Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, took $4.3 million in the fiscal year 2013

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, took nearly $4.3 million as a compensation package for the fiscal year 2013 which ended in September. This compensation package is marginally higher than his compensation for the previous year that was about $4.2 million.

According to the regulatory filing, Cook's compensation package in the fiscal year 2013 included nearly $1.4 million in base salary along with a cash bonus of $2.8 million. Moreover, the compensation package also included $52,721 in company contributions to Cook's 401(k) account; and other incentives such as life insurance premiums, and a vacation cash-out.

From The Mac Observer;

Looking to 2014, Tim Cook has another 205,000 shares of $AAPL that will vest in August and September, both in Apple's fiscal 2014. Those shares would be values at $113.7 million at Monday's closing price of $554.52, but again should be looked at in the context of the years over which they vested.

Overall, Apple Inc. stock performed poorly during the fiscal year 2013 and went down by about 26%. Despite this decline, Apple Inc. was still the world’s highly valued company based on market capitalization.

Sources:

Preliminary proxy statement of Apple Inc. - SEC (http://goo.gl/9A7jvz)

Apple’s Stock Performance Cost Tim Cook $4 Million, at His Insistence - The Mac Observer (http://goo.gl/4S7BdP)

Apple and China Mobile have finally joined hands in iPhone deal

A worker cleans glass in front of an iPhone 5C advertisement at an apple store in Kunming, Yunnan province, in this October 27, 2013 file picture.

CREDIT: REUTERS/WONG CAMPION

Apple Inc and China Mobile Ltd. have finally signed a multiyear iPhone deal. Now, China Mobile - the world’s largest mobile network - will sell iPhone 5s and 5C models in its retail stores starting the mid of next month, i.e. January 17, 2014. The phones for China Mobile’s network will also be available in Apple’s retail stores in China.

This deal came after about 6 years of meetings between the CEOs of both companies giving Apple access to China’s 1.22 billion wireless subscribers. The terms of the deal have not been announced and the details of pricing and availability for its iPhone 5S and 5C lines would be available at a later date.

“iPhone still matters a lot for high-end customers,” Tucker Grinnan, a Hong Kong-based analyst at HSBC Holdings Plc, said by phone before the announcement. “One of the main reasons China Mobile is in the position that it is today, in terms of growing revenue at a much slower pace than its competitors, is because they have been waiting for an iPhone deal.”

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. started offering iPhone in November 2009. It is the nation’s second largest carrier. China Telecom Corp. started offering iPhone in March 2012. It is the nation’s third largest carrier.

Sources:

Apple Signs China Mobile IPhone Deal as Both Seek Market Share - BusinessWeek (http://goo.gl/1SsmFG)

An initiative of California to make smartphones less attractive for theives

Theft ((Luis Gomez Photos))

California is going to introduce first “smartphone killswitch” bill after the lawmakers in San Francisco and New York has asked to install this technology of making the stolen devices useless making it less attractive for thieves.

This plan has been announced by California State Sen. Mark Leno on his website on Thursday. Leno is working with San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón.

Initially this year, Apple Inc. has added an "Activation Lock" anti-theft feature and Gascón said at the "Secure Our Smartphones" kickoff meeting in June that it was only "a step in the right direction."

Smartphone theft is one of the most important problems and nearly half of all robberies in San Francisco involved a mobile device last year, and in Los Angeles cell phone thefts had increased almost 12% this year, according to Leno's announcement.

Source:

California to introduce first 'smartphone killswitch' bill - CNN Money (http://goo.gl/LdbD1P)

Nintendo working on smartphone apps

This is unlikely to happen, ever.
(Credit: Apple/Nintendo/CBSi)

Main Point:

Nintendo is working on smartphone apps as revealed by Nintendo of America president/chief operating officer Reginald "Reggie" Fils-Aime but is not probably launching its games on mobile platforms.

Study Further:

“It’s a topic that comes up all the time. It’s a debate that’s constantly had,” Reggie told in an interview with KING 5 News. “We recognize that there are a lot of smartphones and tablets out there, and so what we’re doing is we’re being very smart in how we use these devices as marketing tools for our content.”

 “We’re also doing a lot of experimentation of what I would call the little experiences you can have on your smartphone and tablet that will drive you back to your Nintendo hardware,” Fils-Aime said. “It’s largely going to be much more marketing activity-oriented, but we’ve done little things where there’s some element of gameplay – a movement, a shaking, something like that.”

Although the company would give a trial of games on smartphones but it would cause the users to come to the device at last.

"We believe our games are best played and best enjoyed on our devices, and so the full gameplay will only be on Nintendo devices," he said.

Source:

Nintendo’s Fils-Aime: We’ll 'experiment' with smartphones, tablets - King5 (http://goo.gl/md5yoc)

Samsung and LG are going to present dinosaurs of TV

Samsung’s 105-inch ultra-HD TV (Credit: 

Samsung)

Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are going to present 105-inch curved Ultra HDTVs to the consumer market next year. Both of the TVs will come with ultra-high definition liquid-crystal displays (LCD). Although, organic-light-emitting-diode screens gave more vivid colors and an extremely thin body but due to its expensive nature, at this time, companies have utilized LCDs. LG has also announced a 77-inch curved TV.

Both of the South Korean tech giants will unveil the televisions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month, i.e. January 5. However, the companies have not revealed the time, when the TVs will be available in the market.

Samsung said that the curved TV will give an IMAX-like cinema experience to the users. On the other hand, LG said that the TV will give even the “minutest detail in breathtaking clarity.” Both of the LCD displays has 11 million pixels, compared to 2 million in current HDTVs. The rectangular 21:9 aspect ratio, a shape similar to that of CinemaScope theater screens, is wider than current 16:9 widescreen HDTVs.

LG Electronics' 21:9 aspect ratio Curved Ultra HD TV 105-inch display.(Credit: LG Electronics)

LG's new TV "makes a dramatic statement about what the possibilities are for home entertainment," says Tim Alessi, LG Electronics USA's director of new product development. "Its ... picture resolution and sheer size will deliver a truly cinematic experience."

“For TVs that are over 70 inches in screen size, curves are believed to offer a more absorbing view than flat screens,” said Jerry Kang, a display analyst with IHS Korea.

Source:

Samsung, LG to Show 105-Inch Curved TVs - WSJ (http://goo.gl/gPEXvt)

Apple Inc has finally announced its heavy-duty Mac Pro

Apple Inc. has announced the sales of its all-new long-awaited, cylindrical Mac Pro, on Wednesday, keeping the promise that the company made in late October at its last product event.

Apple’s Mac Pro is a professional workstation (a heavy-duty, super-high-end computer) and the base model will start at $2,999, giving you a 3.7GHz quad-core Intel Xeon E5-1620 v2. It will also be available with 6-core, 8-core or 12-core Intel Xeon E5 processors, having up to 64GB of ECC DDR3 RAM, dual AMD FirePro graphics chips with up to 6GB of dedicated memory, up to 1TB of PCIe-based solid state storage, six Thunderbolt 2 ports,and support for 4K displays.

From Apple’s website;

In creating a pro computer for the future, we wanted to provide an enormous amount of expansion — without being limited to the space inside the enclosure. Designed with built-in Thunderbolt 2, USB 3, Gigabit Ethernet, and HDMI 1.4 ports, Mac Pro sets a new standard in flexible, high-performance expansion. It’s our most expandable Mac yet. And it has everything you need to build a workstation completely customized to what you need and how you work.

It will be available to order from Thursday, December 19, through the Apple's online store, Apple's retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

Sources:

Apple - http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/

Innovation related questions

AMD has taken SeaMicro

Article first published as AMD Acquires SeaMicro, Enhances Cloud Based Computation on Technorati.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc. announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement to acquire SeaMicro for $334 million, of which $281 million will be paid in cash.

The strategy behind this acquisition is to improve cloud based computation while using the energy efficient and high bandwidth microservers of SeaMicro.

“By acquiring SeaMicro, we are accelerating AMD’s transformation into an agile, disruptive innovator capable of staking a data center leadership position,” said Rory Read, president and CEO, AMD.  “SeaMicro is a pioneer in low-power server technology.  The unmatched combination of AMD’s processing capabilities, SeaMicro’s system and fabric technology, and our ambidextrous technology approach uniquely positions AMD with a compelling, differentiated position to attack the fastest growing segment of the server market.”

AMD has reported that a range of different processors and platforms will be launched, by combining the technologies of both the companies helping to reduce the cost consumption, energy utilization, and data center complexity while enhancing the performance. First AMD Opteron processor-based solutions combined with SeaMicro technologies will be revealed in the second half of this year.

IDC predicted that cloud data centers would be the fastest growing part of the server market through 2015 and SeaMicro technologies give pronounced benefits in cloud environments and large data centers.

“Cloud computing has brought a sea change to the data center--dramatically altering the economics of compute by changing the workload and optimal characteristics of a server,” said Andrew Feldman, SeaMicro CEO, who will work as general manager of AMD’s newly created Data Center Server Solutions business. “SeaMicro was founded to dramatically reduce the power consumed by servers, while increasing compute density and bandwidth.  By becoming a part of AMD, we will have access to new markets, resources, technology, and scale that will provide us with the opportunity to work tightly with our OEM partners as we fundamentally change the server market.”

Further Reading:

AMD

iPad's trademark is the issue in Californian Court

Proview, the manufacturer of LED lights from China, has sued against Apple now in California's superior court about the trademark of iPad.

In 2000, Proview launched iPAD, i.e. Internet Personal Assistant Device, but that was not a market hit. The company is stating that the trademark is its property.

The press release reads: "The complaint provides evidence that the December 23, 2009 agreement that Proview Taiwan entered into was fraudulently induced by the concealment and suppression of material facts by Apple's agents, and that, as a result, the 2009 agreement is void. Once the agreement is voided for fraud, the iPad trademarks in the European Union, South Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam will revert back to Proview Taiwan."

"Among the many allegations in the U.S complaint are fraud by intentional misrepresentation, fraud by concealment, fraudulent inducement, and unfair competition," Proview said.

Further Reading:
SayPeople

Roche has extended tender offer for Illumina

Article first published as Roche’s Extension of Tender Offer and its Response by Illumina on Technorati.

Roche, Swiss Pharmaceutical Company, has announced the extension of tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Illumina Inc., a company working for life sciences tools and systems, at $44.50 per share, to 6:00 p.m., New York.

Roche started the tender offer on January 27, 2012. The offer was $44.50 per share in cash or an aggregate of about $5.7 billion on a fully diluted basis.

The company has reported that at the end of February 24, 2012, almost 102,165 shares had been tendered including 44,152 shares to be delivered within the next three working days of NASDAQ.

Illumina responded to the extension of the Roche’s tender offer as,
City time, on March 23, 2012, while all the terms and conditions are same. Previously, the offer was ending at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, at the end of the day on February 24, 2012.

The extension by Roche was expected. An extremely low number of shares have been tendered, consistent with our view – and that of our stockholders – that Roche’s offer does not reflect Illumina’s unique leadership position, business performance and future prospects.

We remain focused on continuing to develop breakthrough products that expand existing markets and create new ones. The potential of our industry is enormous, with major new markets emerging in medical diagnostics, reproductive health and cancer management.

Roche invested about 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2011 and over 80,000 people were working for Roche in the world in 2011. Company shows interest in Illumina to expand the business of diagnostics.

New CEO after Warren Buffett

Article first published as Warren Buffett’s annual letter to the company reported the new CEO on Technorati.

Warren Buffett has released the annual letter to the company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. based in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday in which he said about the successor but has not disclosed the name yet. Buffett said that he has no plans to leave the company soon.

Warren Buffett is an 81 years old billionaire, who is running the company for almost half a century.

"Your Board is equally enthusiastic about my successor as CEO, an individual to whom they have had a great deal of exposure and whose managerial and human qualities they admire," he said, adding there were two backup candidates as well.

Ajit Jain could be the next CEO as reported by the experts. Ajit Jain is currently operating the reinsurance business of the Berkshire. Warren Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger praise his work. "Charlie would gladly trade me for a second Ajit. Alas, there is none," Buffett said.

Buffett also reported that recently hired investment managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, would be able to operate the large investment portfolio after Buffett.

"Each will be handling a few billion dollars in 2012, but they have the brains, judgment and character to manage our entire portfolio when Charlie and I are no longer running Berkshire," Buffett said.

"My task is clear, and I'm on the prowl," he said.

On the other hand, the company has reported that its net income fell 30% in the fourth quarter as the paper value of its derivatives decreased. However, many of the subsidiaries performed well. Net income for the fourth quarter is $3.05 billion, or $1,846 per Class A share. This is a decrease from $4.4 billion net income, or $2,656 per share, a year ago.

Samsung's Board has approved the separation of LCD business

Article first published as Samsung Board has approved the Spin-off of LCD businesses and operations on Technorati.

Samsung Electronics’ Board of Directors has approved the separation of LCD businesses and operations. The separated corporation will be launched by the company as Samsung Display Company Ltd. on 1 April. This new corporation will be started with a capital of 750 billion won ($668 million).

Although, the company has come closer to the separation of the company as a new entity after board’s approval but it still needs the approval of shareholders.

The company has taken this decision as the demand of LCD products is decreasing in this era of fast technological progresses and the company wants to keep in pace with new advancements. Moreover, the supply of LCD products has also been increased by manufacturers.

Samsung is the largest TV and flat screen manufacturer and the deceleration of the sale of LCD products could affect the company most. So, the company has planned to focus on the new technologies such as Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) to maintain competitiveness.

"The spin-off will allow us to make quicker business decisions and respond to our clients' needs more swiftly," said Donggun Park, executive vice president and head of Samsung's LCD business.

"Through enhancements in business competitiveness, we will continue to provide superior products and services for the market," he added.

Time will tell that this strategy of Samsung for increasing competency and operations will work or not.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Nestle has reported 9.5 billion Swiss francs of net profit

Nestle has announced the results on February 16 in which the company has reported 9.5 billion Swiss francs of net profit, which is 8.1% on a continuing basis.

The company has reported the sales of 83.6 billion Swiss francs.

Paul Bulcke, Nestlé CEO,

We delivered good performance, top and bottom line, in both emerging and developed markets in 2011. It was a challenging year, and we do not expect 2012 to be any easier. We have continued to invest for the future and strengthen our capabilities across the world. We have established new partnerships in China. Nestlé Health Science has got off to a good start. Our innovation is creating opportunities in all categories, whether bringing new consumers to our brands in emerging markets, or building on our consumers’ engagement with our brands in the developed world. Our people are aligned behind our strategic roadmap, which is as relevant in today’s new reality as ever, to drive sustainable performance improvement. We are therefore well positioned in 2012 to deliver the Nestlé Model of organic growth between 5% and 6% as well as an improved margin and underlying earnings per share in constant currencies.

The company has reported 5% of organic growth in Europe and 6.4% in the Americas. There is more growth of 13.1% in the Asia, Oceania and Africa.
Further Reading:

Nestle
SayPeople

Comcast has reported increase in dividends

Comcast, Media and Communications company, has reported an increase in the dividends by 44%, which has been reached to $0.65 per share on annual basis.


Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation, said,

Last year was a very important year for our company. Cable continued to drive innovation, increase new product introductions and transform the customer experience, and we successfully integrated NBCUniversal. We also reported strong financial and operating results in both the fourth quarter and for the full year. Specifically, cable had another terrific quarter of improving customer metrics, demonstrating that our new XFINITY brand and our intensified focus on service and innovation are making a real difference. Our results at NBCUniversal underscore the strong performance of the cable networks and theme parks, and we continue to make progress enhancing the franchise values of its businesses.

The company has announced the repurchase program authorization of $6.5 billion stock for the Board of Directors in which $3.0 billion to be repurchased in 2012.



Further Reading:
SayPeople

Samsung is separating LCD business

Samsung Electronics has planned a new business strategy for the improvement in competitiveness. This strategy is the separation of LCD businesses and operations.

From SayPeople,

This separation is considered as one of the potential steps in the success and growth of the company and shares of the company rose by 5.1% i.e. historic high value.It is expected that LCD unit will be merged with Samsung Mobile Display unit, which is currently developing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays for mobile devices.

Further Reading:
SayPeople

Different new flights and "Go Pack" package by JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways has doubled the flights between Tampa International Airport and New York’s LaGuardia Airport along with the announcement of new service from Washington's Reagan to Tampa.

"By seizing the opportunity to invest in the rare slot pairs made available in our hometown of New York City and in our nation's capital, JetBlue is comfortably poised for organic growth," said JetBlue's Vice President of Network Planning and Partnerships, Scott Laurence. "Together with our low fares, award-winning product and customer service, we're pleased to be able to double the flights, new destinations and more options to customers in both of these vital regions."

There is an announcement of Jet Service from Boston to Nantucket from May 17 to September 4.

JetBlue has announced "Go Pack" packages for flight between Long Beach Airport (LGB) and San Francisco (SFO), Oakland (OAK) or Sacramento (SMF) International Airports.

"Whether customers are traveling between Long Beach and Northern California for work or leisure, Go Pack offers greater convenience and value for their travel needs," said Director of Revenue Management Roger Johnson. "As the largest carrier in Long Beach, we offer a flexible and frequent daily schedule between these markets, with three daily flights to choose from on each route. Plus, our customers are rewarded with customer loyalty points with their Go Pack purchase, so they're that much closer to another free flight!"

Further Reading:
SayPeople

Google -Motorola deal has been cleared by U.S. and European regulators

U.S. Department of Justice has cleared the investigations on Google's acquisition of Motorola in $12.5 billion. Moreover, European Commission has given approval to the deal.

Joaquín Almunia, Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy, said,

"We have approved the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google because, upon careful examination, this transaction does not itself raise competition issues. Of course, the Commission will continue to keep a close eye on the behaviour of all market players in the sector, particularly the increasingly strategic use of patents".

The deal will "enhance competition and offer consumers faster innovation, greater choice and wonderful user experiences," Don Harrison, Google's deputy general counsel, wrote in a blog post.

Now Google has to get approval from China, Taiwan and Israel in order to get full control of Motorola Mobility.

Further Reading:
SayPeople

Vodafone and C&W would finalize a deal by March 20

Vodafone has announced to make a bid for Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW), which is the telecom and broadband networking company providing services to corporate customers.

"Vodafone regularly reviews opportunities in the sector and confirms that it is in the very early stages of evaluating the merits of a potential offer for CWW," the company said in a statement. "There is no certainty that an offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made. Any offer, if made, will be in cash but Vodafone reserves the right to change the specie of consideration."

Vodafone would offer 700 million pounds to the Cable & Wireless (C&W). However, the company's firm intentions will be announced by March 12.

Further Reading:
SayPeople

Greece has passed austerity deal affecting oil prices

Greece austerity deal approval has come with a surge in oil prices in Asia. That surge is above $99 on Monday.

Greece has passed that deal in order to get security of bailout and protection from bankruptcy as Greece has to meet 14.5 billion euros of debt repayments before March 20.

Brent crude increased by 85 cents and went to $117.60/barrel in on the ICE Futures Exchange in London. Benchmark crude also went up by 58 cents and went at $99.25/barrel at midmorning Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

“The problem is that gasoline prices have recently jumped and this appears to have more than offset the positive developments,” Capital Economics said in a report.

“To be bullish from here, one would need to believe a supply disruption is coming,” Morgan Stanley said in a report. “With fundamentals weakening, we believe that any further upside is unlikely without a supply shock.”

Further Reading:
SayPeople

Digital business would not be the primary business of Eastman Kodak

Eastman Kodak Co., which has filed for the bankruptcy protection last month, has planned to stop manufacturing digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames i.e. primary business.

The company has announced new strategies on Thursday in the times of financial issues faced by the company. This new strategy would cause reduction in costs helping the company to re-establish the business.

“For some time, Kodak’s strategy has been to improve margins in the capture device business by narrowing our participation in terms of product portfolio, geographies and retail outlets. Today’s announcement is the logical extension of that process, given our analysis of the industry trends,” said Pradeep Jotwani, President, Consumer Businesses, and Kodak Chief Marketing Officer.

The company is expecting $100 million of annual savings after implementation.

Further Reading:
SayPeople