Photo: SendakSeuss / Flickr

If you ask young entrepreneurs who they look up to most, chances are the names Sir Richard Branson and Steve Jobs will come up frequently. So one can only imagine how massive a complement it is for an entrepreneur of Sir Richard Branson’s caliber says Steve Jobs is the business person he looks up to most. What’s more, how insane would a Branson- and Jobs-led company be?

A brilliant company

During a video interview with T3, Sir Branson called Apple a ‘brilliant global company’. He continued, saying: ‘I think Steve Jobs, I hope he gets through his current illness, would be the entrepreneur I most admire.’

Heaping the praise on Jobs, Branson said: ‘He’s the greatest comeback artist as well, he’s been down and out and fought his way back, and created a brilliant global company’.

Respect runs deep

To have one billionaire, who has impacted how we fly, the way we use the internet and the way we once bought records speak this highly of another billionaire whose changed the way we compute, the way we use smartphones, consume digital music and watch animated films is as high a complement as one gets. Branson added: ‘Everything he does is real class. If he wanted to rename his company Virgin Apple, we sure would be happy to merge! A great brand, a great company,’ is how Branson describes his proposed merger.

Get back to work

While Virgin Apple is nice in theory but likely dreadful in execution – too many disparate businesses and cultures – both companies are sitting on the cusp of technological innovation. Virgin Media has been the biggest supporter of super-speed broadband in the UK, while Apple, with its iPhone and iPad, is a leader in mobile computing technology.

Well, that’s enough back rubbing and Branson Jobs praising – get your teams back to work. This tech isn’t going to build itself.

Photo: acaben / Flickr

After months of speculation, industry chatter, and guesses, the iPad 2 is now official. Apple unveiled the device at a San Francisco press conference that held few surprises, other than the on-stage arrival of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

This has been coming

Jobs, who has been fighting cancer for some time now, looked steady on stage, and, dare we say, pretty good, too. He said that the company had been working on the product for a long time, and that he could not miss the unveiling. It’s also likely he realised the value from a PR and an investor-relations standpoint of his being there.

So what’s new?

The iPad’s form factor has been revised, with the device being 33 per cent thinner than its predecessor. In fact the downsizing is so dramatic, it is even thinner than the iPhone 4. The iconic tablet PC has also gone on diet if you will, with the company managing to slim its weight down to just 1.3 pounds from its previous weight of 1.5 pounds.

The new A5 chip performs processing in the Apple iPad 2. The company says that the dual-core processor will afford them twice the processing speed and nine times the graphical output of the A4 chip found in the original.

Apple have also added dual-cameras for Facetime calling and HD video recording, while the gyroscope found in the iPhone and iPod Touch has made its way to the iPad, as well.

What did you not get?

Contrary to rumours and speculation suggesting otherwise, the iPad 2 did not come with a retina display. Moreover, Apple didn’t even address changes to the display at all during the press conference. Another major omission is a USB port, something many folks felt Apple was compelled to introduce in this iteration of the iPad. No such luck, folks.

How do you feel?

While it’s likely my powers of resolve will crumble come the 11 March release date of the tablet PC (come 25 March, 26 countries around the world will have access), I must admit I was somewhat underwhelmed by the Apple iPad 2. It was great to see Steve, and it’s not that it didn’t deliver the goods this time round, but rather that the months of speculation, rumours, lies and odd truths just spoilt the surprise.

What do you think? Should other tablet PCs be afraid, or is the Apple iPad 2 just more of the same?

Photo: Barack Obama / Flickr

The impact technology has had on politics and governance, in general, is undeniable. One needs to look no further than current US President Barack Obama’s campaign to make it into the White House as evidence of it – his reliance on social networks is widely cited as a reason for his victory.

In a move signaling he understands technology has implications for the US economy and worldwide politics far beyond just him making into office, the President is said to be attending a dinner with tech icons Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerburg and Eric Schmidt on his guest list.

Who’s in attendance?

While the issues that will be discussed are unknown – and may never be revealed – technology’s impact on the American government, economy and the future of the nation will no doubt come up. Accompanying the CEOs of Apple, Facebook and Google will be other tech leaders like Cisco CEO Paul Chambers, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, and Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric’s former CEO.

Immelt now serves as the White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness since last night, no doubt indicating the US’ employment problems may also come up in discussion.

Bay Area fiend

This, however, is not President Obama’s first trip to the Bay Area. In October last year, Google VP of Social Marissa Mayer hosted a $30,000 per head fundraiser at her home with the president in attendance.

Politics, technology and revolution

The relationship between politics and technology is back in focus due in no small part to the recent revolution in Egypt. Many folks cited the power of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter for being key components of overthrowing the government, and while we think that over exaggerates their impact in the whole process, one cannot discount their utility in spreading information.

Where politics and technology really were at play was in the fantastic Al Jazeera coverage of the whole process. Given many cable companies in the US and Europe don’t allow access to the news agency, users flocked to Al Jazeera’s website, and its YouTube stream, to get info on what was happening on the ground.

Ultimately, what matters most is that world leaders realise that politics and technology, especially the web, can no longer be viewed independent of each other, and that stakeholders need to talk to each other.

Oh, and as a joke, given everyone knows President Obama is a Blackberry guy, do you think Jobs and/or Schmidt have been chipping away at trying to get him to switch to iPhone or Android? Now that sales pitch would be fantastic to hear.

Photo: acaben / Flickr

One day Apple CEO Steve Jobs will die, but before that happens, or his health declines until he is debilitated, you better believe Apple’s co-founder and CEO will have a handle on things. And according to the Wall Street Journal, this is exactly what Steve Jobs is doing, being heavily involved in the company’s strategic decisions, as well as remaining on the project team of Apple’s major products.

Meetings at home

The Wall Street Journal reports that, even though Jobs is three weeks into medical leave, he continues to work, hosting meetings at his home and fielding phone calls throughout the day. He’s reportedly been seen on Apple’s campus with an executive from the company, as well, indicating he’s very much on the job.

iPad and iPhone weighing heavy on his minds

In addition to fielding phone calls and meetings on corporate strategy, Jobs is said to be a core part of the iPad 2 and iPhone 5 development. The WSJ reported that the iPad 2 had gone into production on Tuesday, suggesting that Jobs has shifted his attention from product development to marketing, operations and retail work surrounding the offering.

Day to day is still the same

Thankfully, Jobs hasn’t been overseeing day to day operations at the company for years now, with that being Chief Operations Officer Tim Cook’s forte. WSJ reports that there is an air of sadness surrounding Mr. Jobs’ health, but the leadership at Apple has kept everybody focused on doing their jobs.

Here we go again

The Apple hype machine is nearly in full swing ahead of an expected April release window for the iPad 2 and a June-July release window for the iPhone 5. In terms of tablet PCs, Apple’s is still top of the pops in terms of sales, but rivals seem to be closing the quality gap. It should be interesting to see what the second go-around brings with it.

Photo: betacontinua / Flickr

On all accounts, if Steve Jobs hadn’t returned to Apple in 1998, many believe the company would have gone under. Now, the company’s visionary leader has taken a second medical leave, which is a sign that his health is still not where he needs it to be, and opens interesting questions for the world’s most valuable technology company.

Respect my privacy, please

Given this is the second medical leave Jobs has taken, with his last one being in 2009, it’s safe to say the Apple CEO is still facing many health-related challenges.

His last medical leave was greeted with much speculation in the media regarding what was wrong with him, and if he would return, but this time he’s asked pundits to respect his privacy.

In an email he sent out to employees, Apple CEO Steve Jobs writes: ‘At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health.’ He later says ‘I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.’

Still on board

Jobs is quick to put to bed any concerns that he’s stepping down as the Apple CEO, saying, ‘I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company,’ however day-to-day operations will be passed on to COO Tim Cook, who has proven he is more than capable of shouldering the responsibility, given he led the company the last time Jobs was away ill.

Interesting product roadmap

Being number one, Apple has more tech competitors than it does friends and allies, but it’s safe to say the whole tech world wishes Apple CEO Steve Jobs a speedy recovery. After all, this is the man who oversaw the creation of the iPod, iPhone and iPad – his importance to the industry as a whole cannot be overstated.

Photo: matt buchanan / Flickr

Few companies in any industry in the world had the kind of year Apple did. The company’s iPhone shipped record numbers, its Apple TV redux finally sold respectable volume and the App Store built around its iOS platform continued to rake in mint. Now, if you add to that the introduction of a new, hot-selling product, in the form of the iPad, which helped propel the company to record revenues and profits, as well as greater market share than Microsoft’s.

And spearheading all of this was Steve Jobs, the company’s mercurial leader, with the Financial Times recognising his achievement in calling him their ‘Person of the year’.

The product achievement

Steve Jobs, who has been Apple CEO for 13 years, released what many think may be his most significant product yet in 2010, the iPad. FT called the iPad’s success ‘the culmination of an approach that he has seemingly been perfecting for his entire career.’ While they spoke to his approach in product creation, FT also talks about how Steve Jobs leads. They say that Jobs is ‘a stern taskmaster who understands the art of the possible, rather than a long-range visionary.’

And, as if that crowing was not sufficient, the Financial Times noted how the Apple CEO has had an uncanny ability to build upon the successes of his previous project. The publication notes how Jobs is always: “pushing forward rather than milking old successes – even ones as significant as the iPod.”

The future

Apple are poised to dominate further, since the company is at the forefront of the mobile computing revolution. Between the iPhone – which for all intents is a mini-tablet with a phone being the core app – and the tablet, many see whoever own this space being the next superpower in computing. Apple has to deal with Google, though, who won’t take that lying down. One imagines the Apple CEO won’t look to play around, either. Fun times ahead.

Photo: Adam Kuban / Flickr

Apple computers have certainly come a long way. Just last week, the Apple 1, assembled by Steve Wozniak in 1977, was auctioned off at a Christie’s auction for £134,305, making it the highest sum ever paid for a personal computer. The Apple 1 was the very first Apple computer created, and it is believed that only 50 such models are still in existence.

Signed copies

Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founder, was personally in attendance at Christie’s auction house to autograph the computer for the winning bidder, calling the machine ‘an important step.’

In an ironic gesture, the BBC’s footage of the closing moments of the auction was filmed with a mobile phone, highlighting the fact that today’s mobile phones now have around 1,000 the processing power of the Apple 1. Only 200 models of the Apple 1 were ever assembled, all hand crafted, and only fifty still remain.

Recommendations included

Included in the auction sale was a signed letter from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in which he suggests various monitors that can be used with the machine, and other support materials. The optional cassette interface card is mentioned, and even the original bill of sale, £473.

Interestingly, the original user manual is also included, featuring the original Apple logo of Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree.

Historic moment

The Apple 1 was sold to an Italian businessman, with Christie’s pointing out that the amount paid was a record price for any computer. Christie’s had expected the computer to sell for around £127,000, but were pleasantly surprised by the final amount. Steve Wozniak was also pleased.

‘Today my heart went out as I got to see things auctioned off like the Turing documents and the Enigma machine – and the Apple I,’ Wozniak told reporters after the auction. ‘It really was an important step, (even though) I didn’t feel that way when I designed it.’

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Everybody loves a good comeback story. It’s for that reason films like Rocky and The Mighty Ducks waltz into film halls of fame, even if, speaking in film terms, they aren’t amazing achievements. In many ways this is why the world has been so obsessed – yes, it’s an obsession – with Apple for a little over a decade. The company was teetering on the brink of collapse, with no reprieve in sight.

The return of Jobs

The co-founder Steve Jobs came back, made a few key hires, developed a few key products, sold them by the bucket load, and suddenly the company is the big bad bully, and not the spunky comeback kid it once was. Regardless of how you feel about the company, analysts, investors, academics, and competitors world over have been trying their best to figure out what gives Apple the edge. Below is a collection of the thoughts expressed over the years by these folks on the source of the Apple advantage.

Reason 1: Relentless focus on design

Whether you love Apple’s design style or not, it is undoubted that they’ve had a lasting impact on the designs of other companies competing in their space, and it is a key Apple advantage. Off the back of a then young and promising industrial designer, Jonathan Ive, the iconic iMac was the company’s first major product release since Jobs’ return. The various changes to the Macbook laptop line since have had a huge impact on how laptop computers are made and look.

The iPod quickly emerged to the top of the mobile music player pile because, in short, it looked and worked better than anything else in the market prior and, arguably, after, too. Others tried their best to replicate, but to little avail.

However, in no two places are Apple’s design influence more notable than with the company’s last two major products – the iPhone and the iPad. Many remember Steve Jobs slating the ‘lower 40 per cent’ of button-intensive phones when he first announced the button-free-touchscreen-only iPhone in 2007. Now most every smartphone in the world is a riff on that, which is an obvious Apple advantage. And the same applies to the iPad.

Reason 2: Industry re-defining products

Photo: Stock.Xchng

While Apple is lauded for being extremely innovative, detractors are quick to point out that the company actually doesn’t invent so much as opposed to rethink what others did first. Which, to be fair, is exactly what Apple does, but it’s in that reimagining where the Apple advantage is most prevalent.

There were many mp3 players prior to the iPod, but they varied dramatically in usability and design. Enter the iPod with its easy-to-understand click wheel and in its iconic white with its iconic white earphones. In that product category the rest is history.

There were many smartphones prior to the iPhone – and many of them were, at the time, brilliant handsets.

Bill Gates was championing tablet PCs at the very beginning of the 21^st century. He saw then what many are only seeing now, describing the many great uses developers would come up with for these interfaces. Most of those tablets back then were too bulky, with terrible battery life and stylus-dependent unresponsive touchscreen. Enter Apple, with the iPad, which, for all intents, was a giant iPhone, with long battery life, wi-fi and 3G connectivity, and access to Apple’s very impressive app store. Industry redefines.

Reason 3: Pricing trickery

Over the last decade Apple has done three things really well when it comes to how they price their products. Firstly, the company positioned itself as a premium brand, and so charged premium prices.

Next, within product categories, Apple’s pricing tiers have been cleverly designed so as to attract customers to the most expensive item in the lineup.

Finally, Apple has also become the biggest global customer of certain components, most notably flash memory, allowing them to make products at a lower cost than other companies. This actually goes against their traditional ‘premium pricing model’ and allows them to price products at a bar so low, that competitors struggle to keep up. As unintuitive as that sounds, John Gruber sums it brilliantly in this Daring Fireball post.

Now, imagine competing with a media darling that has industry leading designers heading it up, a robust think tank that doesn’t so much invent new products as opposed to significantly improving over other products, and now you can’t even compete on price. Yep, that’s the reality all of Apple’s competitors are facing.

Photo: happyjoelmoss / Flickr

Unless you’ve been in deep hibernation, you know that for more than two months, 33 brave Chilean miners were trapped under 700,000 tons of rock in a collapsed mine. They’re free now, and there’s been a global outpour of love and support from everywhere, with Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs making a donation of his own.

Outpouring of love

The story, which is extraordinary, came to an end on Wednesday when a tiny shaft with a diameter of no more than 60cm hauled each of the miners out, one by one over the course of more than 20 hours. The world’s eyes were glued to their TV screens, transfixed on the Chilean miners.

Upon their safe rescue, the nation of Chile burst into celebration, while the rest of the world showed its support by doing what we do best – watching every moment of the rescue efforts on television.

Showered with gifts

The Chilean miners have since been showered with gifts from all corners of the world. Book deals, and film deals are being negotiated, as well as the men receiving a generous $10,000 donation each from a singer. Reuters reported that none other than Steve Jobs himself sent each miner a brand new iPod. One hopes it’s those swanky new iPod Touch 4^th gen, because they’re awesome! What’s particularly wonderful about this outpouring of love and support, in particular the monetary donation, is that on average, each of the miners gets paid a mere $1,600 per month.

Clever marketing

Whether the iPod donation was made by Steve Jobs or Apple is unclear. What does matter, though, is that it has netted Apple some very good marketing, which, depending on your personal level of cynicism, may have been the intent after all. We err on the side of good humanity, with Jobs and his team being moved by the story and showing their solidarity with the miners in a not-so-difficult nor overly expensive gesture.

What matters ultimately is that the Chilean miners are home with their families, and each of them made it out alive.

Photo: Apple

Later this evening (or early Tuesday, depending on which part of the world you’re in), Steve Jobs will go on stage at Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference. With his keynote often come a few surprises, as well as a host of sure bets. Below are some predictions, graded from sure bets to possible to outlandish, on what to expect from WWDC 2010.

Sure bet: iPhone 4G

The fourth generation iPhone – what many people are currently calling the iPhone 4G – will almost certainly be on display. Unveiling it at WWDC 2010 will be in line with Apple’s strategy from recent years where the updated handset was revealed around this period. It’s also highly likely Jobs will speak on the iPad’s early success and throw a few mind numbing numbers out there just to show off.

Possible

Outside of the iPhone 4G, many expect Apple to make other product announcement. A Mac OS X update would go down pretty well considering the lukewarm reception Snow Leopard received. Those rumoured Mac Mini and Macbook Air updates may also see the light of day in a short ‘look what else we’ve been doing’ segment.

Outlandish

Photo: Apple

It would be silly for Jobs to even hint at the next iPad, so don’t get your hopes up there. We also doubt Apple’s core laptop range – Macbook and Macbook Pro – will even be mentioned, considering they’ve just been updated. What would be exciting would be if Apple’s rumoured AppleTV was unveiled, but don’t hold your breath in that department. It’s not going to happen – no way Apple will want to steal the iPhone’s spotlight.

The curse of the analysts

As critical as we are of analysts (read: guessers) here, this is our disclaimer that this is just a game and you are to take these predictions with a pinch of salt. Outside of the iPhone, which we’re confident enough to put money on it being unveiled, nothing is sure fire. Apple TV would be massive, but outside of the expected iPhone 4G reveal, WWDC 2010 should be business as usual for Steve Jobs and co.

Over to you: what do you think will be unveiled at Apple’s conference?