RadioShack announced through Twitter that the iPhone 4S would be on sale today in celebration of the New Year. Specifically, Radio Shack retail stores will slash $50 iPhone 4S purchases for all capacities and both colors. Unfortunately for Sprint and Verizon users, the deal is for AT&T customers only.
A famous Apple campaign goes: “Here’s to the crazy ones.” Of course the crazy ones usually get institutionalized. And that’s exactly what has happened to Apple. It seems that in recent weeks, Apple has been or announced plans to be, institutionalized.
Apple, which represents the newest of the new, both aesthetically and technologically, is embracing the old. Here’s what I’m talking about.
The Royal Treatment
Queen Elizabeth II appointed Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design and Steve Job’s “spiritual partner” as a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Yeah, Sir Jony was knighted. Again.
The queen will officially confer the honor with a tap of the sword, which Ive will consider garish, needlessly decorated and far too large.
Apple’s association with the institution of the British Monarchy started when Ive was conferred the lesser title of a Commander of the British Empire in 2005, and when US President Barack Obama gave the queen an iPod in April of 2009. Or maybe it’s when she bought her own in 2005.
Either way, Apple is thoroughly associated now with the institution of the British Monarchy.
Grand Central Apple Store
It’s not just that institutions want to institutionalize Apple. Apple wants to institutionalize itself.
Apple opened this month the world’s largest Apple Store inside the world’s largest train station in America’s largest city. The Grand Central Terminal is a New York institution, built between 1903 and 1913. As a New York institution, it’s up there with the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.
Unlike many of the stores inside the terminal building, the Apple Store stands as an homage to the architecture and history of the building. Paul Gunther, President of the Institute of Classical Architecture, wrote that “The new Apple store is cultural memory writ large, resulting in a renewal of artistic appreciation for a place at risk of being taken for granted.”
But Apple’s presence isn’t just about honoring the terminal, but improving and maintaining it. Apple will spend $2.5 million in permanent improvements to the terminal.
The Grand Central Terminal Apple store clearly isn’t just about foot traffic. Apple wants to be associated with, and contribute to the preservation of, cultural institutions.
Apple has a lot of Apple Stores — some 360 at last count. But recently, the company has been working hard and paying through the nose to build Apple Stores inside cultural institutions around the world.
More Grand and Central Stores Coming This Year
According to reports, Apple is planning to open Apple Stores in more famous, historic buildings.
Apple plans to build a big store in a building right in the center of Madrid, Spain, that was built in 1860 but that closed five years ago. The building used to be the famous Hotel Paris and was originally the “Fonde de Paris.” Like Grand Central Terminal, the Hotel Paris building has amazing interior decorations. Famous artists and writers like Manet and Dario once lived in the hotel.
A ginormous electric sign erected in 1946 advertising Tio Pepe sherry is a major Madrid tourist attraction. Although the sign has been removed for construction, it will be returned to its former glory in time for the opening of the Apple Store this year.
In Germany, Apple intends to install a store in a theater built in 1913 in the Kurfürstendamm shopping section of Berlin, according to rumors. The building, which somehow survived the heavy bombing of Berlin in World War II, will be completely renovated by Apple.
Stanford Archives
We also learned this week that Apple has long been institutionalized in a secret archive at Stanford University, the school where Steve Jobs’ son, Reed Jobs, currently attends.
The university has reportedly been curating a “storehouse of materials Apple had been collecting for a company museum” but that were donated by Apple to Stanford in the late 1990s.
This “storehouse” is the world’s largest collection of Apple historical materials. It filled two moving vans, and now takes up more than 600 feet of shelf space at a climate-controlled storage facility that exists in an undisclosed location in Silicon Valley.
According to an Associated Press report this week, “The collection includes early photos of young Jobs and Wozniak, blueprints for the first Apple computer, user manuals, magazine ads, TV commercials, company t-shirts and drafts of Jobs’ speeches.”
The most interesting fact about this historical collection, besides its size and that it came directly from Apple, is its closed, secret nature. All these artifacts are off-limits, and few even know what’s in there.
So remember December, 2011. That’s the month when Apple got institutionalized.
Similar Posts:
 |  |
BBC reports that Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, Jonathan Ive, has been awarded a knighthood in the United Kingdom.Mr Ive, who can now style himself Sir Jonathan, has been made a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE).Ive began work at Apple in 1992, but found himself frustated during the early years before Jobs' return. Ive is seen as responsible for many of the iconic designs coming out of Apple over the past decade. Jobs described Ive as his "spiritual partner" and had given him complete operational freedom at Apple.
"I am keenly aware that I benefit from a wonderful tradition in the UK of designing and making,'' Ive, 44, said in a statement. "To be recognized with this honour is absolutely thrilling and I am both humbled and sincerely grateful. I discovered at an early age that all I've ever wanted to do is design. I feel enormously fortunate that I continue to be able to design and make products with a truly remarkable group of people here at Apple."
Video of iOS apps running side-by-side on Apple TV.
Developer Steven Troughton-Smith has been working with a developer named TheMudKip to add iOS application functionality to the Apple TV. The tweaking is still in its early stages, but the concept of running applications was at least proven. In order to accomplish the task of running iOS applications on the Apple TV, the software that powers the app launcher, the iOS Springboard, had to be rewritten.
Rewriting the springboard also allowed for another neat, new feature: side-by-side apps. This concept was demonstrated as early as WWDC 2011 on an iPad, but is much more powerful and important on a device like an Apple TV. One can imagine opening several news applications to have a big view of what is going on in the world, or having different chat applications for different services simultaneously in use. We will update on the progress of this hack as more information comes in. More images after the break:
Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design Jonathan Ive can add a new title to his resume: Sir Jonathan Ive. According to BBC, Ive was granted knighthood in the United Kingdom in the New Year Honours List. The report said that Ive’s official title is a Knight Commander of the British Empire. Ive, who was born and raised in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States to pursue design work, said that the honor is “absolutely thrilling.”
Ive credits his home country for some of his incredible design work: “I am keenly aware that I benefit from a wonderful tradition in the U.K. of designing and making.” While Ive has had an extremely successful career in Cupertino, California as Apple’s design chief, recent rumors said the designer of the iPod, iMac, iPhone, and most recently the iPad, was considering a move back to the United Kingdom. Soon after those rumors, a reliable report claimed Ive would not be leaving…
Ive joins a long list of New Years 2012 Honours List members and John Patrick Richardson is the only other international KBE that accompanies him from outside of the United Kingdom. Richardson is known as a famous author and art historian. Notably, on the subject of Apple and knighthood, a report from early 2011 claimed that Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was in the final stages of receiving knighthood, but his honor and “Sir” title was blocked at the last minute by Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown over Jobs refusal to speak at an event.
Jonathan Ive became the leader of Apple’s design team in 1996 and has since then transformed the company’s design philosophy. Newcastle Polytechnic awarded Ive with a Bachelor of Arts and an honorary doctorate. In addition, today’s United Kingdom-related award was not Ive’s first major award from the country. According to Ive’s official Apple biography, in 2003, he was named Designer of the Year by the Design Museum London and The Royal Society of Arts awarded him the title Royal Designer for Industry.
Screenshot from the Honours List for 2012:
Walter Isaacson’s biography of the Apple Cofounder and former CEO Steve Jobs, “Steve Jobs“, highlighted some of the interactions between Ive and Jobs, calling them “spiritual partners.” According to Ive, Jobs would attempt to take credit for some of his ideas from time-to-time. ”I pay maniacal attention to where an idea comes from, and I even keep notebooks filled with my ideas,” Ive said. “So it hurts when he takes credit for one of my designs.” In addition, the biography said that Jobs setup Apple’s internal organization so that Ive would have “more operation power” than anyone else.
Many of Ive’s design principles and ideas are inspired by the great work of Dieter Rams. In 2009, Ive’s participated in a video interview for a film called “Objectified.” In his portion of the film, embedded above, Ive discussed some of the work behind the unibody engineering efforts put into products like the MacBook Pro. Ive also discussed the simplicity of a product like the iPhone where the design “defers to the display.” Ive also discussed how different materials affect overall product design motifs.
Verizon Wireless has been under fire this week after announcing it would begin imposing a $2 fee on customers who do not have their bill set to be paid automatically, and instead pay it through electronic check. Today, the Federal Communications Commission announced they would begin investigating Verizon’s new fee. Shortly after, Verizon announced on its website that they will not impose the fee to meet with customer’s requests.
The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions. The company continues to encourage customers to take advantage of the numerous simple and convenient payment methods it provides.
Verizon said this fee was going to help move customers to a more convenient payment method. Luckily, they have chosen to go the other way.
I have some good news for all you Verizon customers who were as upset as I was over the whole “convenience” fee fiasco. Verizon has decided to jump ship on the whole “convenience” fee idea after receiving immense backlash from customers as well as oodles of bad press (probably the bad press that did it). At one point it even looked as if the FCC was going to get involved, and for good reason: Verizon was simply trying to nickel and dime its customers. It’s not often we get to score one for the good guys, and this news has certainly put a smile on my face. Kudos to everyone who voiced their opinions, eventually forcing Verizon to release the following statement:
Verizon Wireless has decided it will not institute the fee for online or telephone single payments that was announced earlier this week.
The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions. The company continues to encourage customers to take advantage of the numerous simple and convenient payment methods it provides.
Verizon’s president and chief executive officer Dan Mead followed up by ensuring us Verizon takes great pride in listening to its customers (cue eye roll):
At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time.
Congratulations Verizon customers, your outspoken voices have bought you some extra time with your hard earned cash. The customers win this round, but I’m sure Verizon has a few more sucker punches lined up, so watch your back.
Source: Verizon
Similar Posts:
| |
A photo of what is supposedly a next-generation iPad 3 display has surfaced on a Korean forum. The pic in question was tipped to MacRumors and has been making the rounds this afternoon.
The alleged iPad 3 display doesn’t tell us much of anything at all, other than the slight difference in cabling arrangement at the bottom of the panel.
Not only can the authenticity of this photo not be confirmed, but we also don’t think that it reveals anything interesting about Apple’s future tablet. The display is the same 9.7-inch size as the current iPad models.
MacRumors has done some comparing with help from iFixit and a look at the iPad 2′s display connector. When looking at the ‘leaked’ iPad 3 photo and the disassembled iPad 2 display, the iPad 3 connector has 3 possible ribbon cables for data transfers. The iPad 2 uses two ribbon cables for data and one for power. MacRumors suggests that this difference could be related to the next-generation iPad’s increased need for data bandwidth. It’s been rumored that the iPad 3 will feature a Retina-like display that would likely require a beefed-up connection.
It’s also possible that this display is not finished or a prototype.
The latest rumor from this morning is that Sharp is tapped to provide thinner, hi-res IGZO displays for the iPad 3. Another rumor about Apple unveiling two new iPads at Macworld in 2012 was also debunked recently.
Similar Posts:
| |
AppTrackr is the most popular marketplace for downloading cracked iOS applications. The company announced in a blog post, via Installous, that Apple began sending “take down” notices over cracked applications and have been scraping AppTrackr’s links looking for infractions (via iJailbreak). To combat Apple’s wrath, the crew at AppTrackr have moved several of their servers offshore to countries without copyright laws and have added CAPATCHA code to all outbound links. AppTrackr will now place an ad on the CAPATCHA page to pay for moving servers.
It looks like Apple has begun to make the leap and crack down on cracked iOS applications. AppTrackr uses their installer tool called Installous to install cracked applications, and makes available applications like Apple’s Numbers, NOAA Radar US, Nike+ GPS, and more to those who jailbreak. Obviously with the wide range of applications that AppTrackr makes available, it could potentially hurt some of Apple’s sales (right now). Check out a screenshot of AppTrackr’s blog post after the break.
In other jailbreak news…
…Firecore has released an untethered jailbreak w/ seas0npass for Apple TV 4.4.4 (iOS 5.0.1). Checkout JailbreakStory’s post for the full list of directions.
While 2011 was a very busy year for the technology industry, the constant rate of innovation and activity in the market shows that things probably won’t slow down in 2012. Below, we’ve rounded up some of GigaOM’s biggest stories of the year — roughly in the order that they occurred — with a bit of insight on what each could mean for 2012.
Sunday mornings are usually pretty sleepy in terms of business news, but March 20th, 2011 was an exception. That’s when AT&T announced its plan to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG for a whopping $39 billion. A deal that huge naturally catches the attention of everyone: The media, consumer groups, industry competitors, and perhaps most importantly, federal regulators. After nearly nine months of back-and-forth about the legality of the merger that came to be known as AT&T-Mo, the deal fell apart: On December 19, AT&T ended its bid to buy T-Mobile as its CEO Randall Stephenson pledged to “continue to be aggressive in leading the mobile Internet revolution.”
What this means for 2012: As GigaOM’s Stacey Higginbotham pointed out, despite the failure of AT&T-Mo, major changes in the wireless space are inevitable and consolidation will continue:
Now that the deal is off the table, the industry can return to solving the big question that plagues wireless in the U.S.: How the heck will operators get the spectrum and build the networks they need to support robust demand for 4G wireless services and still make money. … AT&T’s bid to get more spectrum wasn’t just an attempt to take out a competitor; it really did need more spectrum for its LTE network, and having T-Mobile’s AWS airwaves ready for an LTE deployment would have made AT&T’s migration path a lot simpler. As operators move from 3G to 4G services such as LTE, they are learning the costs associated with remaking and upgrading their networks are substantial. And as they look ahead to spectrum-hogging standards such as LTE-Advanced, they need more megahertz.
Facebook's Prineville, Oregon datacenter
Most big Internet companies spend a lot of time and money on designing and maintaining data centers. But typically, these companies keep the nitty-gritty details of how they manage the servers that power their operations to themselves — the makeup and quantity of servers that run Google has long been some of the search company’s most highly-guarded secrets, for example (though Google has been sharing that data as of late). Facebook, however, decided to start telling the world about its data center details.
In April 2011, the social networking company debuted the Open Compute Project, in which it provided full specifications of its computing infrastructure. The reason, Facebook says on its OpenCompute.org website, is to help improve technology as a whole:
“We want you to tell us where we didn’t get it right and suggest how we could improve. And opening the technology means the community will make advances that we wouldn’t have discovered if we had kept it secret.”
What this means for 2012: More sharing in the infrastructure space, particularly around how to reduce energy consumption of data centers. Executives from Intel, RackSpace, Arista Networks and Goldman Sachs all joined the Open Compute Project’s board of directors. Of course, pledging to be “open” is almost always good PR, but with this particular initiative Facebook is leading the way with concrete efforts for real transparency in a major industry issue.
In June, Google launched Google+, its newest answer to the social networking space that in recent years has been dominated by Facebook. That move seemed to spark renewed vigor from Facebook to maintain its social edge and the next week at a quickly-assembled press event for a new in-Facebook video chat app powered by Skype, Mark Zuckerberg kicked off what he called his company’s “Launching Season 2011.” This season also seemingly culminated with the September debut of Timeline, a dramatically different new Facebook user interface. Google, meanwhile, directed increasing amounts of its attention on trying to make Google+ a success.
What this means for 2012: Even more competitive activity and expect the year to be cut throat. Facebook and Google are showing no signs of backing down from the battle, and with its own bold new redesign, Twitter has thrown its cap into the ring to be the social networking site of choice.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings
What a year it’s been for Netflix — and not in a good way. It all began in June, when the company announced changes in its pricing structure (splitting its DVD rental business from its online streaming business) that would significantly boost prices for the vast majority of customers. Not surprisingly, that didn’t go over so well. So in September, CEO Reed Hastings apologized for the changes and took back the price hike. Instead, he said, Netflix’s DVD rental business would be rebranded as Quikster and essentially put up for sale as the Netflix brand moved to a streaming-only model. That didn’t go over so well, either. So less than a month later, Netflix once again backtracked, killing the Quikster proposal and electing to keep DVD rentals in its core business. Wall Street analysts lauded Netflix’s ultimate decision to keep DVD rentals alive, but Wall Street punished the company nevertheless: Netflix share price dropped from nearly $300 earlier this year to about $70 now.
What this means for 2012: Netflix has its work cut out for it, having closed out 2011 with its lowest customer satisfaction ratings in company history. GigaOM’s Ryan Lawler recently put it thusly:
“Netflix is still the clear leader in the online streaming space, with about 24 million subscribers. But for years Netflix has relied on the virtuous cycle of positive word-of-mouth to help propel its growth. With customer satisfaction declining rapidly, it’ll have to work harder to retain existing customers and to win new ones.”
Spotify, the popular Europe-based on-demand music streaming service, finally made its highly anticipated debut in the United States in mid-July. A couple months later, the service got an extra boost with a deep integration with Facebook that let users easily listen to songs on Spotify and share them with friends through the social networking service.
What this means for 2012: The buzz around Spotify seems to have spurred other online music services to bring their A-games to the space. Expect more innovation from Pandora, MOG, Rdio, Rhapsody and others.
Andy Rubin (Google) and Dr. Sanjay K. Jha (Motorola) onstage at Mobilize 2009
Google shook up the dog days of mid-August when it announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. Once the deal is closed (it’s expected to go through in early 2012) Google will have bought access to Motorola’s portfolio of 17,000 current patents and 7,500 patent applications across wireless standards and non-essential patents on wireless service delivery.
What this means for 2012: The deal is such a huge one that all of its ramifications will take a while to become clear, but Google’s ultimate goal is to further strengthen the mobile strategy it built with the Android mobile operating system. With some 700,000 Android devices being activated daily, Google is already well-positioned in the mobile space — the Motorola investment shows that the company is in it for the long haul in mobile.
Solar panel maker Solyndra was one of the highest profile companies the cleantech space has seen in recent years, garnering visits from President Obama, and applause from Vice President Biden, DOE Secretary Steven Chu and then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The company even 
received a $535 million loan from the U.S. government.
So when the company filed for bankruptcy in August 2011, laid off more than 1,000 employees, and essentially lost the entire tax-payer funded loan, it was a huge blow for a number of industries: Technology, venture capital, and of course solar power. Ucilia Wang wrote in-depth about the story behind Solyndra’s rise and fall for GigaOM.
The bigger trend behind Solyndra has been global crashing solar prices. Thanks partly to Chinese solar companies flooding the market with low (and below) cost solar panels, solar panel makers throughout the world have been struggling and have been going out of businesses. While that’s not good news for those firms, it’s great for consumers, businesses and utilities that are buying solar panels — solar has never been cheaper.
What this means for 2012: Being that the Solyndra implosion will go down as one of the biggest venture capital losses in history, VC firms will be understandably hesitant to invest in solar companies for quite some time. Also, the federal grants awarded to Solyndra have become a punchline of sorts in the political arena, so the U.S. government may also shy away from supporting solar companies for a while.
In August, Hewlett-Packard raised eyebrows when it announced plans to spend $10 billion in cash to acquire Autonomy, a UK-based software and services company and said it would look into selling off its $40 billion-a-year PC business. Investors and the industry at large were stunned by both moves which, apparently, were the last straw for HP’s board as well. A month later, HP fired Leo Apotheker, the CEO who brokered the deal and set the PC change in motion, and brought in former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman as his replacement.
What this means for 2012: As GigaOM’s Barb Darrow writes, 2012 is a crucial time for HP to work to “repair its reputation and restore itself to the status of IT icon.” Whether the company will succeed in doing so remains to be seen.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ death on October 5 was a big story for the world even beyond the tech community. Although his passing was not completely unexpected — Jobs had suffered from pancreatic cancer and related complications for some time, and had stepped down from the CEO role at Apple in August because of his health — his death deeply affected many people. Jobs was hugely influential through his work at Apple and as a tech industry figure in general.
What this means for 2012: WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg recently told GigaOM that he thinks Jobs will affect tech in the months and years to come:
“Steve Jobs’ passing affected me more than I expected. I think we’re going to enter a golden age of design, just by virtue of thousands and thousands of founders and designers asking themselves, ‘What would Steve do?’ The things that these people will create will be even bigger than Apple. That’s part of his legacy.”
A number of venture-backed web companies made their stock market debuts this year. LinkedIn (LNKD), Pandora Media, Zillow, Groupon, Zynga, and TripAdvisor- all went public in 2011. While not all of these companies had stellar post-IPO stock price performances, the very fact they got out the gate is a win in itself for investors and founders.
What this means for 2012: By the looks of it, the IPO wave is just getting started. Analysts say 2012 promises to be another big year for tech IPOs, and in the spring 2012 public offering expected from Facebook will likely be the star of the show.
Some images courtesy of HackingNetflix, whiteafrican, hyku, jdlasica, and Mathieu Thouvenin.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
