TheNewsGuru

Tag: Tim Cook

  • Apple’s Tim Cook is all smiles in Beijing, after TikTok chief’s grilling in Washington

    Apple’s Tim Cook is all smiles in Beijing, after TikTok chief’s grilling in Washington

    Apple (AAPL) CEO, Tim Cook, gave a show of support for China as a market and manufacturing base during a visit to Beijing Saturday, even as trade and tech sector tensions escalate between the United States and the world’s second-largest economy.

    Apple and China had “grown together” over the past three decades, Cook told the government-organized China Development Forum, adding that he was thrilled to be back in the country, which only reopened its borders this year after abandoning its strict zero-Covid policy. The last time Cook visited China was in 2019.

    “We have a very large supply chain in China. We also have a thriving App Store,” the Apple chief was quoted as saying in state-run China Daily.

    Cook’s visit has raised eyebrows in some quarters, given the ongoing tech battle between the United States and China and reports that Apple has been looking to India as a potential alternative production base.

    On Friday, Cook had posted a picture of himself smiling with customers and staff at the Apple store in the shopping district of Sanlitun on China’s Twitter-like social media site Weibo.

    That post came just a day after Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, was grilled in a five-hour hearing before a Congressional committee in Washington, where US lawmakers remain convinced the Chinese-made social media app represents an urgent threat to national security.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company.

    “TikTok CEO was under siege at the US hearing, while Apple CEO was enthusiastically welcomed by people at its flagship Chinese store. This shows that China is the one that is actually practicing fair and free trade,” one netizen as said.

    The Biden administration has demanded that the Chinese owners of TikTok sell their share of the company or face a ban from the United States, the app’s most important market. China’s commerce ministry said Thursday that a forced sale of TikTok would “seriously damage” global investors’ confidence in the United States.

    The US has concerns about the company’s data collection practices, and these have been exacerbated by the popularity of TikTok and other Chinese apps. Of the 10 most popular free apps on Apple’s US store, four were developed with Chinese technology: TikTok, shopping app Temu, fast fashion retailer Shein and video editing app CapCut, which like TikTok is also owned by ByteDance.

    Meanwhile, Apple has reportedly been rethinking the extent of its ties with China.

    The company’s supply chains were disrupted by China’s harsh coronavirus rules and there have been violent protests over wages at the world’s largest iPhone assembly factory at Foxconn’s campus in China’s Henan province.

    Amid these problems, and wider trade disagreements between Washington and Beijing, Apple has reportedly been looking at India as a potential alternative manufacturing hub for the iPhone 14.

    However, many analysts say that even if Apple can add diversity to its supply base it is likely to continue to depend on China for a long time yet.

    Cook said in an earnings call last year that India was a “hugely exciting market” and “a major focus” for Apple that recorded “very strong double digits year over year,” indicating its high interest to expand production in the South Asian country.

    While the rising US-China tensions have led to suggestions the world’s two largest economies could “decouple,” recent data shows trade between them hit a record high in 2022.

    Bilateral goods trade between the countries rose to $690.6 billion last year, according to official US data.

    Exports to China increased by $2.4 billion to $153.8 billion, while imports of Chinese products rose by $31.8 billion to $536.8 billion according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

    The data suggests that the idea of “decoupling,” or reducing mutual reliance in a range of areas, is much more evident in policy discussions in Washington rather than on-the-ground trade reality.

  • [Image] Elon Musk accuses Apple of hating free speech in America

    [Image] Elon Musk accuses Apple of hating free speech in America

    Twitter CEO and founder of Tesla Inc., Elon Musk, in a series of tweets on Twitter have accused  Apple and its CEO Tim Cook, of hating free speech in America.

    Musk claimed that Apple had threatened to remove the Twitter app from the App Store without a reason

    Recall that Since Musk took over Twitter, he has reiterated his belief in free speech and said account users will not be suspended for tweeting their minds. He also restored the accounts of Donald Trump and Kanye West, both banned by the former Twitter management for their tweets that violated Twitter policies.

    According to Musk, “Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why,” Musk tweeted.

    In other tweets fired, Musk called Apple’s App Store fees a “secret 30% tax,” and ran a poll asking if “Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.”

    Apple has not commented on Musk’s tweets.

    See Images of his tweet below:

  • iPhone designer, Sir Jony Ive quits Apple

    iPhone designer, Sir Jony Ive quits Apple

    Apple on Thursday announced that it’s chief design officer, Sir Jony Ive will be departing the company as an employee later this year.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Ive is departing Apple to form an independent design company which will count Apple among its primary clients.

    “After nearly 30 years and countless projects, I am most proud of the lasting work we have done to create a design team, process and culture at Apple that is without peer. Today it is stronger, more vibrant and more talented than at any point in Apple’s history.

    “The team will certainly thrive under the excellent leadership of Evans, Alan and Jeff, who have been among my closest collaborators. I have the utmost confidence in my designer colleagues at Apple, who remain my closest friends, and I look forward to working with them for many years to come,” said Ive.

    Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984.

    Today, Apple, with more than 100,000, leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV.

    Apple’s four software platforms – iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS – provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices, with services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud.

    In a statement, Apple said, while Ive pursues his personal projects, he will in his new company continue to work closely and on a range of projects with Apple.

    “Jony is a singular figure in the design world and his role in Apple’s revival cannot be overstated, from 1998’s groundbreaking iMac to the iPhone and the unprecedented ambition of Apple Park, where recently he has been putting so much of his energy and care.

    “Apple will continue to benefit from Jony’s talents by working directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built.

    “After so many years working closely together, I’m happy that our relationship continues to evolve and I look forward to working with Jony long into the future,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

  • What to expect: Apple WWDC 2019 starts today

    What to expect: Apple WWDC 2019 starts today

    Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2019 will kick start later today, with some key announcements expected at the five-day event, which will end on June 7.

    The Apple WWDC 2019 event will begin with the anticipated keynote that is expected to reveal the company’s all major software-focussed developments for the year 2019.

    CEO Tim Cook and other key faces at Apple will participate in the keynote presentation that will take place at McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

    The keynote will start at 10am PDT (10:30pm IST).

    Looking at past reports, Apple will likely unveil iOS 13 along with a dedicated system-wide Dark Mode and various UI tweaks and enhancements.

    MacOS 10.15 and new developer tools and improvements to the existing solutions could also be revealed.

    For iPad users, iOS 13 is expected to bring an updated multitasking experience and various tweaks to the home screen. System improvements could also arrive on the iPad models.

    It is also likely that Apple will highlight new computing capabilities of its tablet to rival the likes of Chromebooks and Microsoft’s Surface hybrids.

    The Apple Watch lineup is also expected to receive a list of new features — extensive independence from the iPhone — through watchOS 6.

    The new watchOS platform would also be detailed at the keynote session. It is believed to receive new apps and enhanced versions of its existing health-tracking features.

    Further, apps such as a Calculator and a Books app could be announced specifically for newer Apple Watch models.

    Apple TV users would also be pleased during the WWDC 2019 keynote presentation as the company is expected to announce the tvOS 13. The new platform would come with services to enhance multimedia experiences.

    Apple may also reveal its new partnerships to uplift its digital content strategy. Additionally, iTunes is rumoured to be replaced with an updated Apple Music.

  • Tim Cook wants compulsory coding classes for US kids

    During Monday’s White House meeting with President Donald Trump, Tim Cook pushed for the U.S. government to make coding a required class for kids.

    This is something Cook has publicly discussed before. When Apple debuted its kid-focused Swift Playgrounds app, he said that, “We believe coding should be a required language in all schools”.

    In the meeting on Monday, President Trump called for a “sweeping transformation of the federal government’s technology” program.

    Following the meeting, as well, Trump said that the government had to “catch up” with the private sector in everything from better services for citizens to stronger defense from cyber attacks.

    “Government needs to catch up with the technology revolution,” Trump said, adding: “We’re going to change that with the help of great American businesses like the people assembled.”

    This was the first meeting of the White House’s American Technology Council, which will see the Trump administration work alongside tech companies to bring federal bureaucracy up to date with the latest technology.

    Cook, and much of the rest of Silicon Valley, has so far enjoyed a turbulent relationship with Trump.

    Earlier this year, Cook criticized Trump’s executive order limiting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. More recently, he spoke out about Trump’s decision to take the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.

    From the sound of things, though, all parties involved are happy to overlook political differences if it means that shared progress can be made.

     

     

  • Tim Cook says Apple’s AI is already watching you

    Tim Cook says Apple’s AI is already watching you

    Tim Cook has said Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Apple’s products is watching the habits of the tech firm’s numerous customers.

    The Apple’s Chief Executive Officer made this known in an interview with MIT Technology Review, going into details to point out non-flashy examples of Apple using AI to very quietly make its products better.

    “Image recognition in our photos, for example, or the way Apple Music learns from what we have been listening to and adjusts its recommendations accordingly.

    “Even the iPhone battery lasts longer now because the phone’s power management system uses machine learning to study our usage and adjust accordingly,” said the Apple chief.

    The recent I/O developer conference confirmed that Google thinks AI and machine learning will be all that matters in the future, and nearly every new thing it announced for Android had some kind of AI angle.

    But Apple is trying to gently remind people that while it might not throw its advancements around so much, Apple’s not falling behind in the AI department.

    Cook says the fact that the press doesn’t always give Apple credit for its AI may be due to the fact that Apple only likes to talk about the features of products it is ready to ship, while many others “sell futures”.

    “We are not going to go through things we’re going to do in 2019, ’20, ’21. It’s not because we don’t know that. It’s because we don’t want to talk about that,” Cook said.

    Cook’s attitude is very typically Apple.

    It’s the whole ethos of making things that “just work”: why tell people that an AI is fiddling with their battery life if there’s nothing they can do to affect it? Instead, Apple chooses to brag about the thing that you’ll actually notice: iPhones have consistently excellent battery life, even with smaller batteries inside than many of the Android rivals.

    Apple is starting to mention its AI advancements a little more.

    Machine learning was a buzzword that kept on coming up on stage at WWDC 2017, and with Apple’s advancements into AR, it’s going to be difficult to avoid talking about AI and image recognition in the coming years.

     

  • iPhone @10: The best is yet to come says Cook

    Apple is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the iPhone, which has revolutionized how smartphones are made and used, but the man at the helm of affairs at one of the world foremost tech firm, Tim Cook, believes the best is yet to come.

    “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,” Cook said.

    It all started ten years ago when Apple CEO Steve Jobs took centre stage at MacWorld 2007 in San Francisco to introduce the first ever iPhone. Apple claims that since inception, the company has managed to sell over one billion units, and now CEO Tim Cook claims that the “best is yet to come”.

    “iPhone set the standard for mobile computing in its first decade and we are just getting started. The best is yet to come,” Cook said.

    2017 is a big year for Apple as it marks the tenth anniversary of the revolutionary mobile device, but January 9 is even more special, as it is the day Jobs took the stage to unveil it for the first time ever. In commemoration, Apple has issued a press release highlighting the journey of what it claims is the “gold standard” in the smartphone industry.

    “It is amazing that from the very first iPhone through to today’s newest iPhone 7 Plus, it has remained the gold standard by which all other smartphones are judged. For many of us, iPhone has become the most essential device in our lives and we love it,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing said.

    Just to recap, the first iPhone was launched on this day 10 years ago, however it went on sale on June 29, 2007. It spearheaded the smartphone revolution, and was the first phone with a touchscreen 3.5-inch display.

    In its first year, Apple managed to sell as many as 6.1 million units. However, 2008 was the year of reckoning, as Apple managed to sell as many as 1 million units in the first week of the iPhone 3G launch. With the iPhone 3G, the company introduced 3G mobile network and GPS capabilities. It was also the first time Apple introduced the App Store and allowed third-party apps integration.

    Celebrating its decade of success, Apple looks to create ripples this year as well with the iPhone 8. The smartphone has been heavily rumoured, and is expected to come in an all-glass display, sport wireless charging, feature three variants, lose the Home Button, and introduce a new Haptic feedback system.