Axel Springer AG, Germany's largest newspaper publisher, is moving its entire organization -- 12,000 computers -- to the Mac platform. Axel Springer will become Apple's largest corporate customer in Europe, and second largest customer worldwide. (Google is number one.)
Axel Springer owns Bild and Bild am Sonntag, tabloid-style dailies (not unlike The Sun in the UK or the New York Post in the U.S.) and several magazines sold under the Bild brand. The company currently uses large-scale publishing solutions from WoodWing Software and CCI, both of which support Mac clients.
In a video message to employees, CEO Matthias Döpfner cited ease-of-use, appearance, and total cost of ownership in the reason to switch. Employees can start buying and using Macs and iPhones this month, though the entire organization will be migrated over the course of a year or two five years. (Hey, I took French in high school.)
Thanks Alex, Rouven, and bimbum for the tip (and the help with the German)!
The Apple Expo is Europe's Apple conference -- similar to the Macworld expo in the US. Apple Expo '08 has posted details about the expo, including dates for this year's conference: Wednesday, September 17 through Saturday, September 20, in Paris, France.
Currently, there are only two iPhone events scheduled out of the over 30 planned events. It is a nice change to see that the iPhone will not "steal the show" in Europe like it does at Apple conferences in the US. You can see all of the details, exhibitors, and scheduled events on the Apple Expo website.
RetailWeek recently compiled a list of the top 100 retail locations around the world. What did they find? Well, Apple holds two positions in their list: one for the 5th Avenue store (New York) and one for the Regent Street store (London).
According to the list, the 5th Avenue store has all three key deciding factors: "excitement, education and ease." They go on to say that the glass cube is in line with the "DNA of the brand."
Does this change your mind about shopping at Apple's retail stores? Be sure to take our poll and drop a comment.
Is it even possible? Forbes does a little bit of speculating on just who might take over when Jobs takes his leave from Apple, and candidates aren't exactly jumping out of the woodwork. Jobs is about as visionary as they come -- only a guy like Steve could lead Apple from the iMac to the iPod to the iPhone, breaking records and status quo the whole time. Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall are tossed out as two names currently within Apple's ranks, but Jobs is almost as much of a company mascot as he is a CEO. As consultant Patrick Sweeney says in the article, anyone who steps into the turtleneck has to fit completely into the culture of the company, or it won't work.
And forget the day-to-day and design decisions -- who's going to stand on stage and say "boom" at WWDC and Macworld? Here at TUAW, we're pretty sure the rumors of Jobs' ill health are exaggerated; he's probably not going anywhere anytime fast. But at the same time, it's hard to imagine an Apple without him at all.
Boy Genius Report is reporting that Apple may allow sales of the iPhone at BestBuy and RadioShack retail stores in the U.S. This, of course, is in addition to it being sold at Apple and AT&T stores.
This would be the first time since the iPhone's introduction that a third-party reseller would be able to sell the iPhone. These rumors are definitely unconfirmed at this point so we don't know if this will happen in time for the retail giants to get in on the July 11th introduction sale.
In another chapter in the scandal surrounding Apple's choice to back-date options granted to key executives (including Steve Jobs), two plaintiffs have filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against two former executives and members of Apple's board of directors.
Apple was sued similarly in 2007 by the New York City Employees' Retirement System, and the case was dismissed.
The suit names Steve Jobs, former counsel Nancy Heinen, and board members William Campbell, Millard Drexler, Arthur Levinson, and Jerry York. It contends that the accused intentionally filed false documents, hiding stock option grants to the higher-ups.
Apple, in an internal investigation, cleared Jobs of any wrongdoing, leading many to speculate that the company threw Heinen and former CFO Fred Anderson under the proverbial bus to protect the company's image.
Clear your calendars for Saturday, Edmonton Apple fans. Apple Store West Edmonton is set to open its doors at 10:00 AM. The store is located in the West Edmonton Mall, at 8882 - 170th Street, next to The Disney Store. You can get full travel directions here, but since the WEM is the largest shopping center in North America you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it.
If you visit the store on opening weekend, please send us your stories and photos. This will be Canada's sixth Apple Store.
Last February, we forwarded a report on China's first Apple Store. At the time, it seemed the store would open on August 8th to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics.
This week, The Shanghai Daily is reporting that the Sanlitun-based store will open on July 19, with a second store also scheduled to open during the Olympic Games (in the Qianmen area). China is the world's largest mobile phone market and second largest computer market.
No official opening dates have been released, so please send us any specifics or spy shots you take. Thanks!
Computerworld is reporting on the results of a Yankee Group Research report that finds that 80% of US businesses now have Macs. This represents an huge increase from just two years ago when only 47% of businesses reported having Mac users. The Yankee Group estimates that corporate marketshare has risen to 8-10% overall with 21% of firms reporting more than 50 Mac users. Interestingly, and perhaps not surprisingly, 28% are running Windows in virtualization.
While the consumer marketshare (and better yet, profitshare) numbers have looking up for some time now, it's good to see that Apple is finally starting to gain (or regain) a serious foothold in the corporate sphere as well. It's no surprise that as more users get acquainted with Apple gear at home that they're bringing pressure on corporate IT managers to implement Macs at work as well. Things just keep rolling for the bean counters in Cupertino.
Once again, it's that time of year when tourists flock to the beaches, students leave their books behind and Apple executives describe how they've made much more money than the rest of us.
Earlier this week, Apple announced that their third-quarter earnings call will take place on July 21, 2008, at 2 p.m. Pacific time. It's been an up-and-down quarter for Apple's stock. It should also be noted that this will be the first report to contain information on sales of the iPhone 3G, assuming they do go on sale on July 11th without a glitch.
We'll be live blogging the call, so be sure and check back on the 21st. See you then!
My personal favorites for "The Next Steve" are Ron Johnson (Senior VP, Retail) or Scott Forstall (Senior VP, iPhone Software, pictured at right). Why? Johnson is charismatic and has established Apple as a retail powerhouse. Forstall, because he is as anal as Jobs about interface design and kinda looks like "I'm a Mac" actor Justin Long.
After you take a look at the article, come back to TUAW and vote for your favorite candidate for the next Apple CEO.
A post on Slashdot by Oren Hurvitz yesterday highlights a Glassdoor analysis, claiming engineers at Apple have significantly lower annual salaries than their Silicon Valley (and Redmond) peers:
Apple: $89,000
Yahoo!: $105,375
Microsoft: $105,642
Google: $112,573
The post asks, "Will Apple have to raise salaries to match the market rate, or face defections?"
Cnet's Matt Asay says, essentially, "nah." Apple's high stock price and options benefits are likely a reason many engineers are staying. Plus, he asks, "where are these developers going to go?" The coming [staying? already-here? -- ed.] recession and a sagging employment market aren't going to make it easy for engineers to find higher-paid jobs elsewhere in the Valley.
On the other hand, Hurvitz notes on his blog that when squared with the company's net income, Apple's engineers are getting the short end of the stick, since their low salaries made a large difference in Apple's bottom line.
Even so, Asay says, "Apple has time to figure this out and may not need to do anything."
We're sure that our friends down under have been wondering where is all the Apple love for Australia. Well, they can stop the sorrow and feel the joy as Apple is set to open it's first Australia Apple Store on Thursday, June 19. The store in question will be located in Sydney and will feature the "world's largest Genius Bar" according to a recent Apple press release (see, that's what you get for waiting so long).
Apple also notes that the store will accommodate over 80 Macs and 60 iPods (talk about Apple goodness). The Apple store in Sydney will open at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday June 19. The Apple Store Sydney is located at 367 George Street, one block North of the Queen Victoria Building.
Fortune has an interesting article detailing how Apple and Intel are fast on the way to becoming best buds. Apparently Intel has been more willing to accommodate Apple than some of its other customers, as demonstrated by the MacBook Air. It seems that in the design phase of the Air Apple went to Intel with the processor spec they wanted and the response was "'We don't have that,' or 'We have that on a roadmap 3-4 years from now,'" but after digging around Intel realized that they had a processor concept on the shelf that "had been put on the back burner after PC makers gave it a ho-hum reception." So they revamped it slightly and delivered it to Apple within a year. And the Air was just the beginning with several "equally aggressive" projects in the pipeline for the two companies. In short, it seems like the relationship is good for both partners, with Apple making demands that push the technology forward and Intel responding in ways that look to benefit the larger PC industry as a whole.
When Steve Jobs delivers a keynote or other high-profile presentation, Apple typically posts a video of the event on the web and in iTunes (who else remembers when you would stream these things live? Those were the days).
This week they've given these videos an official home in the iTunes Store. The Apple Keynotes Podcast [link] features three videos so far, the MWSF '07 and '08 keynotes plus the March 6th introduction of the iPhone software road map.
Check back on the evening of Monday, June 9th or Tuesday the 10 to see if the WWDC '08 keynote has been made available.
Axel Springer AG, Germany's largest newspaper publisher, is moving its entire organization -- 12,000 computers -- to the Mac platform. Axel Springer will become Apple's largest corporate customer in Europe, and second largest customer worldwide. (Google is number one.)
RetailWeek recently compiled a list of the top 
Is it even possible? Forbes 
Boy Genius Report
In another chapter in the scandal surrounding Apple's choice to back-date options granted to key executives (including Steve Jobs), two plaintiffs have 
Clear your calendars for Saturday, Edmonton Apple fans. 
Last February, we forwarded 
Computerworld is 
Once again, it's that time of year when tourists flock to the beaches, students leave their books behind and Apple executives describe how they've made much more money than the rest of us.
Fortune on CNN/Money.com
A post on 
Fortune has an interesting 
When Steve Jobs delivers a keynote or other high-profile presentation, Apple typically posts a video of the event on the web and in iTunes (who else remembers when you would stream these things live? Those were the days). 
