump following his victory to talk about U.S. manufacturing.

In an interview with The New York Times, Trump reveals he's promised tax incentives to Apple to build its products domestically rather than outsource component production and assembly work to Taiwanese and Chinese suppliers and contract manufacturers.

Samsung to buy Harman for $8 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 14, 2016

Galaxy maker Samsung today announced it is purchasing Harman International for $112.00 per share in cash in a deal valued at approximately $8 billion. If the deal goes through, it'll be Samsung's largest acquisition to date. With the purchase of Harman Samsung is essentially buying a competitive advantage as it looks to take on Apple's rumored Project Titan and the CarPlay platform, Android Auto and other automotive systems.

Foxconn revenue rises on brisk iPhone 7 sales, but earnings fall due to losses at Sharp

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 11, 2016

Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s top contract manufacturer and the biggest assembler of Apple products, reported rising revenues for the September quarter and a decline in net profit. Revenue for the July-September quarter climbed from NT$1.066 trillion ($33.43 billion) a year earlier to NT$1.075 trillion ($33.7 billion) thanks to brisk sales of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

However, losses produced by Foxconn-owned electronics maker Sharp caused net profit to fall to NY$34.6 billion ($1.09 billion) from NY$37.9 billion ($1.19 billion) a year earlier.

Ireland is cheering in favor of Apple in EU state aid tax ruling

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 10, 2016

In August, the European Commission slammed Apple with a tax bill from hell over a sweetheart deal it received from Ireland—which, in the Commission's view, constitutes “illegal state aid”.

Dublin promptly promised to join Apple's fight against EU and it's put its money where its mouth is.

Michael Noonan, Finance Minister in the Irish government, said that Dublin today challenged the EU judgment by submitting an appeal to the European courts in a bid to block the decision, ArsTechnica reports.

Tim Cook calls for unity in a memo to troops issued after 2016 presidential election

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 10, 2016

Following an extremely divisive 2016 presidential election in which Donald Trump scored an upset victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Apple's boss Tim Cook issued a company-wide email to all employees, a copy of which was obtained by BuzzFeed's John Paczkowski.

In the memo, Cook urges employees to reach out to colleagues “if they are feeling anxious” about the election results and underscored that Apple celebrates the diversity of its employees regardless of “what they look like, where they come from, how they worship or who they love.”

New aerial footage shows major landscape changes as iSpaceship nears completion

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

YouTubers Duncan Sinfield and Matthew Roberts flew their drones above Apple Campus 2 like they do every month, bringing us breathtaking visual updates of construction progress at the iSpaceship site. Last month, we saw a bird's eye overview of the enormous ring-shaped building facade glowing at night and the month before landscaping work was beginning to show. Their latest footage reveals major landscape changes with large trees sprouting up everywhere around the new campus.

AT&T announces buying Time Warner as it looks to compete nationwide with cable companies

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 23, 2016

Following reports that AT&T, the nation's second-largest wireless carrier, held talks regarding a possible acquisition of Time Warner, AT&T has now formally confirmed that it will be purchasing the entertainment conglomerate in a stock-and-cash transaction valued at $107.50 per share. The purchase price implies a total equity value of $85.4 billion and a total transaction value of $108.7 billion.

The agreement has been approved unanimously by the boards of directors of both companies. It gives AT&T access to Time Warner's precious media properties like CNN, HBO, TNT and Warner Bros, as well as films like Harry Potter, Batman, Superman and next-generation super hero movies being developed by DC Comics.

The blockbuster merger, pending regulatory approval and closing before year-end 2017, will create a unique company that'll “define the future of media and communications”.

“Online Stores” dropped from Angela Ahrendts’s title, but she is still Apple’s retail boss

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 3, 2016

Apple's boss of online and physical retail stores, Angela Ahrendts, no longer has “Online Stores” in her official title. Instead, Apple is now referring to her role simply as “Senior Vice President, Retail” to better reflect its efforts to simply retail branding. Her reworded title along with a tweaked job description is live at the Apple Leadership webpage.

The change occurred over this past weekend. This is a purely cosmetic change: her responsibilities have not shifted and she is still in charge of all things retail at Apple.

Latest 4K drone flyovers show off iSpaceship facade glowing at night & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2016

A pair of new flyover videos from YouTubers Duncan Sinfield and Matthew Roberts reveal that Apple has installed exterior lights at Apple Campus 2 site, showing the iSpaceship building facade glowing at night. It's quite a spectacular sight given the enormous scale of the flying saucer-shaped structure.

Apple Campus 2, as it's officially called, will become home to more than 12,000 employees when it's completed some time in early 2017.

Apple to open R&D center in China’s “Silicon Valley” that’ll employ 500 people

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 29, 2016

Tim Cook said during his August charm offensive in China that his company could deepen its cooperation with the local government by launching its first Asia-Pacific research and development center. According to local media reports today, the facility will open in Zhongguancun Science Park, situated in the Haidian District in northwestern Beijing.

London’s iconic Battersea Power Station will be Apple’s new UK headquarters

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 28, 2016

The British newspaper Evening Standard reports that Apple will be opening a “stunning new” campus in London’s iconic Battersea Power Station. The $11.7 billion project will create a new home for 1,400 employees in the brick “cathedral of power,” which had been powering and lighting London up to 1983.