"Steve loves Apple. He serves at the pleasure of Apple's board. He has no plans to leave Apple. Steve's health is a private matter," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer on a conference call with investors on Monday.
Since then, investors have been calling for an update on their CEO's health -- to no avail.
"Every client call today I've had has brought up the health issue," said Charles Wolf, a securities analyst at Needham & Company to the New York Times. "I think the drop was based on the margin; that's when the stock really cratered."
Regardless, it brings up an interesting question: does Steve Jobs' health matter? Sure, he's a CEO of a public company and his decisions will have a major impact on shareholder value, but should his own health matters stay private? After all, I don't want my health records displayed in a public forum and it's not something that I enjoy talking about.
It makes sense for his health issues to be private, right?
Think again.
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Microsoft fights back.
(Credit: Microsoft)For quite a while now, we've heard Microsoft claim that when it unleashes its barrage of advertising, Apple and the rest of the software industry will be put on notice.
"You thought the sleeping giant was still sleeping?" Microsoft's VP of Windows Vista consumer marketing said recently. "Well, we've woken up, and it's time to take our message forward."
And it looks like the company has done just that. In what will surely prove to be just the first salvo in an ongoing marketing struggle with Apple that could bulge to an astounding $300 million investment, Microsoft has unleashed an ad campaign saying we all need to learn the facts about Vista.
"When Windows Vista debuted in January 2007, we declared it the best operating system we had ever made. 'Windows Vista is beautiful,' The New York Times raved. It's humbling that millions of you agree," Microsoft's site says after clicking the ad.
"But we know a few of you were disappointed by your early encounter. Printers didn't work. Games felt sluggish. You told us--loudly at times--that the latest Windows wasn't always living up to your high expectations for a Microsoft product...Our goal is always to make each new version of Windows better than the last. With Windows Vista, we're convinced we succeeded."
With 180 million licenses in the wild already, it's hard to argue with Microsoft's logic. But the main question that Microsoft needs to answer remains: Why should I buy Vista if XP works so well?
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E3 should be like the Olympics and presidential elections. That's right -- it shouldn't be a yearly show where press is ushered around San Francisco and made to listen to barely entertaining conferences from companies that like to massage their egos and try to show how compelling their products are. Instead, E3 should be the gaming event every four years that highlights the major developments in the gaming space and leaves the extra garbage to shows like the Tokyo Game Show or the Game Developers' Conference.
Now I know this may sound drastic and surely some of you are saying that I've lost it, but hear me out. On this week's TWiT, I first mentioned this theory to my fellow panelists, Leo Laporte, Veronica Belmont, and Major Nelson. And due to the immense response from the TWiT faithful, I felt I needed to expound on my theory a bit more and explain why E3, in its current state, is quickly becoming irrelevant and is in desperate need of a revival.
Unless it's a year where new consoles will be released or a major title will be announced, E3 is boring. How many times do we go to E3 hoping Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo will announce something major, only to find out that they want to talk about sales, revenue models, and a handful of games that don't matter nearly as much as they want us to believe? Lately, it has happened more times than we want to admit.
But for those years where new consoles are being announced, along with major new franchises or updates to big-time games, E3 is a spectacle that outshines all its competitors and makes for an extremely compelling week.
Unfortunately, those events are few and far between.
... Read moreCall it rash, call it dumb, call it outlandish, call it crazy, but I'm officially boycotting first-person shooters. Why? Because I've finally had enough of the video game industry and its laser focus on profit to the detriment of innovation and fun.
Understand something: I grew up in a world where video games were not only innovative and fun, but they weren't derivative, they weren't over-blown movie wannabes, and they absolutely were not multi-million dollar projects that required more business acumen than innovation.
So for the past few years, I've quietly sat back and witnessed the video game industry sink into a rut that it's unwilling to dig itself out of. Why have we been forced to sit through sequel after sequel of the same rehashed game with only a few improvements here and there? Why have we been forced to sit through countless sports, first-person shooter, and dumb adventure games? Why have we been forced to basically play the same old game when all we really want is to play something new, exciting, and unique?
And although I can boycott any derivative genre I want, first-person shooters have become the worst culprit of them all, and if I want to take my own personal stand in the little way I can, that's the best place to do it.
... Read moreI've been extremely tough on YouTube lately. About one month ago, I called for its head if Google doesn't turn things around quickly and I've also said that it's the garbage bin of the Internet. And while I still believe the second point, I'm starting to think Google is doing just what I said it should -- start working with major players and turn things around.
After it announced that YouTube would be working with Seth Macfarlane and feature his own channel, two big announcements from the YouTube camp have me changing my tune and thinking that Google may be on to something big here.
First, YouTube is coming to TiVo Series3 and HD boxes. At first glance, this deal may seem like a big deal, but in reality it's nothing more than a way for YouTube to expand its horizons and hopefully make it such a valuable attribute of set-top boxes (it's already on the Apple TV) that companies will be willing to enter sweetheart deals to have it included in their own boxes. In other words, it could have some long-term effects, but right now, it's not going to have any impact on the service's losses.
But in a far more important announcement that will have an impact on the entire service and probably have lasting effects, Google also announced that it has struck a deal with Lionsgate that will see the independent film studio enjoy a revenue-share agreement with YouTube and get a branded video channel to broadcast movie clips.
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 | EPISODE 21 |
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In a move that everyone was waiting for, Apple has finally sued Psystar for violating its copyright and has asked for the company's profits and a recall of all orders.
"As alleged more fully below, by misappropriating Apple's proprietary software and intellectual property for its own use, Psystar's actions harm consumers by selling to them a poor product that is advertised and promoted in a manner that falsely and unfairly implies an affiliation with Apple," Apple's suit claims. "Psystar's actions also have caused, and are causing, harm to Apple and constitute a misuse of Apple's intellectual property."
Everyone knew Apple would eventually make a move against Psystar, but I'm not too sure anyone thought the suit would feature the kind of saber rattling it does. That said, it's the smart move and one that Apple must make if it wants to get away from anything of the sort happening again.
But if it doesn't use its head and try to force Psystar to its demise, Apple will open a can of worms that it may not be able to handle so easily.
... Read moreNetflix has always been a thorn in Blockbuster's side. For years now, the company has found creative ways to shape new business models and generally make Blockbuster look old, ragged, and incredibly foolish.
And although it was facing serious financial issues that required it to close hundreds of stores and layoff thousands of employees, Blockbuster has turned things around as of late. In the last two quarters, it enjoyed a slight profit of about $40 million in each period.
With that in mind, I was under the impression that things were finally turning the corner and it would have the ability to realize that the future of its business isn't in the brick-and-mortar, but in the wide world of downloads. And although its stock price is laughable and its foolhardy decision to go after Circuit City made it look desperate, I thought Blockbuster would finally wake up and get to work on something worthwhile.
Evidently, I was wrong.
Instead, it's (once again) Netflix realizing that the future of the the rental business isn't in the brick-and-mortar and probably not even in the mail sector. It's Netflix that's adapting to the changing times by streaming movies and TV shows to its Roku box and, now, the Xbox 360.
And in one fell swoop, Netflix has once again made Blockbuster irrelevant.
... Read moreAt this year's E3, Microsoft and Sony will be taking the stage to discuss the future of their consoles. After that, Nintendo will gloat about its success and take the opportunity to tell the world that its Wii is second to none.
Of course, during all those press conferences, Nintendo will be the only company to even mention its competitors. Microsoft and Sony, on the other hand, will only talk about the other and make it abundantly clear to everyone that Nintendo isn't being considered a real competitor to either firm.
And just in case you don't believe me, Sony CEO Howard Stringer at a conference last week said that he doesn't even think the Wii is on the same level as his company's console.
"I've played a Nintendo Wii," Stringer said last week at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "I don't see it as a competitor. It's more of an expensive niche game device."
Sorry, Howard, but lest you forget, the Wii is very much a competitor of yours and if you keep thinking otherwise, you won't stop the butt kicking.
... Read moreWith the iPhone 3G launching worldwide, consumers standing in line, and journalists salivating at the thought of talking about it, we've suddenly forgotten about RIM, Motorola, Nokia, LG, and the rest of the major players in the cell phone space.
Right now, Leo Laporte is getting ready to finish his 24 hours of iPhone coverage and my colleague Tom Merritt over at CNET TV came in to the office at 5 a.m. PDT to discuss the launch live. Techmeme is overloaded with iPhone coverage, and even major media outlets are jumping on the bandwagon, calling this "the biggest tech day of the year."
Wow. Have we really ever seen anything like this before? Some might say that last year's iPhone release was huge--and it was--but it's as if the hype machine came out in full force this year and did everything it could to eclipse last year's performance.
And so far, it has.
But what about RIM? The BlackBerry is, for all intents and purposes, the only real competitor to the iPhone now and with its stranglehold on the enterprise space, the only device that can keep Steve Jobs' juggernaut at bay.
That said, I can't help but wonder if RIM has learned something today. Has it learned that the Apple onslaught is real and very (very) powerful? Has it learned that hype is an incredibly powerful tool and should be used as much as possible? Has it learned anything?
I certainly hope so.
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