An Apple-1 goes up for auction on Sept. 25

Calling all Apple fanboys and collectors: an Apple-1 is set to be sold at an auction in Boston on Sept. 25, 2018, and potential buyers will be able to bid online. The computer is estimated to fetch between $300,000 and $400,000 (about P15.9 million to P21.3 million).

The computer, which was built in 1976, was recently restored and is billed as being perfectly operational. It comes with the owner’s manual, a new period-style power supply with original Apple-1 power cable and connector, as well as a keyboard and a period Sanyo 4205 video monitor.

The Apple-1 will be auctioned with a starting bid of $50,000 (P2.6 million) with live bidding set to begin Sept. 25. Hopefuls can sign up to bid via Invaluable.com.



The Apple-1 was the first personal computer sold by the Californian tech firm. It is a relatively rudimentary device, requiring a keyboard and a monitor or TV to function. It is now a collector’s item that can fetch impressive sums when remaining machines come up for sale. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak produced around 200 models in 1976, almost all of which sold within a few months.

The computer is being sold as part of the “Remarkable Rarities” auction, which features rare items from Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” sheet music signed by the three band members to a letter signed by George Washington.

Other Apple-related lots in the sale include a Macintosh computer signed by Steve Jobs and nine team members (estimated to fetch $25,000 to $30,000, or about P1.3 million to P1.59 million) and a Betamax videotape of the firm’s “1984” commercial for the launch of Macintosh (estimated to fetch $10,000 to $15,000, or about P533,000 to almost P800,000).

You can bid on the Apple-1 through this link. JB

source: technology.inquirer.net

Apple becomes 1st private company worth $1 trillion

NEW YORK — Apple became the first private-sector company to surpass $1 trillion in market value Thursday following its latest surge after reporting strong quarterly earnings.

Shares of Apple briefly hit $207.05 in late-morning trading, before retreating somewhat. The gains came after the iPhone maker reported strong earnings late Tuesday that prompted a two-day rally in the share price.

The company’s stock was at $206.85, up 2.7 percent near 1620 GMT. Apple said it currently has 4.83 billion shares outstanding.

As with other landmarks — such as the Dow crossing 25,000 for the first time —the Apple record is significant because of its resonance beyond the financial universe.

“The $1 trillion mark is more psychological, and sends a message of growth and size into the market,” said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

But many financial insiders view the record as a non-event, despite breaching the psychological barrier.

“There’s no real excitement on the trading desk,” said Karl Haeling of LBBW. “It’s one of those things that does not mean anything by itself… it’s more a testimony of the importance of Apple on the market.”

The landmark is the latest victory for Apple chief executive Tim Cook, who faced skepticism when he took reins of the iconic technology giant in 2011.

Credit to Cook 

He took over after the death of founder Steve Jobs, who was identified with launching many of Apple’s most iconic products, including the iPhone smartphone and the iPad tablet.

But Cook has gradually won accolades from investors by pumping out a series of solid financial results and further spreading Apple’s products to China and other foreign markets.


On Tuesday, Apple reported that net profit jumped more than 30 percent to $11.5 billion. Revenue in the fiscal third quarter soared 17 percent to $53.3 billion from the same period a year earlier due to sales of pricier iPhones, online services and wearable devices.

The record also cements the continued supremacy of US technology companies to the broader market, with other large technology giants Amazon, Google-parent Alphabet, Microsoft and Facebook regularly rounding out the top five in market

Apple is the first private sector company to reach this level, but state oil company PetroChina briefly broke the $1 trillion barrier in 2007 during its initial public offering, but has since dropped back down. /ee

source: technology.inquirer.net

Apple proved a phone can change the world in just 10 years

SAN FRANCISCO— Few people realized it at the time, but the world shifted fundamentally a decade ago when Steve Jobs pulled the first iPhone from Apple’s bag of technological tricks.

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” Jobs declared as he paced across a San Francisco stage.

It obviously wasn’t an empty boast. We all know now that Jobs’ “magical product” has reshaped culture, shaken up industries, put computers in billions of pockets and made it possible to do just about anything with a few taps on a screen. Besides its then 3.5-inch touch screen, the first iPhone featured a browser for on-the-go web surfing and built-in apps to check email and get directions.

GOING MOBILE
Apple has sold more than 1 billion iPhones since its debut, spawning millions of mobile applications and prodding other technology companies to make similar smartphones that have become like phantom limbs for many of us.

We use iPhones and their copycats to instantly share video and pictures with friends and family from almost anywhere. We use them to figure out where we are going. We use them to find the best deals while shopping in stores and to pay for stuff at the checkout stand. We use the phones to a hail ride, to tune instruments, to monitor our health and help find our next jobs.

Phones have gotten so smart that they even talk back to us via helpful digital concierges such as the iPhone’s Siri and the recently introduced Assistant on Google’s Pixel phone.

“IPhone is an essential part of our customers’ lives, and today more than ever it is redefining the way we communicate, entertain, work and live,” Apple’s current CEO, Tim Cook, boasted in a retrospective that the Cupertino, California, company posted on its website.

ROADKILL IN ITS WAKE

The iPhone’s revolutionary touch screen doomed the BlackBerry, another once-popular internet-connected phone. Mobile phones and their tablet cousins triggered a downturn in personal computer sales that is still unfolding.

An estimated 219 million desktop and laptop computers shipped worldwide last year, down from 264 million in 2007, according to the research firm Gartner Inc. Meanwhile, nearly 1.9 billion mobile phones shipped last year, up from 1.15 billion in 2007.

All told, Gartner estimates about 5 billion mobile phones are currently in use around the world compared to 1.3 billion PCs.

The eroding popularity of PCs spurred shake-ups at powerful tech companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Dell, none of which adapted nimbly to the mobile world unleashed by the iPhone.

Then-Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer scoffed at Apple’s glass-and-metal gadget, telling USA Today in April 2007 that “there’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”

Microsoft wound up squandering the $7.6 billion that it spent to buy phone maker Nokia in a futile attempt to catch up to the iPhone. Ballmer stepped down as CEO three years ago and was replaced by Satya Nadella, who introduced versions of Microsoft’s popular Office programs that worked on Apple’s iPad — a tablet based on the iPhone.

A HUGE HIT … AND THEN A STALL

The iPhone’s success helped make Jobs a revered figure for many, and one whose October 2011 death was mourned around the world.

The device has established Apple as the world’s most profitable company with earnings of $45.7 billion on sales of $216 billion during its latest fiscal year. (Prior to the iPhone’s release, Apple posted an annual profit of $2 billion on sales of $19.3 billion.) Its stock-market value is hovering around $635 billion, thanks to a split-adjusted stock price that’s risen by nearly a factor of 10 since the iPhone’s debut.

Lately, though, the iPhone appears to be losing some steam. People are keeping older models for longer before upgrading or switching over to competing phones that run on Google’s Android software.

Apple suffered its first-ever decline in iPhone sales in its last fiscal year, causing the company to miss its revenue projections and hitting Cook with a 15 percent pay cut .

Most smartphones now run on Android, partly because Google gives away the software. That has helped iPhone rivals woo price conscious consumers, especially outside the U.S., with phones that are much cheaper than the iPhone, whose latest models now cost more than $649 to $849.

In his statement, though, Cook promised the iPhone is “just getting started. The best is yet to come.”

source: technology.inquirer.net

Apple CEO goes on hike to mark Steve Jobs' death anniversary

New Apple CEO Tim Cook is marking the second death anniversary of the tech giant's co-founder Steve Jobs with a long hike.

Cook said this on his Twitter account Saturday night (Manila time), saying he planned to reflect on Jobs' friendship and his impact on the universe.

"Second anniversary of Steve's death. Going on a long hike today and reflecting on his friendship and all the dents he made in the universe," he said.

Apple had named Cook its new CEO following Jobs' death in October 2011.

Tech site Mashable said the message "offers a rare look into the friendship that the two Apple veterans shared for well over a decade."

Meanwhile, Apple enthusiast site 9to5mac.com said Cook issued a company-wide email on Jobs' second death anniversary.

It cited a source who provided a copy of the mail that said Cook hoped "everyone will reflect on what he meant to all of us and to the world."

"Steve was an amazing human being and left the world a better place. I think of him often and find enormous strength in memories of his friendship, vision and leadership. He left behind a company that only he could have built and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We will continue to honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to the work he loved so much. There is no higher tribute to his memory. I know that he would be proud of all of you," it quoted Cook's letter  as saying.

The 9to5mac.com report said Apple honored Jobs last year with a tribute video on its homepage. — LBG, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Steve Jobs protects iPhones from beyond the grave —sort of

Fans of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs may want to look out for the next two iPhones —likely the 5S and the 6— as they may be the last ones developed under his watch: anti-theft technology built into the phones was his idea, according to Apple.


A report on the San Francisco Examiner said District Attorney George Gascón found this out when he discussed a kill-switch technology with Apple's government liaison Michael Foulkes.

 

 "They preceded Tim Cook," Gascon was quoted in the report as saying of the two iPhones.

Gascón was pushing for a kill-switch technology that would permanently disable a mobile phone or tablet once it is reported stolen.

He had hoped this would discourage thefts and robberies of smartphones and tablets because a permanently disabled gadget would be much less attractive to thieves.

During his discussion of the subject with Foulkes, Gascon said he was told the next two generations of iPhones had already been developed.

Cook took over as Apple CEO after Jobs' death in 2011.

 

 

A separate report on Mashable said an iPhone had been involved in more than half of San Francisco’s robberies last year.

 

Presently, it said Apple allows users of stolen iPhones to remotely lock and wipe the gadgets —but not to permanently disable the device. — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com