Posts tagged: Innovation

Social Measures and Innovation over profit

A couple of days ago a pretty awesome meeting happened between Apple shareholders and Apple’s board of directors. It was an annual shareholders meeting which is normally pretty routine- the CEO, Tim Cook, fills everyone in on the progress of the company and everyone talks about the general outlook for the foreseeable future.

 

This one, however, played out a little differently. This time, a representative from the National Center for Public Policy Research or NCPPR (a conservative think tank) asked the company to disclose the costs of its sustainability programs, such as solar energy facilities, and how they affected their profits. He then said that Apple should be cutting climate change programs in order to  focus on profits above everything else.

 

 

 

Mr Cook did not like that, he didn’t like it one, itty, bit.

 

He said that there are many things Apple does because they are right and just, and that a return on investment (ROI) was not the primary consideration on such issues.

 

“When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind,” he said, “I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” He said that the same thing about environmental issues, worker safety, and other areas where Apple is a leader.

 

Finally, Cook looked at the questioner and said “if you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.”

 

 

 

The shareholders, thank god, agreed with him. Apple is a company that rates social measures, innovation and advances in technology above all else, and that would be how it will remain.

 

Following the meeting, the NCPPR and the man behind the questions from them, a Justin Danhof, released an a press release that is heavily critical of Cook, saying that shareholder value is destroyed in favor of efforts to combat climate change in particular.

 

 

“Here’s the bottom line: Apple is as obsessed with the theory of so-called climate change as its board member Al Gore is,” Danhof said. “After today’s meeting, investors can be certain that Apple is wasting untold amounts of shareholder money to combat so-called climate change.”

Well, we wish we were shareholders in Apple, and we would be really proud of ourselves if we were. Well done, Mr Cook, Well done, Apple Shareholders. Proud ‘a you.

 

 

We’re not crying, it’s just been raining on our face.

 

 

Images courtesy of Businessinsider.com, Thehollywoodnews.com, macrage.com & Quickmeme.com

The iWatch

 

Good news for those of us waiting for a brand spanking ( ooh) new Apple product!

 

Yesterday, Apple’s application to trademark the term ‘iWatch’ in Japan was made public.

 

iWatch is, of course, the rumored name for the first wearable Apple device and the potentially out of this world Smart Watch. The trademark was applied for on June 3rd this year and is actually the second time that Apple has applied to trademark the name, the first being in Russia in February.

 

Momentum (and the rumor mill) for this product is building rapidly. Yesterday’s reports come after Bloomberg posted in March this year that according to their sources there were 100 engineers working on the planned smart watch, and after Tim Cook said in May that the wearable device market is one just waiting for innovation. And who better to do it than Apple?

 

Unlike other Smart Watches currently available (see the wonderful Pebble Watch), the much speculated iWatch will most likely be a stand alone device, with biometric potential that could turn the way we use technology on it’s head.
Suckily, experts agree that we probably won’t see the iWatch until the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2014.

 

C’mon Tim Cook! We want wearable device innovation, and we want it now! Or soon! Please?

 

Image courtesy of  Forbes.