Corporate

U.S. regulator grants Apple Energy permission to sell solar-generated power to public utilities

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 4, 2016

Apple Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Apple, Inc. registered in Delaware last month, has successfully obtained federal approval from the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to sell excess energy generated from its solar facilities into the wholesale market, joining Google parent Alphabet in the energy-trading business.

The firm sought permission from FERC to begin selling power within 60 days of its filing on June 6. Sales can officially begin on Saturday, Bloomberg said, as FERC's determined that Apple Energy doesn't pose a risk of being able to hike up prices.

Apple-backed Didi Chuxing buys rival Uber China

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 6, 2017

Now we (probably) know why Apple poured a cool $1 billion into China's leading ride-sharing service Didi Chuxing as that company's just invested—you guessed right—$1 billion into its biggest rival, Uber China. The transaction, subject to closing conditions, will also give a 20 percent stake in the combined firm for Uber and its shareholders, said Bloomberg.

Bloomberg: Apple’s Project Titan prioritizes autonomous driving amid new hirings

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 28, 2016

Apple's rumored electric vehicle project has shifted its focus towards autonomous driving systems although that shouldn't be interpreted as Apple abandoning efforts to design its own vehicle, Bloomberg reported today.

After bringing former hardware chief Bob Mansfield back from retirement to run its Project Titan initiative, Apple has now hired BlackBerry and Ford talent to help perfect its secret self-driving software.

Samsung enjoys its most profitable quarter in two years thanks to strong Galaxy S7 sales

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 28, 2016

Samsung this morning announced results for the second calendar quarter ended June 30, and the numbers are encouraging despite global smartphone sales cooling down. The South Korean conglomerate's mobile division reported “substantial earnings improvement” buoyed by strong sales of its flagship Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge flagship smartphones.

The data is newsworthy given strong competition Samsung has been facing on the low-end from Chinese rivals like Xiaomi and Huawei and on the high-end from Apple's iPhone. This is the best earning result Samsung has posted in two years, by the way.

Apple’s marketing honcho Phil Schiller joins biotech company Illumina’s board of directors

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 28, 2016

Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, has been named to biotechnology company Illumina's board of directors. According to Illumina's announcement, Phil’s track record and global experience in marketing world-class products “will help guide us as we continue to develop innovative new solutions for our customers.”

Of course, Apple's interest in health-related technologies for the Apple Watch is well known. Illuminas President and CEO, Francis deSouza, said that Phil's vision, integrity and passion are “fully aligned” with Illumina’s core values.

Verizon to buy struggling Internet giant Yahoo for a reported $4.83 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 25, 2016

Monday, both Yahoo and Verizon Wireless said that the nation's leading wireless carrier will be buying Yahoo's operating business for a reported $4.83 billion. The transaction, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, should grant the carrier over one billion total monthly search users while giving the two companies more than two dozen media and advertising brands, to be added to the AOL network, plus an email service with 225 million monthly active users.

Japan’s SoftBank is buying iPhone CPU supplier ARM for a reported $32 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 18, 2016

Japan's carrier SoftBank has announced it will be purchasing British fabless semiconductor maker ARM Holdings plc for a reported $32 billion, which is around a 43 percent premium on its closing market value of $22.25 billion on Friday. ARM confirmed the deal (PDF download) on Monday.

According to the statement, ARM's board is expected to recommend shareholders accept the offer. Apple is an investor in ARM and licenses its technology as a basis for custom CPU designs for its own A-series chips which power iOS devices.

Apple is opening an imaging R&D lab in the center of France’s Grenoble

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 14, 2016

In addition to celebrating Bastille Day with 'Shot on iPhone' imagery in blue/white/red tones representing the country's national flag appearing on the company's French website and billboards across the country, the Cupertino firm has also signed a lease with the city of Grenoble to open a research and development center at the heart of the town.

The 800-square-meter facility will reportedly focus on imaging components and employ about thirty engineers, according to the local newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré cited by French blog iPhone.fr.

Apple to reveal June quarter numbers on July 26

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 28, 2016

Apple will talk sales, revenue, profitability, the cost of doing business and other financial metrics pertaining to its third fiscal quarter, which translates into the second calendar quarter of this year, on July 26, according to an announcement posted on the Apple Investor webpage.

A conference call in which the company will discuss the latest quarterly results with investors and Wall Street analysts is scheduled for Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 2pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern.

Sage Bionetworks co-founder joins Apple to work on health projects

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2016

Sage Bionetworks said in a media release today that is president and co-founder Dr. Stephen Friend has joined Apple. “Dr. Friend has accepted a position with Apple Inc. where he will work on health-related projects,” reads the release.

He will stay on as Sage's chairman of the board.

Sage was one of the launch partners for ResearchKit, a framework Apple launched in March 2015 to accelerate advanced medical research by allowing medical professionals to create iOS apps which tap into the iPhone's many sensors to collect anonymized data on various diseases and symptoms.

Microsoft is buying LinkedIn for $26.2 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 13, 2016

Windows giant Microsoft on Monday announced it's purchasing business-oriented social networking service LinkedIn for a cool $26.2 billion. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a message to troops that he's been learning about LinkedIn for some time “while also reflecting on how networks can truly differentiate cloud services.” LinkedIn has a network of more than 433 million business professionals, meaning Microsoft would be paying an average of about $60 per user.

Apple sets up new company to sell excess electricity generated by its solar farms

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 9, 2016

Apple's focus on making its retail stores and corporate offices in the United States and around the world run on 100 percent renewable energy sources is in the spotlight again with news that it's created a new company with the sole purpose of selling excess electricity generated by its solar farms in Cupertino and Nevada, as first discovered by 9to5Mac.