Appletell

A man by the name of Doug Field, who was once the CTO over at Segway, has thrown in the towel and moved his engineering and design talents over to Apple as the new vice president of the design team. There is a quite long discussion about this over at the SegwayChat forums, and the user administrator wrote, “Doug has been the driving force in making the Segway what it is today and will be sorely missed at the company.” Although I’m sure this smart man will be welcome at Apple, nobody is really sure why Apple has acquired him. iSegway, anyone?

With Steve Jobs getting closer to retirement everyday, Apple will need more new, young, and innovative people to help keep the company in the right direction. With Doug Field as an addition to Jonathan Ives team, I believe this will be a nice step forward. I’m sure he will bring fresh ideas forward, and I look forward to seeing some future products with his design style in them.

Via [AppleInsider]

Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon boss, isn’t a good friend of Steve Jobs, or at least isn’t now. When interviewed by the Financial Times, he said that, “Steve Jobs eventually will get old.” Verizon Wireless recently bought Alltel, the fifth-largest US wireless company. With the addition of Alltel, Verizon Wireless will surpass AT&T to become the leading mobile operator in the U.S., or fifth largest in the world. With 80 million customers, revenue has also gown 5.8 percent in 2007. Mr. Seidenberg is sure Verizon Wireless will take a large chunk of the revenue from the growing mobile Internet.

From 9to5Mac:

“There goes the conspiracy again,” [Seidenberg] says of Apple. “You’re declaring them a winner before they’ve earned it on the field.” Jobs has no monopoly on innovation, he cries.

Maybe he’s just a little frustrated that Verizon turned down the offer to put the iPhone on their network? I mean, what else? Seidenberg’s older than Steve!

Via [9to5Mac]

After his appearance at this year’s WWDC, many people were worried about Steve Jobs’ health after seeing the gauntness of his physical appearance (many said this was simply a side effect of his pancreatic cancer). This caused Reuters to post an interesting story on their site about the future of Apple once Steve Jobs is no longer a part of it. According to them, Apple’s success is “linked” to a lot more than Steve Jobs. It reads, “Jobs may be the public face of products like the iPod, but it is Apple’s top-flight design team led by Jonathan Ives that is responsible for the iconic shapes of the company’s computers and gadgets.” This is a great point. Although Steve does a great job making people feel like they need these products, it is Ives and his crew that make people want them.

However, more people than those at Reuters think Steve isn’t the only factor leading to Apple’s success. For example, Tim Bajarin, head of Creative Strategies, says, “While Steve is still by far the most important person in the company, he has created a team of people who understand his vision for today and tomorrow...” Even Jobs himself believes there are enough “capable” people at Apple to continue the success. I’ll admit, I at first thought Apple would be in real trouble without him, but this article makes some great points against that debate.

Steve Jobs is a master marketer and obviously has been a key factor in most of Apple’s success up to this point. However, I believe this success will still be able to carry on once he’s gone. The developers and designers are the ones behind most of the work in the actual making of the products, and they will still be there. Steve will be missed, but I don’t think he’s vital. How about you?

Via [Reuters]

Glassdoor has more data to offer about Apple and its employees, if all of the payment difference data wasn’t enough for you. This time around, the data shows that Steve Jobs has a whopping 91% approval rating from the employees at Apple. He can be compared to Steve Ballmer, the CEO over at Microsoft, who has a measly 55% approval rating. I guess this data makes Steve Jobs just that much closer to officially becoming our overlord.

To have that high of an approval rating is quite a large accomplishment, in my opinion. Steve Jobs is definitely doing something right with his employees over in Cupertino to receive such approval. I don’t know how he does it. One thing I do know, though, is that he sure knows how to get people excited about Apple and their products in his Keynotes, and that’s something I’m going to miss when he has to step down.

Via [Macsimum News]

For those of you who missed our live coverage of the WWDC Keynote on Monday, and for those of you who don’t have the time to watch the 1 hour and 7 minute long version, this is for you. The folks over at Mahalo Daily have provided a great video for the world, titled “WWDC Keynote in 60 Seconds.” Catch the video after the jump.

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Originally, I absolutely hated the name MobileMe as a replacement for .Mac. It just seemed so un-Apple. But, ever since the keynote, the name has been growing on me. I think that it was partially due to the great logo Apple made for it. It just seems to work. But in a recent post by none other then Fake Steve Jobs, he points out certain similarities between the logos for MobileMe and WindowsMe, focusing on the similarities between the “Me” sections. No word on whether Microsoft will take any legal action, let alone whether they care or have the legal grounds to do anything about it if they do.

Via [The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs]

With Steve Jobs looking quite gaunt at yesterday’s WWDC Keynote, suspicion arose surrounding his health. Then comes the speculation that the islet cell neuroendocrine tumor in that was discovered and supposedly eradicated in 2004 had returned. Apple spokesmen released a statement saying that it was nothing of the sort, rather just a “common bug” has been bothering Steve for the last few weeks. Shareholders and employees are hoping that this is the case and nothing more, as many people view Jobs to be an irreplaceable part of Apple. Not helping the rumors is the fact that back in 2004 when Steve had a rare type of Pancreatic cancer, he concealed that fact to the public for almost nine months.

Via [Apple Insider]

We’re inching ever closer to what should be a huge Keynote from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. If you’re not at Moscone West San Francisco, join us here—right at this very page—for our coverage of Steve’s announcements as they happen.  We’re now live, and will begin coverage soon. Join us.

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With all the WDDC rumors flying around Worldwide Developers Conference 2008, it has become tough to keep track of them all.  Here is a list of recent rumors, and details on their credibility.

1.  3G iPhone - Is the Pope Catholic?  I think that it is safe to say that this is the only rumor that is definitely going to become a reality.  Now the only question is what it will look like and what any changes to the OS will be.  Personally, I would love the iPhone to look something like this.  Two of the biggest proofs behind this rumor are a lack of iPhones ("Currently unavailable") on the Apple website and the fact that AT&T are not allowing their employees to take vacations for a period of time this summer, supposedly around the 3G iPhone launch.  Also pointing to 3G are supposedly leaked screenshots of the 3G iPhone, strange new terms on shipping manifests, dates supposedly being announced, strange looking icons buried deep within the iPhone SDK, and announcements coming straight from the horse’s mouth, or in this case, the mouth of the Telefónica Europe’s CEO.

Read on for 4 more top rumors…

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The Register has found out this week that Apple will continue supporting PA Semi’s line of PowerPC based processors and still employ some of the company’s staff.  The article points out that the reason for this may lie in the military’s interest in the low power chips from this company, but also says that Apple has no plans of moving the actual architecture forward.  So what does this all mean?

I’m sure Apple has no plans of getting involved with military technology at all, but you never know with Steve Jobs.  What is more likely is that Apple will use PA Semi’s architecture and engineers to help make their current products more efficient, especially the 3G iPhone which Steve has said will be a large drain on battery life.  However, that is a rather small purpose for $278 million, so Apple may have more than expected up their sleeve.  What do you think the real reason behind this acquisition is?