Archive of thenextweb.com
Written on 22nd June 2009
4 COMMENTS 
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Apple announces sales of over 1 million iPhone 3G S models in their opening weekend, an incredible feat by any measure.
Aside from the sales figures, the most interesting part of the press release is a comment from Steve Jobs himself, the first we’ve heard from the Apple CEO since his leave of absence for a liver transplant:
“Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning, with over 50,000 applications available from Apple’s revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever.”
As Apple site MacRumors report, the sales figures match last years with a million sold by the Sunday – merely 4 days after launch.
Despite incredible opening sales, there have been minor bumps, the most notable being iPhone activation problems that have lead to the company issuing an apology in the form of a $30 iTunes store voucher.
Written on 20th June 2009
5 COMMENTS
Martin Bryant, Co-founder, Social Media Café Manchester
When the Wall Street Journal broke the news about Steve Jobs’ liver transplant this morning, it will have been a surprise for many Apple fans. We were told in January that Jobs was taking six months off to “Focus on (his) health” and deal with a hormonal imbalance that was causing him digestive problems. Although there were rumours that he was undergoing surgery many disregarded them as unhelpful gossip.
If the WSJ’s report is true, Jobs was a lot more ill than many had believed. Whether his condition is a result of the hormonal imbalance we were told about at the start of the year or some kind of relapse of the cancer he beat five years ago is currently unclear. It’s highly likely we won’t know the truth for a long while yet. Apple has fiercely guarded Jobs’ privacy on the subject of his health and there’s no reason for that to change now.
What we’re told is that Jobs is set to return to Apple within weeks, albeit part-time at first. So, what does this mean for Apple, its loyal fans and for Jobs himself?
(more…)
Written on 15th January 2009
6 COMMENTS
Patrick de Laive, Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of The Next Web Conference. Twitter: @patrick
That Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence has spread all over the place yesterday. (Read Steve’s internal email)
There has been a lot to do about the health of Mr. Apple and as Apple is a public company Jobs’ health influences the stock price. When Jobs announced the iPhone in January 2007 at Macworld Apples market cap rose by 6 billion dollars during his presentation. Jobs is a master in demoing new Apple goodies and many people hold him fully responsible for the success of the company.
Stock brokers investigate hormone imbalance
Wall Street is trying to figure out what exactly happens now. Early January Jobs told said he’s suffering from a ‘hormone imbalance’. Now he’s taking a leave of absence until the end of June. Meanwhile Apple stock has been bouncing up and down on any news about Steve. What will become of Apple when Steve leaves the company? Who will become the new CEO of Apple? Can they continue to grow and build superior products despite growing competition and without the genius and charismatic company icon Steve Jobs?
My mom doesn’t know Steve
Is Mr. Jobs is so super important for the company as Wall Street thinks? Sure for the press and the huge Apple fanboys base Steve is the Apple icon and success of Apple and Steve go hand in hand. But how about my mom, who bought over the last years several iPods, or what about my niece who bought a Macbook, calls with an iPhone and has some spare iPods for backup, when the iPhone is out of battery. Do they buy Apple products because of Steve? Will his resignation have any influence on future buys for these people? If you’d ask me, I’d say that the impact on the Apple company when Steve leaves is less then what Wall Street is anticipating. In the end this remains a huge problem for Apple.
So the question is how can we give Steve time off without losing (too much) market cap?
Ok, this is basically a PR problem, but isn’t PR just what Apple masters?
The Theory: Steve is not returning as CEO of Apple, not in June, not ever.
If Steve steps down permanently, Apple stock will plummet. They know that in Cupertino, so they have decided to do it in phases. First Steve takes a 5 month break, stock will go down when this news goes out (as it does now -5% today), but then shareholders and investors will think he’ll be back in June. Until June, Apple has enough time to show Wall Street that it can operate, make more profit and keep innovating even without Steve as Chairman. If Apple manages to live up to the expectations of the market, Steve will not return as CEO, if Steve is still needed he might return, but probably just for a short period.
Apple has six months to show that it is just as strong and cool without Steve.
One thing is for sure, we’re gonna miss him. Get well Steve.
Written on 14th January 2009
34 COMMENTS
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
Steve Jobs has just sent this email to Apple employees:
Team,
I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.
In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.
I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.
I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.
Steve
via Apple: Jobs to Take Medical Leave of Absence – Digits – WSJ.com.
Written on 5th January 2009
6 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
When Jobs spread the word about his weight-loss this afternoon, Next Web editors Zee and Boris immediately started typing an article. Since they’re not sharing an office (Zee lives in London, Boris in Amsterdam) and both were utterly excited by the words from Mr. Apple himself, they didn’t see each other’s post. Thus sharp readers might have seen two posts about Jobs’ announcement on The Next Web (We deleted Boris’ post. At first he was devastated, but he’s feeling better now).
Anyhow, an hour or so later Boris called for my attention as he thought TechCrunch had made the same mistake. He noticed two posts about Jobs in his feedreader. One titled “Steve Responds to Rumors with a Steve-Note: I’m just Thin” and a second one called “Steve Jobs Explains His Weight Loss in Healthnote“. Did Erick Schonfeld and John Biggs pull the same trick as Zee and Boris?
Nah, it’s just Arrington force-feeding you some CrunchGear and MobileCrunch news. See the graphic Boris made to check out how TechCrunch’s 1.7 million RSS readers also get a load of John Biggs and the likes. Some of these articles also appear on the recently redesigned frontpage of TechCrunch.
This raises an interesting question: is it OK to show your readers posts from other blogs you own? Some readers are obviously not amused and speak of violating trust and all that. Others just ask the same question like me. I believe you can of course share news from your blog network, but doing without any notice or graphic hints is less stylish – if not confusing.
After all, you haven’t asked for Crunchgear posts, have you? Maybe you read Gizmodo for the latest gadget news because you like the tone of voice better. Who knows? Arrington doesn’t, that’s for sure. So there’s no motivation for him (except promotion) to shove it under your face.
Written on 16th December 2008
9 COMMENTS
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Apple have today confirmed January’s Macworld Expo will be their last, with even more bad news, there’ll be no Steve Jobs either . For Apple’s final Macworld, the company’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller, will be delivering the keynote.
The announcement has already had an impact on Apple’s share price, falling more than 3.5%. Could this be related to Steve’s health? And is Schiller a possible replacement?
Full statement is appended below.
CUPERTINO, California—December 16, 2008—Apple® today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009. (more…)
Written on 2nd December 2008
1 COMMENT
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
The whole international Mac community has a confidence problem since Matt Groening made fun of them in The Simpsons last week. So I thought it would be good to post an image that reaffirms our beliefs.
All hail Steve!
Steve is Apple! (Literally in this image)
Written on 9th September 2008
4 COMMENTS
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
Steve Jobs just rounded up his keynote. Apple introduced new stuff, previewed new stuff you can’t have yet and promised software stuff that you can’t have until Friday. Lots of stuff but I can’t say I’m too excited by this, euh, stuff.
The highlight, as far as I’m concerned, was this slide:
Financial world isn’t laughing though: AAPL stock is falling: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AAPL
Here is a short list of what is new (Thanks, MacRumors.com):
- Jobs takes stage. “reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”. New for iTunes: HD TV shows. $1.99 for SD. $2.99 for HD.
- NBC returns to iTunes: Office, Monk, Heroes etc… both HD and SD. iTunes 8 today: HD TV shows, accessibility, genius playlist, grid view.
- Genius: create playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Also personal recs from iTunes Store. Optional and private.
- iTunes 8 avail today. Free download. Moving on to iPod. 120GB Classic to replace 80GB and 160GB. New Nano. Similar to leaked images.
- Nano: thinnest ipod ever. enhanced interface. accelerometer. genius playlist within nano. aluminum w/ curved glass. shake ipod to shuffle.
- battery: 24hr music, 4hr video. environmentally safer. 8 colors. $149/8GB. $199/16GB. new $29 headphones w/ volume, next button, microphone.
- iPodTouch: Thinner, Stainless steel, Volume controls + speaker. genius playlist. Nike+iPod receiver built in. Demoing app store again. Including Spore Origins, Real Soccer 2009, and Need for Speed. (Gameplay video of Real Soccer 2009 available on TouchArcade)
- iPodTouch: battery 36hrs/music, 6hrs/video. 8GB/$229. 16GB/$299. 32GB/$399. 2.1 upgrade. free to iPodtouch 2.0 owners. “funnest iPod ever”
- iPhone 2.1 Upgrade: This friday. significantly better battery, fewer call drops, bug fixes, faster backups to itunes, no app crashes. Free.
No crashes and better battery life? Ok, that IS good news…
Written on 10th June 2008
4 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
This could become a nice tradition: the 60 seconds versions of Jobs’ keynotes at Apple conferences. The last one was pretty funny and so is the new edition. You get to know the most important news and, at the same time, see how weird the keynotes really are. The Mac crowd often has been referred to as a cult and each time I see a Jobs keynote, I can tell why. A standing ovation for ear buds? Come one! Anyway, enjoy this creation of Mahalo Daily.
Written on 6th June 2008
0 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
The line for the Louvre museum will get some serious competition as there’s a new touristic highlight coming up which might attract too many visitors as well. Apple enters the museum area with the opening of a new flagship store. Who will win? The faint smile of the Mona Lisa or one of Steve Jobs’ new shiny gadgets?
The upcoming store has something in common with the ones in New York (Fifth Avenue) and London (Regent street), it’s located at one of world’s busiest touristic hot spots. Every year, 8.3 million visitors stroll by. A large percentage of those people won’t be able to resist the wonderfully designed window displays of the 7,696-square-feet store.
When we – The Next Web team – harassed Parisian Web 2.0 companies during the Open Office Road Trip last February, Charles Nouÿrit from MyID.is took us to a bar in the Louvre. I remember that when we were enjoying the over-priced cocktails of Le Saut du Loup, we praised the rather impressive atmosphere of the gigantic building (see picture). I’m sure Jobs thought the same thing when exploring the new location for his next retail hit.
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