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Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Graphic Design

Nvidia CEO loves Apple, possesses mysterious alien device

Talk about burying the lead -- Shufflegazine did a piece on Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Hwang during a visit to Dubai recently, in which he talks about how much he and his family love their Macs, and Apple's machines add value, and in his house it's just "Mac, Mac, Mac," and OH MY GOD, what is that SITTING ON THE TABLE in front of him? OK, it's probably not definitely not an Apple tablet (yet), as there's no clear Apple logo on it, but man that's a nice looking tablet device, and even Engadget says they have no idea what it is.

The thing is, this picture just appeared with Shufflegazine's piece, and while Hwang did go on and on about how much he loves Apple stuff (and yes, the two companies have a long history of sharing some hardware), there's not word one about that tablet or anything like it in the piece, no hint of any other hardware or partnership announcement. It could be a prototype, it could be another tablet we're just not recognizing, or yes, Hwang could have just thrown it down on the table during the interview, and Shufflegazine could have just completely missed it. [They didn't. -Ed.]

Though if that last one is true, we have no idea how it happened. How do you cover Apple and their gadgets and avoid being drawn to that tablet. It's so... thin and well-designed. We'll be honest, if we were in the room, we might have licked it then and there to claim it as our own.

Thanks to Nemanja for the tip.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Corporate

Fortune Magazine: Possible Jobs Successors

Scott FostallFortune on CNN/Money.com has a rogue's gallery of photos online today. The gallery features 11 executives at Apple, each of whom is considered in one way or another to be a possible candidate to replace Steve Jobs if he steps down. If you want to skip the gallery, the full story is on one page at Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog.

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.

Who will be the next Apple CEO?


Filed under: Cult of Mac, Macbook Pro

Steve Ballmer uses a Mac for presentations

You may remember Steve Ballmer (CEO of some other company) criticizing the iPod and iPhone on several occasions. Something that he definitely cannot criticize is the Mac, mostly because he was seen using one for with one at the podium while he gave a presentation. MacLife pointed us to this Flickr picture showing what really powers the other Steve's presentation. What's there? You guessed it, a MacBook Pro. We imagine that it is running Windows via BootCamp, proving once again that the best Windows machine money can buy is a Mac.

I guess Microsoft is staring to "Think Different," eh?

Update: As noted by several Flickr commenters, Ballmer didn't actually use the Mac to present; all that was displayed was his title slide, most likely driven by backstage gear, and presumably the MacBook Pro was left at the podium by the conference organizers or a previous presenter. Still a pleasant thought to imagine him slaving away over his PowerPoint (or Keynote!) presentation on the MBP, but it doesn't look like that's how it went.

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Apple Financial, Steve Jobs

Jobs total compensation a bit more than $1 per year

Steve Jobs' $1 per year salary is famous, but as everybody already knew that's hardly the whole story. According to Forbes, Jobs was the highest-paid CEO in 2006 in terms of "total compensation," taking home approximately $646 million (which is almost double number two on the list)! This was apparently mostly by way of some of those (in)famous stock options, which is pretty much standard for executives these days.

[via MacNN]

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Steve Jobs

Steve is "World's Best CEO"

Aww, doesn't it make you feel all snugly inside?

Barron's has published their list of the world's 30 top CEOs, (subscription required for the full article) and our buddy Steve Jobs is at the top of the list. In assembling their list the editors at Barron's considered things like stock market performance, investor surveys, and so on. Consistency in wardrobe was also a factor (that's a joke, in case you didn't notice).

Other notables from the tech field included Satory Iwata of Nintendo and Jong-Yong Yun of Samsung Electronics.

So, who wants to design Steve's "World's Best CEO" coffee mug?

[Via MacDailyNews]

Filed under: Rumors, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends

Steve's Special Stool

It's no big secret that Our Glorious Leader has very particular tastes, and he likes getting his way. Fast cars (Mercedes Benz), fast jets (Gulfstream), and according to Valleywag, secret three-legged stools. Though no real details are known about said stool, the Valleywag tipster says that Unkie Steve requires his designer stool to be present at all important meetings (both Apple internal meetings and certain outside meetings), as well as available to sit on during long flights on his jet (though the safety of a three-legged stool in turbulence seems dubious to me). One would imagine that this stool will be present during the keynote, so everyone keep their eyes sharp to see if we can't identify it.

Filed under: Hardware, Odds and ends

AMD CEO: AMD + Apple inevitable

During an Intel-bashing session at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, The CEO of AMD, Hector Ruiz, whined remarked that an AMD + Apple partnership is in their cards: "Knowing Apple, why would they want to be held hostage like everyone else has been?" Of course, Apple wasn't available to comment on whether Mac users could have AMD inside anytime soon.

While I try to manage my shackled ankles that this iMac imposes, I'll let you check out the full rundown of what Ruiz had to say at Bloomberg.

[via Engadget]

Filed under: iTS, Rumors, Video

iTMS movie downloads in September - but only one studio on board so far?

The rumors are flying even faster in the last couple days that movies could appear in the iTMS as early as September. We're hearing that Apple might have an event planned in San Francisco for Sept. 12th, where they could announce iTMS movies, or simply a $300 leather case for their $350 iPod Hi-Fi.

Curiously, Business Week is running an article about opposition against iTMS movies from Wal-Mart, of all companies (turns out they're the largest DVD retailer with 40% of the market). Business Week also mentions that Apple only has one studio signed on so far - Disney (of course) - though we aren't sure where they heard that (with studio CEOs dropping their own hints, it seems anything goes right now).

So where does this all leave us? Honestly, we're not sure. Rumors are flying, but Apple hasn't officially made any event announcements or so much as sneezed in one direction or another. We wish we had more to tell you, but for now, we'll just have to keep our ears open.

[Update: woops, Apple actually has confirmed a special event for September 12th.]

Filed under: iPod Family, Rumors

Seagate hoping to get 120GB drives into the iPod?

If you're as burned out about iPhone rumors as we are, maybe rumors of new storage capacities (finally) coming to the iPod can grab your attention. Engadget found some comments in Business Week from Seagate CEO William Watkins on the state of small-format storage, including whether the Flash memory craze has fazed the company and what's coming down the pipeline in 1.8 inch hard drives. Apparently, the company will have a 120GB 1.8 inch hard drive ready for the December quarter, which would be ripe for the iPod - as it's been stuck at 60GB since Fall 2004.

This is obviously no indication of whether these drives will actually make it into the iPod, but it's great to know they're available, which means there's a chance. Hold your breath at your own risk.

Filed under: Hardware, Humor, iTS, OS, Software

Dell CEO jabs at Apple, forgets how to count

Michael Dell, amidst lackluster growth reports and a dismal earnings warning, has fired a couple more potshots across Apple's bow. During a recent Q&A, Dell's CEO cited MTV's new URGE music service as one reason why he is skeptical of the iTMS market dominance over the next ten to twenty years. I guess we'll have to see how well Microsoft irons out their Plays for Sure, er URGE, er Zune project (indecisive, anyone?), and how upset users get when the Zune crashes with a BSOD right in the middle of a wireless purchase, accidentally charging their credit cards for 5 additional albums that weren't even in their shopping cart.

Going further, Mr. Dell also bragged about Dell's market share statistics, stating that Apple isn't a threat because they haven't broken into the list of top five market share holders. All debates as to whether Apple is trying to, or even should, dominate the world with their shiny computers aside, Michael is only half right: Apple's market share in the U.S. has actually jumped high enough to rank them 4th in PC manufacturers (again, in the U.S.).

How many times do we have to tell you this, Mr. Dell? Insulting Apple won't make them open up OS X for you.

[via MacNN]

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Steve Jobs, Apple, Ask TUAW

Let's face it: Steve will have to step down sooner or later, too

With Gates' bombshell announcement last week that he will be stepping down from his full-time role at Microsoft in 2008 to spend more time with his Gates and Melinda Foundation charity org, I finally came to wonder: how much longer does Steve have at Apple? Both companies were started around the same time and have helped shape the industry as we see it today. That has to be exhausting work, especially for someone like Jobs whose design and management obsessions are now the stuff of legends. Steve already stepped down from his other company, Pixar, so he could spend more time at Apple - but I'm wondering how long that's going to last, and what it means for Apple's future.

Plenty of articles are analyzing the impact of Gates leaving Microsoft, as it's a slightly different situation. Bill is their Senior Software Architect, not the CEO - that's Ballmer, and he'll apparently be staying on and doing the same, shall we say, 'bang-up job' he's been doing since he took that throne. But Steve Jobs is Apple's CEO, and famous for the amount of control he exacts over bringing his the company's visions to life. So what would a two-week's notice from Steve mean to Apple and its burgeoning market?

Honestly, I don't know, and since I am but a lowly blogger, I'll leave it up to those six-figure analysts who 'are people who know people' to pen those pieces. But before those analysts start earning their keep, TUAW wants to hear your thoughts, dear readers: what do you think it will mean for the future of Apple and their products when Steve needs to call it a day?

Filed under: Steve Jobs, Apple

Jobs to spend more time at Apple

Steve Jobs told shareholders this week that, in light of Disney's acquisition of Pixar, he would actually be spending more time at Apple, in part because he'll be relinquishing his CEO position at Pixar in a couple of weeks once the merger finishes. Many have been speculating that Mr. Jobs would be spending more time at Disney, but he publicly responded "that couldn't be further from the truth... It'll require less of my time than Pixar did."

This should be good news for anyone concerned about Mr. Jobs' continued involvement with Apple.

[via Wired]

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