Tag Archives: financial

Expo Notes: Gather online financial statements with FileThis Fetch

Posted on January 26, 2012 by admin

FileThis hopes to make the paperless office more of a reality with Fetch, a new online service that helps gather and organize your financial statements. Continue reading →

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Peter Oppenheimer Serving as Interim Head of Apple’s Retail Division?

Posted on December 9, 2011 by admin

With Apple still searching for a new head of retail operations in the wake of Ron Johnson’s departure to become CEO of department store chain J.C. Penney, 9 to 5 Mac claims that Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer is overseeing the division on an interim basis. Oppenheimer, a financial guru has been put in charge of Apple’s retail operations according to sources familiar with the search for Ron Johnson’s successor. Oppenheimer is obviously an interim leader with a lack of retail experience, but his executive leadership experience is enough to give orders to his new troops: [Jerry] McDougal, [Bob] Bridger, and [Steve] Cano – who have immense retail experience. Oppenheimer won’t stay retail chief forever, and is simply holding the spot until the new Senior Vice President of Retail is selected. Oppenheimer’s title at Apple has not changed from Senior Vice President and CFO, he has just gained the new responsibility of the Apple retail division for the time being. A report from last month claimed that Steve Cano had been selected to assume Johnson’s former role as head of retail. Apple quickly denied the report, however, noting that the search for Johnson’s successor was still ongoing. Oppenheimer has been at Apple since 1996, and took the reins as Chief Financial Officer in 2004. Today’s grand opening of the company’s new Grand Central Terminal store is the first major store opening since Johnson’s departure as of November 1st. Obviously the store’s development was nearly complete by the time Johnson left the company, and there are a number of key executives within Apple’s retail division keeping things running, but it appears that Apple has turned to Oppenheimer’s expertise in financial issues to steady things until a new retail chief can be brought on board. Apple has made a few changes to its leadership team since Tim Cook became CEO in late August, with Johnson’s departure being the most significant move remaining unsettled. In another change, Eddy Cue was elevated to the senior vice president level as his role has expanded to oversee the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, iCloud, and iAd. The company is also looking to fill vacancies in other executive positions at slightly lower rungs, including head of government sales Ron Police, who has reportedly left the company . Continue reading →

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Wraps Come Down at Apple’s Grand Central Terminal Store for Media Day [Updated: Apple Press Release]

Posted on December 7, 2011 by admin

With Apple hosting a media preview of its massive new Grand Central Terminal store in Manhattan today, the company continues to reveal the landmark store to the public. Business Insider has posted a few photos showing that the curtains have been removed from main entrance stairway and balcony railing, giving the store its finished appearance from the concourse. Main entrance (Source: Business Insider) Apple’s exterior signage for the store’s main entrance consists of lighted Apple logos mounted on glass panels on each of the two landings for the main stairway, with a third lighted Apple logo mounted above the top of the stairs. Interior photos show that Apple has placed its stock on the sales floor, filling the numerous wood tables with Apple hardware for customers to test out. Genius Bar and display tables (Source: Business Insider) techfootnote posts a few additional photos and notes that free Wi-Fi courtesy of Apple has gone live on the concourse. Store employees in red shirts on sales floor (Source: NPD’s Ross Rubin ) Apple’s Grand Central Terminal store will open to the public at 10:00 AM on Friday. Update : Apple has just published a press release announcing the official opening for the store, touting the “one-of-a-kind” store spanning two balconies and offering two Genius Bars. The company also promotes new 15-minute “Express Workshops” to help users on tight schedules learn new tips and tricks. The Apple Store® Grand Central, Apple’s fifth store in Manhattan, will open Friday, December 9, at 10 a.m., just in time for the holidays. This one-of-a-kind Apple retail store overlooks the historic Main Concourse from the East and North East balconies of the world-famous Grand Central Terminal, and has two Genius Bars for free tech support and advice. … Beyond the balcony overlooking the expansive Main Concourse, the Apple Store Grand Central offers rooms dedicated to some of our most popular services, including the largest area in the world dedicated to Personal Setup. Continue reading →

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‘Flipboard’ Comes to iPhone with Phil Schiller’s Endorsement

Posted on December 7, 2011 by admin

Popular social magazine service Flipboard today announced the release of a universal version of its previous iPad app , adding compatibility for the iPhone and iPod touch. Flipboard allows users to collect information from various sources including social networks, news sites, and blogs, presenting the content in an easy-to-browse magazine style. Highlights of the new universal app include: – Social Networks: Enjoy everything in one place from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram, Google Reader, Flickr and 500px. – Cover Stories: Get a quick update on interesting stories and photos from all your social networks and favorite Flipboard content. Flipboard Accounts: Access to all the favorite content and social networks you saved on the iPad edition of Flipboard with a Flipboard Account. – Content Guide: Browse recommended reading. Use + to add to your Flipboard. – Search Bar: Find social conversations, posts and feeds from any person or publication and on any topic. For example, search “Cinemagraph” and get results from Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, RSS and Instagram. – Share Everywhere: Just one tap to share, like or comment to add to the conversation on the social network an item was posted to. – Fast Flip: Scan through pages as quickly as you can with just a flick of a thumb. – Read later: Use Instapaper or Read It Later to mark stories you want to save. Highlighting interest in the new iPhone version, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller posted a relatively rare Tweet from his account this morning to report that the new iPhone version of Flipboard is “very nice”. Flipboard has proven popular with other users as well, with The Next Web noting that Flipboard today announced total downloads for the iPad version of 4.5 million, making the app installed on more 10% of all iPads. The company obviously believes that the new universal app will help bring Flipboard to an even larger number of users, while also offering current users of the iPad version more flexibility to also access their content on their smaller devices. Update : As Flipboard acknowledges in a Tweet , the service is currently experiencing difficulties due to high traffic from the iPhone launch. Due to high demand, our service is currently down, we are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience. Continue reading →

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Ivy Bridge to Bring Triple Display Support to MacBook Air

Posted on December 6, 2011 by admin

Earlier today, we highlighted a leaked roadmap from VR-Zone detailing Intel’s plans for its mobile Ivy Bridge processors set to debut in April and May of next year. One detail of the report that bears special attention is the fact that the Ivy Bridge platform, both mobile and desktop, will support up to three independent displays, with one of those displays being an internal one. While we’re talking about graphics, as with the desktop Ivy Bridge processors, the mobile processors also support up to three independent displays, although one of these will be the built in display in the notebook, but hopefully we’ll see notebooks with a DisplayPort connector as standard come next year. The current Sandy Bridge platform is only capable of supporting two independent displays, limiting the MacBook Air to one external display. Similarly, the 13-inch MacBook Pro can only drive two external displays by turning off its internal display. More powerful machines such as the larger MacBook Pro models can currently drive two external displays in addition to the internal one due to their inclusion of discrete graphics chips paired with the Sandy Bridge platform. But with Ivy Bridge opening the door to direct support for up to three displays via the Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics, even owners of smaller machines like the MacBook Air will have the option of significantly expanding their screen real estate by connecting to two external displays. Continue reading →

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Ivy Bridge Mobile CPUs for Next MacBook Air and Pro Models Due around May

Posted on December 6, 2011 by admin

VR-Zone leaks a roadmap for Intel’s next generation mobile processors, called Ivy Bridge. Apple currently uses Intel’s mobile Sandy Bridge processors in its MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebooks. Ivy Bridge will offer a number of benefits for Apple’s notebook lines, opening the door to quad-core processors in the 13-inch MacBook Pro and bringing significantly faster graphics and new OpenCL capabilities to the MacBook Air. Ivy Bridge will also support ultra high resolution displays and Intel has committed to Thunderbolt support alongside USB 3.0 in the platform. VR-Zone details a wide range of processors with Thermal Design Power (TDP) ranging from 17W to 55W. The TDP tends to be the limiting factor in the size of Apple’s notebook designs. Apple presently uses 17W processors in the MacBook Air designs and 35W-45W processors in the MacBook Pro. The new processors will include the improved Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated graphics chipset. The 35W-45W (MacBook Pro) processors range from Dual Core 2.6GHz to 2.9GHz with single core turbo speeds of up to 3.6GHz, while the 17W (MacBook Air) processors range from Dual Core 1.8GHz to 2.0GHz with single core turbo speeds of up to 2.8-3.2GHz. Apple’s choice of processors may depend on how dramatically it redesigns the MacBook Pro next year. Rumors have persisted that Apple is working on ultra-thin models that may represent a complete overhaul of some of the MacBook Pro models, making them more Air-like in design. VR-Zone notes that the TDPs on these processors are programmable, so Apple may be able to reduce their TDPs at the expense of processor speed. VR-Zone reports that the new mobile platform is expected to launch around May, with some high-end processors possibly launching in April. This gives a rough timeframe of when we should expect updates to Apple’s notebooks. Continue reading →

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Apple Pulls Match.com iOS App over External Subscription Links

Posted on December 2, 2011 by admin

TechCrunch notes that Apple has removed online dating service Match.com’s iOS app from the App Store over violations of the company’s in-app subscription requirements. The Match.com app had allowed users to sign up for subscriptions to the service through an external link in the app, a mechanism that is no longer permitted by Apple as it has sought to drive usage of its in-app subscription services that sees Apple taking a 30% cut of revenues. Apple has removed Match.com‘s iOS app because it allowed the lonely to pay for Match subscriptions with a credit card through an external link rather than using the in-app purchases system. That meant Apple wasn’t getting its 30% cut. In June Apple revised its policy to state that “Apps can read or play approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content.” Apple and Match.com are now negotiating how the app must change before their relationship can be rekindled and they can have an earth-shattering makeup revenue split. Match.com can satisfy Apple’s requirements either by offering an in-app option via Apple, which would result in Apple taking its 30% cut, or by simply omitting any links to external payment mechanisms. Under the latter scenario, users would have to know to visit the full Match.com site to sign up for a subscription, an extra step for users which may reduce the number of new subscribers but one that would enable Match.com to avoid having Apple skim off 30% of subscription revenue from the app. Apple had originally announced that the new in-app subscription requirements would go into effect on June 30th, but the company offered a grace period as it worked with some developers to help them meet the guidelines. Some developers and content providers such as the Financial Times ultimately decided not to adopt Apple’s guidelines, and Apple has in those cases removed the apps from the App Store. It is unclear why it took Apple five months from the official start of the new guideline enforcement to take the Match.com app down. The app was originally introduced back in March 2009 and had been receiving regular updates, but the most recent one had appeared in early June ahead of Apple’s new policy implementation. Match.com may simply have been avoiding submitting any updates or investing further in the app while it either discussed options with Apple or hoped to remain under Apple’s radar, but it seems that Apple has decided that the best way to encourage compliance was to remove the app for the time being. Continue reading →

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Apple Offering Free Shipping on All U.S. Online Orders Through December 22

Posted on November 28, 2011 by admin

Apple today revealed on its U.S. online store page that it will be offering free shipping on all orders placed through December 22nd. Free shipping from Apple typically requires a minimum $50 purchase, so the new program offers customers the opportunity to save some money on lower-cost purchases such as accessories. In addition to the free shipping on all orders, Apple touts several other benefits such as free engraving on iPods and iPads, signature gift wrapping, and build-to-order Mac configurations as reasons to buy directly from Apple. The free shipping situation is a bit more complicated internationally, however, with some countries such as New Zealand offering free shipping on all orders through December 25th while stores for other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom are only offering the free shipping for today. Today is “Cyber Monday”, as the Monday following Thanksgiving in the United States has become significant day for online holiday shopping as customers return to work from travels over the holiday weekend. While Apple does not offer specific Cyber Monday discounts on its products, a number of other retailers do participate in deals to help attract customers today. Continue reading →

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More Confirmation of Sharp Supplying iPad 3 Displays

Posted on November 25, 2011 by admin

The Wall Street Journal offers their own sources that confirm that Apple will be using Sharp as a source of display parts for the upcoming iPad 3. Apple Inc. is adding Sharp Corp. as a maker of screens used in the next-generation iPad, people familiar with the situation said Thursday, as the U.S. consumer electronics company moves to diversify component suppliers for its products. According to their source, Apple is also investing in Sharp’s panel manufacturing factories in Japan to ensure it can get enough supplies for its iOS devices. Sharp already supplies iPhone panels and is also said to be supplying panels for the next iPhone which is also due next year. Sharp has been mentioned a number of times by various rumors as a new source of iPad screens for Apple. A recent analyst report said that production of iPad 3 screens was already underway and included Samsung, LG and Sharp. Then, just on Wednesday, another analyst reported that Sharp may actually be supplying Apple with specially designed screens for the iPad 3. According to that report, Apple and Sharp have developed a new technology to allow a thinner high resolution display for the next iPad. Finally, Sharp may also be involved in Apple’s television set plans, also supplying parts for that project as well. Continue reading →

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Photos of Brazilian-Made 8 GB iPhone 4 Surface

Posted on November 25, 2011 by admin

Much has been made of Foxconn’s efforts to begin producing iPads in Brazil, but the initiative has also included iPhone production that has moved along at a bit faster pace than the iPad plans. As evidence of the fact that Brazilian iPhone production is already up and running, MacMagazine.com.br shares photos [ Google translation ] of a new 8 GB iPhone 4 carrying markings revealing that it was manufactured in Brazil. Aside from an “Indústria Brasileira” notice replacing the usual “Assembled in China” statement found on most iPhones, the new Brazilian model also includes a regulatory agency logo from Anatel, the Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications. The software also reports a model number of MD198BR, with the “BR” suffix suggesting a Brazil-specific model. Apple has yet to introduce the 8 GB iPhone 4 in Brazil, but a separate source has reportedly told MacMagazine.com.br that the device is set to launch on December 2nd. The launch of that device would almost certainly come alongside the debut of the iPhone 4S in Brazil, although specific information on a launch date for the iPhone 4S has not yet been received by the site. High Brazilian import taxes on goods such as the iPhone and iPad have resulted in slow adoption of Apple’s devices in the world’s fifth most populous country. By moving production into the country, Apple and Foxconn hope to spur growth there while also expanding and diversifying manufacturing for worldwide distribution. iPad production has apparently yet to begin in Brazil, although Foxconn has claimed that it will be ramping up manufacturing of the device there next month. Continue reading →

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