AllThingsD » Katie Cotton

Yahoo's Bartz Also Gets Fired From Fortune's Powerful Women List, While HP's Whitman Gets Hired

Kara Swisher — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:48:47 +0000

Today, Fortune magazine released its annual “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” and, as usual, it had its share of tech execs on the list.

And off it, too — first and foremost being ousted Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who was jacked completely from her 2010 No. 10 rank. She was No. 8 in 2009.

In her place: Newly designated Hewlett-Packard CEO and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman grabbed the No. 9 spot.

Also on the list: fast-rising IBM sales, marketing and strategy exec Ginni Rometty at No. 7; Xerox CEO Ursula Burns at No. 8; Oracle President and CFO Safra Catz at No. 11; Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg at No. 12; Google execs Susan Wojcicki and Marissa Mayer at No. 28 and No. 38, respectively; IBM North America GM Bridget Van Kralingen at No. 39; and Best Buy Americas President Shari Ballard.

Catz was the highest paid of the group, with $42.1 million in total 2010 compensation.

And also taken off this year: 2010 No. 14, HP’s Ann Livermore, who left her top job there, but still is on the tech giant’s board; 2010 No. 28 Cathie Lesjak, CFO of HP; 2010 No. 44 Lorrie Norrington, a former president at eBay; and Apple’s communications head Katie Cotton (she was robbed!), who was No. 50 in 2010.

The new list will be in the magazine on Monday, which is when a related conference will take place in Southern California. (I will also be in attendance there, along with other less powerful ladies.)

Whitman is scheduled to speak at the conference in the afternoon on Tuesday, October 4.

Video: BoomTown Zings, Dings and Pings (Manilow) at Apple Music Event

Kara Swisher — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:15:32 +0000

Here is a lovely movie from the Apple iPod, iPad, iTunes, TV and, now, Ping event yesterday in San Francisco.

(Yes, this is a photo of me channeling Walt Mossberg in a chat with CEO Steve Jobs in the demo area.)

It includes the you-are-there shots of Jobs onstage, as well as scenes from the media throng and more, as the tech giant unveiled updates, additions and renovations of older stuff and also launched new stuff.

Such as Ping, the social music service in iTunes 10, which starred Apple (AAPL) PR impresario Katie Cotton’s profile in the demo itself. She was unflappable, even after I told her I was a Fanilow.

It is all in the video below:

[ See post to watch video ]

Kara, Walt and Katie Visit iPhone 4-Palooza at WWDC–With Special Guest Stars Schiller, Pincus and More!

Kara Swisher — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:37:16 +0000

Earlier today, BoomTown hoofed it to downtown San Francisco to join a pair of All Things Digital A-Team members–Walt Mossberg and Katie Boehret–at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the newest version of the iconic mobile device, iPhone 4.

As usual, I had to snark it up with a video of the proceedings at Moscone Center West, where over 5,000 of the Apple (AAPL) faithful gathered to kibitz and ogle.

Cue the excessive oohing and aahing.

A very playful Jobs–who even handled a networking connection snafu with unusual restraint–gave them a lot to talk about, from the iPhone 4′s FaceTime video chat to its squarish, stainless-steel-and-glass new design to multitasking to an even crisper screen called Retina Display.

(Memo to Katie Cotton: Is the iBall the next secret Apple project? Because Retina Display, frankly, sounds a little too much like the corrective LASIK eye surgery I have been avoiding.)

Also on the menu: Some more info about iAds, which is competing with Google (GOOG) in the nascent but fast-growing mobile advertising market.

Jobs threw in a few light jabs at the Silicon Valley search giant, although it was pretty tame overall.

Interestingly, I was just at the same venue for Google’s I/O developers event a few weeks ago, where that company was showing off cool new features for its Android mobile operating system, all while dissing Apple.

In any case, like that one, it was another big day for the smartphone market and users, as Apple tossed off its newest innovations. Presumably, the ball is now in Google’s court.

Until Google swings back, here’s my video, including interviews with top Apple execs Phil Schiller and Katie Cotton, as well as Zynga’s Mark Pincus, who demoed a new iPhone version of the start-up’s FarmVille online game:

[ See post to watch video ]

You can check out the entire video of Steve Jobs being interviewed a week ago at our eighth D: All Things Digital conference here.

Scenes From the Apple iPad Day: Is It a Thneed or an iPod XL?

Kara Swisher — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:25:28 +0000

BoomTown captured some bits and pieces of tasty video as I attended the Apple rollout of its newest device, the iPad, yesterday.

There are shots of the action in San Francisco outside and inside the launch hall and demo area (with key clips of CEO Steve Jobs during the event) showing off the hardware and software.

And, in a series of interviews, I mocked New York Times (NYT) tech legend John Markoff, got mocked by Apple (AAPL) PR gurus Katie Cotton and Steve Dowling, got gallant treatment from Gizmodo’s Brian Lam, got shut down by New York Times tech dude Brad Stone and got CNBC’s Jim Goldman–whom I did not ask for a date–to call the iPad “an XL version of the iPod touch.”

Or is it a Thneed–the innovative thing that everybody needs–from Dr. Seuss’s “The Lorax”?

Time will tell, but here’s the video to enjoy, plus one of the terrific “Everybody Needs a Thneed” song:

[ See post to watch video ]

Jobs Back on the Job?

John Paczkowski — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:37:57 +0000

“Steve continues to look forward to returning at the end of June, and there’s nothing further to say.”

– Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton

A quote from Steve Jobs in an Apple press release this morning and a handful of media reports claiming he has been spotted at Apple HQ over the past few days are raising hopes that the CEO may have officially returned to work.

It’s not clear yet whether these sightings are freak occurrences or if Jobs has indeed come back to work full-time, but we are nearing the end of June, the date at which his medical leave from the company was to conclude. Certainly, it’s conceivable that he’s slowly ramping up for a formal return.

Apple (AAPL) has not yet returned a request for comment.