AllThingsD » graphical user interface

Essay: Jobs's Departure as CEO of Apple Is the End of an Extraordinary Era

Walt Mossberg — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:18:37 +0000

Steve Jobs’s resignation as chief executive officer of Apple is the end of an extraordinary era, not just for Apple, but for the global technology industry in general. Jobs is a historic business figure whose impact was deeply felt far beyond the company’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, and who was widely emulated at other companies.

And now, for the first time since 1997, he won’t be the company’s chief executive.

To be very clear, Jobs, while seriously ill, is very much alive. Extremely well-informed sources at Apple say he intends to remain involved in developing major future products and strategy and intends to be an active chairman of the board, even while new CEO Tim Cook runs the company day to day.

So, this is not an obituary. But his health is reported to be up and down, and even an active chairman isn’t the same as a CEO.

CEOs resign every day, so why is this departure so meaningful?

Most people are lucky if they can change the world in one important way, but Jobs, in multiple stages of his business career, changed global technology, media and lifestyles in multiple ways on multiple occasions.

He did it because he was willing to take big risks on new ideas, and not be satisfied with small innovations fed by market research. He also insisted on high quality and had the guts to leave out features others found essential and to kill technologies, like the floppy drive and the removable battery, he decided were no longer needed. And he has been a brilliant marketer, personally passionate about his products.

In his first act at Apple, the company he co-founded in 1976, he helped envision and catalyze the personal computer revolution. The Apple II computer he developed with Steve Wozniak wasn’t the only mass-market PC released in 1977, but it was the one that had the most enduring impact.

In 1984, he again upended computing by leading the development of the Macintosh, the first commercially successful computer to use a mouse and graphical user interface. It cemented the template for how every computer works today, even though Apple was handily bested in the PC sales wars by archrival Microsoft.

After being forced out of Apple in 1985, it’s well known that Jobs ran an unsuccessful computer firm called NeXT. But he also did a couple of game-changing things during that exile. First, NeXT developed an operating system that later morphed into the excellent Macintosh operating system, called OS X, and also the operating system that drives Apple’s mobile devices, called iOS.

In addition, he purchased Pixar, a small computer animation firm which he was able, over years, to turn into one of the world’s most successful movie studios and later sell to Disney for billions. It changed animation forever.

In his most recent act, he returned in 1997 to take over as CEO of Apple as part of that company’s purchase of NeXT. What he found was a diminished company which was reputedly only months from bankruptcy and saddled with mediocre products.

Fourteen years later, the company is a highly profitable behemoth, the most financially valuable and influential technology company in the world, whose every product is eagerly anticipated, snapped up quickly by consumers, and aped by competitors, even though they are often priced higher than rival devices.

While CEO of the revived Apple, he introduced the dominant digital music player, the iPod, and created the most successful digital media service, iTunes. He introduced the first super-smartphone, the iPhone, and the only truly successful tablet computer, the iPad, which is in the process of replacing the laptop, at least in part. And he built the world’s largest app store.

One almost forgets that he built a phenomenally successful chain of retail stores, too.

Apple’s devices and software services have dramatically changed the mobile phone industry, the music industry, the film and TV industries, the publishing industry and others.

Meanwhile, even while declaring that we are in the “post-PC era,” Jobs resuscitated his early baby, the Mac. While it may never become the world’s biggest selling computer, it is lusted after worldwide, and its sales have outgrown those of the overall PC industry for five years running. Plus, with models like the sleek, solid-state MacBook Air, he’s actually merging the tablet and the PC.

Now, rumors are rife that Apple is working on re-inventing another common device: the TV. The secretive company won’t say a word about that, but nobody should be surprised if it happens, just based on Jobs’s track record.

And that’s why the day Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple isn’t like the day a typical CEO resigns.

Here is a video of me taken recently, talking about Jobs’s career:

[ See post to watch video ]

Check Out PARC's 40th Anniversary Doings

Kara Swisher — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:32:56 +0000

Recently, there was an event in Silicon Valley to celebrate the 40th anniversary of PARC, the pioneering research facility that birthed a lot of tech’s most potent innovations.

Ever heard of laser printing or Ethernet networking or the graphical user interface?

Yes, that and much more.

PARC, by the way, stands for Palo Alto Research Center and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox (XRX).

Here are some videos from the celebration, including an alumni panel, as well as predictions for 40 years hence:

PARC 40: Alumni perspectives

View more videos from PARC, a Xerox company.

PARC 40: Customer perspectives

View more videos from PARC, a Xerox company.

PARC 40: Employee perspectives

View more videos from PARC, a Xerox company.

PARC 40: Predictions for the next 40

View more videos from PARC, a Xerox company.

Full D8 Interview Video: HTC CEO Peter Chou

Kara Swisher — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:44:08 +0000

As promised, All Things Digital is posting the full videos from our eighth D: All Things Digital conference, held in early June.

Here’s Walt Mossberg’s interview with HTC CEO Peter Chou, who heads the Taiwan-based smartphone maker.

As Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski wrote in June:

“Over the past few years, Chou has transformed HTC from a contract handset manufacturer into a smartphone powerhouse, a company that ranks behind only Nokia (NOK), Research in Motion (RIMM) and Apple (AAPL) in global smartphone shipments. That’s quite an achievement and one attributable to the very early, savvy bet Chou made on Google’s (GOOG) Android mobile operating system.

But that same bet has gotten HTC into trouble as well, most notably a high-profile lawsuit from Apple alleging that a number of HTC’s Android devices infringe patents related to the iPhone’s graphical user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.”

Oh, that…which is all discussed in the full video of the D8 interview session with Chou.

[ See post to watch video ]

Want to see it bigger? Click here.

Note: We’ll be posting full D8 videos on Mondays and Thursdays. Next up: Ford (F) CEO Alan Mulally.

Apple Expands HTC Lawsuit

John Paczkowski — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:30:26 +0000

In early March, Apple filed a suit against HTC alleging infringement of 20 patents related to the iPhone’s graphical user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. Now it appears the company has circled back to sue HTC again.

In a complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Apple (AAPL) accuses HTC of infringing two additional patents and reasserts its allegations of infringement of two others.

The two new patents:

6,282,646: “System for real-time adaptation to changes in display configuration”
7,380,116: “System for real-time adaptation to changes in display configuration”

And the patents included in the original suit:

7,657,849: “Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image”
7,383,453: “Conserving power by reducing voltage supplied to an instruction-processing portion of a processor”

So, two new patents added to the original list of 20. Not exactly the opening of a new front in this particular battle, though it’s certainly an expansion of it. Meanwhile, the U.S. International Trade Commission continues to investigate Apple’s infringement claims against HTC and vice-versa.

HTC CEO Peter Chou Live at D8

John Paczkowski — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:54:53 +0000

HTC, a company that once built devices for other brands, is today a powerful brand itself. And CEO Peter Chou is largely responsible for that. Over the past few years, Chou has transformed HTC from a contract handset manufacturer into a smartphone powerhouse, a company that ranks behind only Nokia (NOK), Research in Motion (RIMM) and Apple (AAPL) in global smartphone shipments. That’s quite an achievement and one attributable to the very early, savvy bet Chou made on Google’s (GOOG) Android mobile operating system.

Liveblog

11:55 am: How many of you have an Android phone, asks Walt, directing his question to the audience. If you do, it’s likely to have been made by HTC. And with that, Walt welcomes Chou to the stage.

11:56 am: Walt notes that when he first encountered HTC it was an OEM. How did you get from there, he asks Chou, to where you are now, where your brand is actually on the phone?

Chou: It was a great journey for us. We started with a vision of mobile convergence and how smartphones would change people’s lives. That vision excited us, so we focused on innovations in technology and tried to deliver on that vision. Over the years, we began partnering with companies like Microsoft, Google. Then we shipped the world’s first Windows phone, the world’s first Android phone, and this week, we introduced the world’s first 4G phone, the Sprint (S) EVO. So we’ve been in this industry for a while. But we needed a brand identity. Without that, it was difficult to communicate our vision to the market.

11:59 am: Walt–Other than 4G, what’s innovative about the EVO?

Chou: It has a breakthrough display, it’s much bigger, it’s clearer. It has an eight-megapixel camera and a front-facing camera as well. It’s the first device in the U.S. that people can use to make a video call. It’s also a hotspot; you can use it to create a Wi-Fi network.

12:01 pm:: Walt likes the device’s kickstand. It turns it into a sort of mini-TV. He draws a comparison with the Dell (DELL) tablet we saw yesterday and notes that that device’s screen size is not much larger than the EVO’s.

12:02 pm: Walt–So this is an Android device. You’re still making Windows phones, but are you making more Android phones now?

Chou: We’re committed to both platforms. We want to design great products for both. Different people like different things, so what we try to do is get a good mix of technology and design. And Android and Windows cater to different users. Windows users tend to like Windows. They are loyalists. Windows has a lot of value.

Walt: What about Android?

Chou: Android provides a different Internet experience. It caters to people who are interested in things like social networking, he says.

12:05 pm: Walt wonders why, if HTC is committed to both platforms, it doesn’t differentiate its handset design. The company’s Windows phones look a lot like Android phones. There’s an HTC layer on them–HTC Sense.

Chou: Well, what we do is try to add value on top of Android and Windows. HTC Sense focuses on things like the social networking experience. Our philosophy is that we don’t force the customer to take what we offer; they have the freedom to personalize their devices.

Walt: So you can take HTC software off these phones?

Chou: Yes.

12:07 pm: Walt–Is there a consumer awareness of your brand? When customers buy a Nexus One, do they know it’s made by HTC?

Chou says they do. Since last year, the company has been working on brand positioning, and that has bolstered consumer awareness of its offerings.

12:08 pm: Chou offers an anecdote about meeting a guy at an airport and comparing HTC devices with him. “I think the HTC name is getting more awareness.”

12:09 pm: Walt–Do you think it’s confusing to customers that there are now three brands involved in a phone: The carrier, the manufacturer of the phone and then the operating system? Can you have too many brands on a device?

Chou: This is an ecosystem. We have a lot of stakeholders. We’re trying to minimize that a little bit, by putting some of those logos on the back.

12:12 pm: Walt–Talk a bit about this concept of a lower-tier of smartphone device.

Chou: Our vision is to bring the smartphone to the mass market…We believe the smartphone is improving people’s lives, so we’re trying to offer it to more consumers, but sometimes, smartphone prices are too high, even with carrier subsidies. And mass-market consumers sometimes perceive smartphones as overly complex devices, so we’re trying to bring prices down and simplify devices at the same time. We’re doing this with the HTC smart. This is a $150 phone [as opposed to the typical $400 smartphone].

Walt: Is HTC Smart an Android phone?

Chou: No. It uses Qualcomm (QCOM) BREW.

Walt: Does it have a different Web browser? Is it as good as WebKit?

Chou says it’s not–at least not yet. He says the device has been relatively well received though. He also notes that given the low price, it can be offered by carriers at very low prices.

12:17 pm: Walt–Is there fragmentation in Android? Some app developers tell me Android’s landscape is too cluttered. Is HTC Sense making this worse?

Chou: HTC Sense is not causing the problem here. We try not to fragment. All apps can run on HTC Sense. There’s no fragmentation, though there may be confusion there. The operating system itself may cause a bit of a problem. But it’s a small one…and it occurs more with older devices. We try to be careful to do good porting on our devices …

Questions & Answers

Q: What are you doing to improve battery life in these new devices? [Walt notes that the EVO's battery runs down "alarmingly fast"]

A: We understand that if your a heavy mobile user, the battery is a concern. The EVO’s battery is removable–not like the iPhone. [I think he's suggesting that users carry an extra one.] We are trying to innovate here. We’re aware of the problem. I hope someday this won’t be an issue.

Q: Any other phones in your pockets?

A: Chou chuckles.

Q: Can you talk about HTC’s plans to expand into other areas of electronics–tablets for example.

A: We’re very focused on smartphones today. We’re focusing our business on mobile operators. However, as an innovator, one of our defining characteristics is to create new technologies. So in our labs, we’re developing new devices like the HTC Shift [a tablet, I think].

Q: What’s your take on the Foxconn suicides?

A: I don’t know details about this. What I know is from the news. But this is a very well-equipped factory. There must be something there beyond manufacturing or salary issues, something cultural maybe. Times change, China changes and the value system may have also changed, and working long hours under very strict management may be very tough for some people. I’m not in a position to speak about this though, because we own a factory as well. We value our employees, we treat them well, we treat them as an asset. It’s really difficult for me to comment on Foxconn.

Q: Will you list your stock in the U.S.?

A: We’ve thought about it. But we need to think more about timing. These days, I’m spending most of my time thinking about products. Perhaps with some investment bank help, we can do that.

And that’s a wrap.

A note about our coverage: This liveblog is not an official transcript of the conversation that occurred onstage. Rather, it is a compilation of quotes, paraphrased statements and ad-lib observations written and posted to the Web as quickly as possible. It is not intended as a transcript and should not be interpreted as one.

One Obvious Question for HTC CEO Peter Chou at D8: How About Them Apple (Patents)?

Kara Swisher — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:15:20 +0000

Before Apple lobbed a patent infringement lawsuit at Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC yesterday, we were lucky to get its CEO, Peter Chou, to agree to appear at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference in June to talk about its work making smartphones for Google and others.

That interview with Chou (pictured above) obviously got a whole lot more interesting with the epic legal action by Apple (AAPL) alleging that HTC infringed some 20 patents related to the iPhone’s graphical user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.

Wrote Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski:

“The company is asking for a permanent injunction barring HTC from importing or selling infringing phones in the U.S., along with triple damages and maximum interest.

‘We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,’ Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a press release announcing the action. ‘We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.’”

HTC denied the allegations, not surprisingly, and was backed up in a statement of support by Google (GOOG). That is also not a surprise, since its Android operating system, which is in the HTC-made Nexus One phone, is mentioned prominently in the lawsuit.

Whatever happens, it all makes for what is likely to be a head-spinning technology rumble over the next months and underscores how important the burgeoning mobile arms race and the fight over innovation will be.

Until we get Chou in an onstage interview at D8 to talk about this and much more, here is a video of MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka talking about yesterday’s Apple action on the new Digits Live Show on WSJ.com:

[ See post to watch video ]

One Obvious Question for HTC CEO Peter Chou at D8: How About Them Apple (Patents)?

Kara Swisher — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:15:13 +0000

Wrote Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski:

“The company is asking for a permanent injunction barring HTC from importing or selling infringing phones in the U.S., along with triple damages and maximum interest.

Apple: At My Signal, Unleash Hell …

John Paczkowski — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:30:32 +0000

“We’ve been pushing the state-of-the-art in every facet of design….We’ve been innovating like crazy for the last few years on this and we’ve filed for over 200 patents for all of the inventions in iPhone. And we intend to protect them.”

– Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Jan. 9, 2007

Asked for his thoughts on iPhone rivals during a January 2009 earnings call, Apple COO Tim Cook said the company would not stand for having its intellectual property ripped off.

“We are watching the landscape,” Cook said. “We like competition, as long as they don’t rip off our IP, and if they do, we’re going to go after anybody that does….We think competition is good; it makes it us all better. But we’re ready to suit up and go against anyone.”

Well, looks like Apple (AAPL) is suiting up, and against a big opponent. This morning, the iPhone maker filed suit against HTC, a Taiwanese handset manufacturer that makes a number of Android smartphones, including the operating system’s marquee device, Google’s Nexus One (Read the suits in their entirety here.)

In a lawsuit filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission and U.S. District Court in Delaware, Apple alleges that HTC infringed some 20 patents related to the iPhone’s graphical user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. The company is asking for a permanent injunction barring HTC from importing or selling infringing phones in the U.S., along with triple damages and maximum interest.

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a press release announcing the action. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

HTC appears to have been totally blindsided by the suit. As of this writing, it hasn’t even been served.

“We only learned of Apple’s actions based on Apple’s press release,” the company said in a statement. “We have not been served any papers yet so we are in no position to comment on the claims. We respect and value patent rights but we are committed to defending our own innovations. We have been innovating and patenting our own technology for 13 years.”

It’s not yet clear whether Google (GOOG) is implicated here. But it certainly seems possible. After all, HTC manufactures a number of Android devices, and while Google insisted at the Nexus One launch that it didn’t design the device, the search giant clearly played a role in its development.

Of course, it could be that Apple is suing HTC because it can’t, for some reason, sue Google. More details to follow once I’ve read through the suits.

Further Reading:

Apple Sues HTC [Complete Court Filings]

Why HTC, Apple? And Why Now?

Apple vs. Google: Game On

Sprint: Fewer Dropped Calls, Employees

John Paczkowski — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:25:55 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Apple Awarded Patent on Palm Pre Gesture Area?

John Paczkowski — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:12:27 +0000

We like competition, as long as they don’t rip off our IP, and if they do, we’re going to go after anybody that does….We will not stand for having our IP ripped off and we’ll use whatever weapons we have at our disposal [to make sure that doesn't happen]. I don’t know that I can be more clear than that.”

– Apple COO Tim Cook’s on the company’s iPhone intellectual property

Turns out that when Apple (AAPL) COO Tim Cook said the company would use “whatever weapons we have at our disposal” to pursue anyone who “rips off” Apple’s iPhone intellectual property, he had a very specific weapon in mind: United States Patent #7,479,949. Awarded just days before Cook made that statement, the vast 358-page patent describes the touchscreen, graphical user interface and technologies that define the iPhone user experience, including at least one that may define an element of the Palm (PALM) Pre’s as well. From the patent abstract:

A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command. The one or more heuristics comprise: a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a one-dimensional vertical screen scrolling command, a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a two-dimensional screen translation command, and a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a command to transition from displaying a respective item in a set of items to displaying a next item in the set of items.

Also described in the patent, a gesture area separate from the iPhone touchscreen UI itself:

In some embodiments, in addition to the touch screen, the device 100 may include a touchpad (not shown) for activating or deactivating particular functions. In some embodiments, the touchpad is a touch-sensitive area of the device that, unlike the touch screen, does not display visual output. The touchpad may be a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from the touch screen 112 or an extension of the touch-sensitive surface formed by the touch screen.

A touch-sensitive area of the device that, unlike the touchscreen, does not display visual output. Hmm. That sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it? Where have I heard that before… Oh, I know, in Palm’s announcement of the Pre.

Palm Pre features include the following:

…Gesture area, which enables simple, intuitive gestures for navigation”

Makes you wonder what’s going on in the bowels of Apple legal right now, doesn’t it? Palm legal, too. The company could certainly challenge the validity of the patent if it chose to.

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AllThingsD » graphical user interface

Essay: Jobs's Departure as CEO of Apple Is the End of an Extraordinary Era

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