Corporate

Ericsson and Apple sign seven-year cross-licensing patent agreement

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 22, 2017

Ericsson, a Swedish multinational provider of communication technology, equipment and services, today announced it has signed a seven-year cross-licensing agreement with Apple, putting an end to a multi-year patent spat that has plagued their relationship.

The global agreement includes a cross-license that covers patents relating to both companies' standard-essential patents, including the GSM, UMTS and LTE cellular standards. It also resolves all pending patent-infringement litigation between the companies before the United States International Trade Commission, United States District Courts and European courts.

Jeff Williams becomes Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, Phil Schiller now oversees all App Stores

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

Apple today announced that it is promoting Jeff Williams to Chief Operating Officer. Williams has been the company's Vice President of Operations and served as Tim Cook's right-hand man during the latter's multi-year tenure as Apple's op-chief in the Steve Jobs era.

Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and the steward of its relationship with developers, will expand his role to include leadership of the App Stores across all Apple platforms.

Apple buys motion capture firm Faceshift

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 25, 2015

Apple has acquired a Zürich, Germany-based startup FaceShift which provides a proprietary technology for real-time motion capture that was used in the latest Star Wars film and in production of a number of high-profile video games. Apple has officially confirmed the deal in a prepared statement to TechCrunch.

Speculation is rife as to how Apple might be taking advantage of such a sophisticated motion capture technology in its own products, including potentially using it to power real-time avatars for FaceTime video chats.

Activision Blizzard is buying Candy Crush Saga maker King Digital for $5.9 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 3, 2015

Renowned games publisher Activision Blizzard is purchasing King Digital, the maker of the popular Candy Crush Saga videogame series, in a transaction valued at a whooping $5.9 billion, the two companies announced Tuesday.

Activision, best-known for the World of Warcraft, Diablo and Call of Duty videogame series, said ABS Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, will acquire all of the outstanding shares of King for $18 in cash per share, for a total equity value of $5.9 billion.

Bloomberg: Apple’s penchant for secrecy slowing down its AI development efforts

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 30, 2015

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple's artificial development efforts are being hampered by the company's legendary penchant for secrecy as the company is finding it difficult to hire top engineers in the field.

While Apple researchers attended an artificial intelligence industry conference in Montreal last year, they kept a low profile and “didn’t say who they worked for unless asked.”

Tim Cook issues email to troops commemorating fourth anniversary of Steve Jobs’s death

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 5, 2015

Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer and died of respiratory arrest on this day four years ago. To commemorate the fourth anniversary of his tragic passing, current CEO Tim Cook, whom Jobs suggested as his successor to the Board of Directors, issued a company-wide email to employees.

The message, a copy of which was obtained by The Telegraph, praises Jobs as a visionary leader, a mentor and “a dear friend.”

The internal message wraps up by suggesting that employees honor Steve by “continuing the work he started, and for remembering both who he was and what he stood for.”

Former Boeing CFO joins Apple’s Board of Directors

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2015

Apple just announced that former Boeing Chief Financial Officer and Corporate President, James A. Bell, is joining its Board of Directors. James brings “a wealth of global, financial and industrial experience from his successful career at Boeing as corporate president and CFO,” said CEO Tim Cook.

“I am thrilled to welcome him to Apple’s board of directors and I look forward to working with him,” said Cook.

The iPhone effect: Samsung laying off 10 percent of workforce at its headquarters

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 8, 2015

According to a report by Korean newspaper which was relayed Tuesday by Bloomberg, Samsung Electronics is about to lay off ten percent of workers at its headquarters in South Korea “as the world’s biggest smartphone maker loses sales to Apple and Chinese vendors.”

It is no secret that things have been tough for Samsung ever since Apple released its larger-screened iPhones. In addition, strong competition from China's vendors like Huawei and Xiaomi, which build comparable phones that cost half as much as Samsung's high-end devices, has contributed to Samsung's diminishing sales in China.

Apple finds it tough to recruit top minds in artificial intelligence and machine learning

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 7, 2015

Apple's massive hiring effort in artificial intelligence and machine learning has hit roadblocks as the company is increasingly finding it tough to recruit top data scientists and AI experts due to its own strict privacy policies that prevent those engineers from retrieving valuable user data.

In other words, according to a Reuters report Monday, some of the brightest minds in artificial intelligence are increasingly not interested in working for a company that values and respects privacy of its users.

Take a peek at Apple’s new Texas offices, its second largest operation in the world

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Austin American-Statesman on Monday published a nice photo gallery providing our first sneak peek at Apple's new offices in Austin, Texas.

The premises include a complete wellness center, a doctor's office, restaurants, smoothie bars, exam rooms named after Texas parks and more.

The upcoming campus is located in Northwest Austin off Parmer Lane. When completed, it will consist of 1.1 million square feet of office space covering 38 acres.

In addition to the Austin facilities, Apple's been building a new ring-shaped corporate home in Cupertino called Campus 2, also known as Spaceship.

Crisp drone footage narrated by Steve Jobs offers a detailed look at iSpaceship progress

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 2, 2015

The Apple Campus 2 project, a future 2.8 million square foot home for approximately 12,000 Apple employees, is coming along nicely. The structure, affectionally dubbed the iSpaceship due to its ring-shaped design, was recently filmed from above by Silicon Valley-based videographer Duncan Sinfield who shared his footage with MacRumors.

The high-quality aerial video includes segments of Steve Jobs' 2011 project pitch to the Cupertino City Council as a voiceover. The video is well worth watching as it gives details on the different buildings Apple is constructing while offering progress comparisons with the previous footage from early August.

Have you checked out Google’s new playful logo yet?

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 1, 2015

As part of its massive restructuring effort, the Internet giant Google on Tuesday showed off its brand new logo. While the Mountain View company has refined its logo multiple times over the past seventeen years, today's announcement marks the biggest visual change to Google's brand identity thus far.

The new logo reflects the fact that people now interact with Google across many different platforms, apps and devices, the company argues.

Check out the new logo and identity family and tell us in comments how you liked them.