The times are a changing!two weeks after President Barack Obama announced his support of gay marriage, the NAACP has followed suit, and announced that their board of directors voted to endorse the civil right yesterday! NAACP President & CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said in a statement:“Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of [...]

The NAACP Announces Support Of Same-Sex Marriage!

Steve Jobs was many things. a great innovator. a perfectionist. a savvy business man. and also a bit of an actor.

In 1984, Steve Jobs, who was then CEO of Apple for the first time, acted as Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a short film. the film, which has just been released for the first time, was made to be shown for motivational purposes, only to be viewed at internal Apple meetings.

Entitled “1944,” it was shot entirely in black and white and depicts Apple and IBM as enemies in war, World War II to be specific.

In a clip in the middle of the video, Jobs appears behind a desk (presumably at the White House) calling a general. “Your battle will be long, your battle will be hard, but it will be won. I am sure your victory will be great. Insanely great,” Jobs advises the head of the Macintosh camp on the telephone. a clip is posted above; the full nine minute clip is posted on YouTube. According to Network World, Apple spent $50,000 to make the video.

The film has now surfaced for the first time thanks to Craig Elliot, a former Apple employee. Elliot, the current CEO of Pertino Networks, shared the video because he wanted to show another side of Jobs following Walter Issacson’s autobiography and Jobs’ passing.

“There was another side of Steve. he wasn’t just the harsh taskmaster that always seems to pop up,” Elliot, who worked in sales at Apple from 1985 to 1996, told ABC News. Elliot was given a Porsche 944 by Jobs himself for being one of the “top sales guys at Apple.”

Since the video has posted online, others that were involved in the filming of “1944″ have come forth to share stories from the shoot.

Michael Markman, the creative director at Image Steam, the company that produced the film, has detailed his experience on his blog. he also shared with ABC News a bit about the strategy behind the film.

“I can remember him [Steve Jobs] saying something along the lines of ‘When we started we were all sitting in one room… I need to find ways to keep the entire employee base motivated.’”

Markman also described how Jobs’ loved the idea of playing FDR and didn’t want anyone else to do it. “He got into the role and enjoyed it.”

Steve Jobs Played FDR in “1944″ Apple Marketing Video

iPhone 5 ‘Concept Design by Chris Youn(Photo: Coroflot)

With WWDC approaching in June, suggestions are Apple will preview iOS 6 and maybe even debut the next iPhone, dubbed iPhone 5. however, the buzz in the blogosphere is growing that Apple will unveil its sixth generation iPhone in Fall, possibly in October, and not at the WWDC. why?

First, Qualcomm has said it is struggling to meet the iPad’s demand and therefore is struggling to produce the 28-nanometer chips. “At this stage we cannot secure enough supply to meet the increased demand we are experience,” Qualcomm CEO, Paul Jacobs, said to analysts. The company is also expecting a rise in demand for 4G components during December, according to the company’s financial analyst meeting transcripts. that could be around an iPhone launch in the second half of the year.

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Second, LTE isn’t widely adopted outside of the U.S. and Canada. The service is nonexistent in the UK, and will only reach bigger cities such as London and Manchester when rolled out. Apple has also offered refunds to its Australian customers, as the new iPad does not support the country’s 4G LTE network despite initially advertising otherwise. Australia’s only 4G operator, Telstra Corp, uses a different 4G frequency. To make sure that iPhone 5, which is expected to support 4G LTE, does in reality support LTE networks worldwide (and not just in the US), Apple will probably play the waiting game.

“And then the December quarter, obviously, the demand back up into that, our goals are pretty high there in terms of filing this customer demand,” Qualcomm CFO William Kietel said when asked by Brian Modoff – of Deutsche Bank – to clarify the production schedule. that suggests there could be an iPhone launch during Q4 2012, which lines up with the traditional iPhone launch window.

If Qualcomm can’t meet demand for iPads now, then a new iPhone launch would only cause further damage. HTC and Samsung are rumored to be ditching Qualcomm, with Samsung rumored to be using an Exynos chip in the Samsung Galaxy S3, while HTC will apparently develop its own chip for low-end devices.

Kietel also said production would be “more meaningful” in September, which would be the time to ramp up production if the iPhone launched in October.

“There’s going to be, I think, a lot of focus on product launches going into the September quarter and particularly into the December quarter,” Kietel added.

Another reason why Apple could launch iPhone 5 during Fall and not Summer is because Apple hasn’t announced iOS 6 yet. The tech giant typically releases OS upgrade at the time of or before the launch of a new device.

WWDC could play host to the beta version debut of iOS 6, as it would give developers sufficient time to create and fix apps for the new phone. 

Other reasons that strongly justify an October debut of iPhone 5 are:

Ø  June debut is too close for comfort as heavyweight Android rivals such as Samsung and HTC will be debuting their flagship Galaxy S3 and HTC one X in coming weeks. Of course, iPhone 5 will hold its ground but why take on major rivals when Apple can wait for the Android frenzy to die down?

Ø  iPhone 4S was launched in October 2011. Launching iPhone 5 in June would make Apple risk upsetting those who bought iPhone 4S. Moreover, Apple generally waits for a year, if not more, before launching an upgraded/new device. June launch would mean straying away from the time frame. Also, there’s no reason for Apple to launch iPhone 5 in June because iPhone 4S is still doing well in terms of sales.

Ø  The holiday shopping season was one of the main reasons why iPhone 4S broke previous weekend debut sales record, despite the fact that iPhone 4S mainly focused on software refresh. We won’t be surprised if Apple capitalizes on holiday shopping frenzy by launching iPhone 5 in October.

Ø  Rumors are buzzing loud that iPhone 5 could feature quad-core processor, liquidmetal chassis and in-cell touch panel. The latter will make iPhone break the 8mm thickness mark and make it the thinnest and lightest iPhone Apple has ever produced. These rumors should not be taken lightly especially as iPhone 5 is expected to be revolutionary device that would set new benchmarks in the smartphone industry. however, to ensure that expectations of customers and Apple fanboys are met, Apple and its production partners would need more time.

(reported by Jonathan Charles, edited by Dave Clark)

iPhone 5 Release Date: Forget Summer Debut, Here’s Why October Launch is Likely – Mobile & Apps

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse on Friday said he’s cutting his 2012 pay by $3.25 million after shareholder complaints about how his 2011 pay was calculated.

Sprint’s board bases the CEO’s pay on the company’s performance, but departed from its guidelines last year to exclude the cost of selling the iPhone. that boosted Hesse’s pay.

“I do not want, nor does our Compensation Committee want, to penalize Sprint employees for the company’s investment with Apple, so I will forego this adjustment to my compensation,” Hesse said in a letter to the company.

The iPhone is expensive for phone companies, since Apple charges them hundreds of dollars more than the phones sell for in stores. the phone companies figure they’ll make their money back in service fees over the run of a two-year contract. Sprint started selling the phone in October, incurring big upfront costs.

“We applaud Dan for his willingness to sacrifice personal compensation in order to reduce any distraction that could negatively affect the morale and performance of the company,” said Sprint’s board chairman, James Hance, in a statement.

Hesse’s 2011 pay was $11.9 million, including stock and option awards. Hesse said he’s reducing his salary by $346,223 this year to repay part of the iPhone bonus granted last year, and giving up $544,607 in future payments related to last year’s performance. He’s also cutting his bonus for this year, to set his bonus targets at 2010′s level.

Hesse is also giving back $2 million in “performance units” that he was granted in February.

Sprint’s annual shareholder meeting is May 15. the AFL-CIO has introduced a proposal for the meeting that would stop the company from awarding bonuses based on one year or less of the company’s performance, and stretch the evaluation period to three years.

Sprint CEO Hesse cuts his pay by $3.25M

CEO Says New Penney’s Will be a Store for Everyone

Making a rare appearance in Dallas tonight, J.C. Penney Co. CEO Ron Johnson talked more about his time at Apple and Target than about his ambitious plans for transforming Plano-based Penney’s into “America’s favorite store.” but during his SMU Management Briefing Series talk, Johnson (pictured) did offer a few hints about how he hopes imagination, innovation, and hard work will jump-start the venerable, 110-year-old department-store chain.

The new Penney’s, Johnson said, will be a store for everyone, not just middle-income shoppers. It will sport a “new retail interface” of some undisclosed, revolutionary sort. It will offer “fair and square pricing.” It will have unmatched merchandise and great personal service. And it will be a place to belong — a place that “cares more about me than about the clothes I buy,” he said.

Johnson added that an all-new store design will be in place in 2013, including here in Dallas, but that he expects this year to be the most difficult one for the company “perhaps in decades” because of all the changes.

CEO Says New Penney’s Will Be a Store for Everyone

Whitney Tilson gives his thoughts on the news of Warren Buffett’s prostate cancer. Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B), revealed the the news yesterday. Tilson has not changed his opinion on the company and remains very bullish.

o   There is no investor with Buffett’s experience, wisdom and track record, so his successors’ decisions regarding the purchases of both stocks and entire business might not be as good

o   Most of the 75+ managers of Berkshire’s operating subsidiaries are wealthy and don’t need to work, but nevertheless work extremely hard and almost never leave thanks to Buffett’s “halo” and superb managerial skills.  will this remain the case under his successors?

o   Buffett’s reputation is unrivaled so he is offered deals (such as the recent $5 billion investment in BofA) on terms that are not offered to any other investor – and might not be offered to his successors

o   Being offered investment opportunities on terms/prices not available to anyone else also applies to buying companies outright.  There’s a high degree of prestige in selling one’s business to Buffett (above and beyond the advantages of selling to Berkshire).  For example, the owners of Iscar could surely have gotten a higher price had they taken the business public or sold it to an LBO firm

o   Buffett’s Rolodex is unrivaled, so he gets calls (and can make calls that get returned) that his successors might not

It’s hard to know how much future value would be lost in Buffett’s absence, but we don’t need to calculate this because we assign zerovalue to it when calculating Berkshire’s intrinsic value.  all we do is take investments per share of nearly $100,000 and put a 10 multiple of the current pre-tax earnings of $8,000/share to arrive at nearly $180,000.

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Whitney Tilson Compares Buffett’s Situation to Steve Jobs’

We’ve got a few more details on the recently-revealed Steve Jobs movie starring Ashton Kutcher, thanks to a Neowin interview with the producer, mark Hulme. The independent film — which has the unfortunate working title of Jobs: Get Inspired — will cover the late CEO’s life from 1971 to 2000, putting it rather squarely into the time period that the TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley explored. The first-time producer said that, unsurprisingly, they chose Kutcher to play the role of Jobs because of his likeness to the Apple co-founder, especially during the timeframe that the movie will cover. There are few other details, but Hulme says that they will begin filming next month with plans for a Q4 release, and he’s not concerned about Sony’s own Jobs biopic — which will be at least in part based on Walter Isaacson’s recent biography — because it isn’t slated to be released for another year or two.

Steve Jobs movie starring Ashton Kutcher to cover Apple from 1971 to 2000, filming starts next month

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has been pretty forthright regarding the challenges Sprint currently faces. Specifically, Hesse has previously stated that the iPhone, or lack thereof, was the top reason for subscriber defection over the past few years.

And with AT&T and Verizon already operating with a head start, Sprint had to make a drastic move and so as part of its deal with Apple to carry the iPhone, it agreed to purchase 30.5 million iPhones whether it could sell them all or not. It was undoubtedly a bold “bet the company on the iPhone” type of move but as it turns out, it looks to have been the right decision.

The iPhone 4S quickly became Sprint’s most successful product launch in history and though Sprint’s earnings still leave a lot to be desired, the company is publicly very satisfied with the business the iPhone has brought in for them.

A few days ago, the Dow Jones reported on remarks made by Sprint CFO Joe Euteneuer regarding 4G LTE networks and the rumored iPhone 5. Euteneuer explained that Sprint’s contract with Apple is similar to those already in place at AT&T and Verizon in that Sprint isn’t being held to any particular 4G coverage requirements as a precursor to carrying a 4G enabled iPhone 5.

“If you make the assumption that they launch a device at a similar time that they did last year, you’re basically done with the major markets” on Sprint’s 4G LTE buildout, Euteneuer said, noting the carrier plans to initially cover around 100 million Americans. “so I don’t think we are really disadvantaged at all.”

Sprint’s 4G coverage is currently not up to snuff with what AT&T and Verizon offer. As for a 4G enabled iPhone 5, with the latest iPad sporting 4G functionality, it stands to reason that Apple’s next-gen iPhone will as well.

via Nasdaq

Sprint is ready for a 4G LTE enabled iPhone 5 

Apple’s Steve Jobs saw the potential in Siri back when it was a standalone application, but when it came to integrating the software into the iPhone as a virtual assistant he was resistant to keeping the name Siri, according to Siri co-founder (and former CEO) Dag Kittlaus.

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Speaking at the Chicago startup event Technori Pitch yesterday, Kittlaus regaled the story of how he came up with the name Siri, and Steve Job’s initial hesitance to keeping the name, reports Network World.

Shortly after the iPhone 4S release last October, Siri quickly reached iconic status in popular culture. It was partly due to Siri’s sometimes magical capabilities, and partly to Apple’s slick marketing efforts. but Siri’s simple and unusual name likely helped cement it into the public mind as well.

Kittlaus explained that Siri means “beautiful woman who leads you to victory” in Norwegian, and it was also a name he was saving for his future daughter. but after his first child ended up being a boy, he ended up shelving the name until it came time to name his software.

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