formulae to list your name in legends

Create the Crisis..
Take BOLD Blame for the Crisis..
Solve the Crisis..

Register your name as legendary CEO or executive in the history of Management..

I am sure Mr. Cook is really sincere in his apology.. everyone is saying same thing about him.. and they way Apple has handled these crisis it will be a great case studies for B Schools.

However, couple of cents from my side on all this..

Initially, listening to all this crisis.. I was hesitant to upgrade to iOS 6.0 on my iPhone 4S. I didn't wanted to loose my Google Maps app.. then I tested Google maps on Chrome browser.. found it good enough.. for me.. Google map was mainly used to check traffic and search local things any how.. it didn't have that turn by turn voice navigation... I was using Mapquest for that and despite very poor reviews about mapquest application, I was really satisfied and happy.. mostly..
I liked my status quo..

But, my inner Geek finally won over this map issue and I took a plunge.. I upgraded my iPhone 4S to iOS 6.0 and first thing I did was to create Google maps in my Google Chrome application.. and then also download You-Tube application..

While coming back from office.. I thought of testing Apple's Map.. I fed my home address and it provided me map using freeways etc.. with decent indication of traffic hot spots.. I took my standard route which avoided the freeways which are always recommended by all the maps..

Honestly, I was really surprised at nimbleness of Apple's map to provide me updated route with updated traffic information.. at least on the road.. it was amazingly fast and correct in adjusting to my new route and showing updated route every time I digressed from my route.. I also searched for some places like my favorite Costco etc. and it was all together great experience.. At least ten times better than Mapquest and zillion times better than Google Maps (it should be infinitely as Google maps on iPhone didn't even have this true navigation system..)..

I was literally blown away by Apple Maps..

What could be the reason..  I think short answer is simply:

"Expectations"..

my expectations were so low with Apple Maps.. as my frame of reference was Mapquest.. which I feel like deleting from my iPhone.. and then all this bad mouthing about Apple Maps.. it really made me a super fan of apple maps.. Despite all this negative publicity about Apple Maps.. Apple Maps is The Maps I am using for all the purpose..

Now.. the my conspiracy theory version.. I really feel that all this negative publicity is kind of self inflicted or at least driven by Apple itself.. I very strongly feel that they have tendency to create controversy after launch.. and use this controversy to get free advertisement from media and social networks.. BTW, I am also doing same thing.. isn't it..

Now, coming back to my title of this topic.. I have no doubt about Mr. Cook's sincerity and boldness of asking own users to use competing products.. but.. but.. but..... In my view Apple Map is much better than most of their competitor.. except may be from Google's app on Android phones itself.. So in a way what Mr. Cook is asking their users.. please try out our competitor's applications.. do some comparison.. and decide for yourself.. most likely you would like our Apple Maps much better despite (may be) one percent errors in maps in some locations.. This is sure shot way of making your customers your die hard fans.. just like I am.. for now till I hit major snag which makes me loose 15-20 minites on the road.. I hope by that time Google will come up with native iOS app for their maps..

Overall.. really nice strategy.. Great Job Mr. Cook..

A CHANGE IN DIRECTION

Apple finds itself apologizing for Maps app flap

By Patrick May

pmay@mercurynews.com 

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea Mapplegate culpa.

Apple, CEO Tim Cook said in a statement released Friday, is sorry. Sorry its new Maps app for the iPhone and iPad sucks at times. Sorry that scores of users have been led on wild goose chases using the thing. Sorry Apple did not quite live up to its “incredibly high standard” this time around.

And while Cook did not say Apple was sorry for booting Google Maps off its iPhone’s home screen and replacing it with its own directionally challenged version, he may as well have. In his statement, the CEO encouraged users to download other apps and mapping tools to find their way around town, at least until Apple works out the kinks.  The Maps app’s flaws haven’t been lost on customers, eliciting online backlash. 

From Tim Cook: “At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers.
With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment.” 

“I’m used to more functionality from Apple, not less,” said Jeremy Kemp, a lecturer at the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State, adding that he got so frustrated using Maps the other day to find a transit route home that he “ended up putting the iPhone in my pocket and asking someone at the train station for directions. It’s good that Cook has apologized; it’s actually noble. But I’d rather have functionality than nobility.” 

While the blogosphere worked itself into a fine lather all week agonizing over Maps’ shortcomings, analysts cautioned that the map flap will have little effect on the company’s solidgold bottom line. They said Apple makes most of its money selling gadgets, not software. Some pointed out that most new apps, including Google Maps when it was introduced in 2005, had bugs. But over time, as more users essentially trained the software to navigate even smarter, the apps improved. 

Pointing out that Twitter sentiment in the week since the iPhone 5’s debut was 71percent positive versus 49percent for the iPhone 4S, analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said in a note to investors that “the bottom line is that consumers do not seem to be overly concerned about the shortcomings of Maps.” 

Users who dislike Apple Maps can download other map apps, or access sites such as Google Maps through the browser. But because non-Apple apps aren’t native to the device, clicking an address in an email on an iPhone 5 would still call up the Apple mapping tool, not the alternative. 

Cook’s public apology stood in stark contrast to how his predecessor, the late Steve Jobs, might have handled the brouhaha. After problems arose with the iPhone 4’s antenna and its impact on signal strength — a saga dubbed “Antennagate” — Jobs was ridiculed for suggesting users simply alter the way they hold the devise. Although Jobs admitted at a news conference that “we’re not perfect and phones aren’t perfect, either,” some interpreted his response to Antennagate as defensive, even a bit sarcastic. 

Cook’s approach was far more conciliatory. 

“At Apple,” the CEO said, “we strive to make worldclass products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.” 

Some analysts speculate that Apple dumped Google Maps because of the growing rivalry between the two tech giants. But in his statement, Cook said Apple’s primary aim is to “provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps.” 

Ever since the Cupertino company released an update to its iPhone and iPad operating system that replaced Google Maps with its own app, the Internet has been deluged with complaints that the new software offers fewer details, lacks public transit directions and puts landmarks in the wrong places. One reviewer pointed out that when he fired up Maps, the Washington Monument was misplaced, and a search for Cleveland, Ga., took him to Cleveland, Tenn. 

The grousing has not let up, filling repositories like the one at the http:// theamazingios6maps. tumblr. com with embarrassing examples of Apple Maps run amok. Motorola even piled on, creating an ad with the caption “#iLost” placed beneath the ill-fated iPhone app. 

But Analyst Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee praised Cook, saying “at the end of the day, Apple’s goal is to deliver the best user experience possible, and that’s exactly what they’re doing, even if it means sending users to other vendors for the time being. 

“What they care about is: Are you happy with the hardware? If you are, fine,” Wu said. “But if you want to use other software, go ahead. Apple’s in the business of selling phones and tablets. And this won’t hurt that.” 

Contact Patrick May at 408-920-5689. Follow him at Twitter.com/patmaymerc. 

Me too Woody..

I am also holding on to my purchase of smart phone.. waiting for iPhone5.. Come on Tim Baboo... just do it.. release IT NOW ;-) and please don't make iPhone4 mistakes.. please make sure that its core phone function is better or at least same as iPhone4S.. otherwise you will make me wait for another year for another refresh cycle..

Cheers!!!

iPhone buyers awaiting update may hurt Q3 sales

By Salvador Rodriguez

Los Angeles Times

Analysts say they believe sales of Apple’s iPhone 4S have begun slowing as more users sit on the sidelines awaiting the arrival of the nextiPhone. With the Cupertino tech company releasing its latest earnings report Tuesday, analysts expect that Apple will announce it sold fewer iPhone 4S units than it did in the previous quarter. Apple sold more than 35 million of its latest smartphone last quarter, but Andy Hargreaves of Pacific Crest Securities told Bloomberg he expects this quarter’s number to be closer to 25 million, while Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley expects the number to be more than 31 million.

A recent survey by ChangeWave Research is also showing evidence that a slow down is happening.

The survey shows 14 percent of all consumers are saying they are “very likely” to get the next iPhone while 17 percent say they are “somewhat likely.” If the company does announce a lower number it will be a repetition of last year when iPhone 4 sales began to slow leading up to the launch of the iPhone 4S in October.

Come on.. this is foundation of Capitalism..

Off course.. he is worth every penny.. He is managing world's most wanted and desirable and darling company.. why not.. he should be rewarded.. he has worked his butt off and ought to be rewarded. Also, most of the vesting is over a period of ten years.. which is fairly long term.. so he needs to keep company keep running really well in long term.. not just short term. I think each every share holder of Apple will be more than happy to pay him even double than what he has got if he can even maintain Apple stock to this level. Which I can guarantee, it won't be.. it will be back to some normal level by the end of ten years. Nature will take care of it.. nothing can keep on going for such a long time.. Apple will become some kind of normal company and some other company has to come up and take its place..

Bottom line, it is reward for performance and it ought to be good so that everyone really works hard to attain it. As long as company and shareholders are fine with the compensation (I mean they can afford it)..

All that charity and hourly rate and all of it is purely non-sense.. Biggest charity any CEO can do is to create jobs which will eventually create hundred or thousand times more value than just donating to feed or provide cloths..

In this case, as long as Tim or any other CEO keeps on creating jobs, he is already doing greatest charity to humanity already. We have seen effect of Charitable philosophies (namely communism) already.. we don't want to go back to it. Though, NO System is Perfect.. Performance and Reward for performance is best system we got and we need to preserve it..

Is Apple’s CEO really worth that much?

Staggering pay package is symbol of income inequality in country

The drinks are on Tim Cook.

$377,996,538. That’s how much the new Apple CEO made last year. That’s not how much he’s made in his lifetime. It’s not how much money his company made, though that would be a fine profit for a company. That’s how much he made in 2011, according to this newspaper’s annual What the Boss Makes survey. More than a million dollars a day. Roughly, $43,151 an hour. About $57,534 for every hour he was awake (figuring he gets six hours a night). If he took his pay in $1 bills, it would weigh 417 tons. He could buy 757,515 iPads (not counting the employee discount). He’d have to spend it at a rate of $719 a minute to burn through his pay in a year.

To put Cook’s pay package, the highest in the valley, in perspective: It’s really, really a lot.

A caveat: All but about a couple million of Cook’s 2011 pay was in Apple stock that vests over 10 years. So, if he leaves the company, depending on when he leaves the company, he might not see it all. But don’t feel too bad.

If he stays and the stock keeps rising (it’s already within striking distance of doubling since it was granted) he’ll make even more than $378 million for the year.

The putting in perspective seems to get harder each year. Cook is by no means the first valley CEO to need a supertanker to get his paycheck home. Nine-figure pay packages are common enough that they barely make a splash in Silicon Valley. After all, this place is all about money. It’s how we keep score. And for those keeping score at home, last year’s No.1, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, is now No.2. He’s stuck in the $70 million-plus range, similar to last year. 

Maybe we should make Ellison an honorary member of the 99 percent, given that his wages have stagnated. 

OK, I admit it. I enjoy having a little fun at the expense of the rich. They can afford it after all. But there is a serious side to all of this. In some ways the valley’s gargantuan pay packages are a symbol of the growing divide between the rich and the rest who live in this country. 

I’ve written about this issue before and when I have, my email has included notes that say I must hate the rich. (I don’t.) Or that I must believe that when it comes to pay, there is a point where enough is enough. (I might.) But the real reason I think this is worth talking about is that the growing disparity between the rich and those who are middle class or poor is a cause for concern. 

Consider that between 1988 and 2008, according to the Internal Revenue Service, the inflation-adjusted income of an average taxpayer dropped by $400, to $33,000. During the same time, the richest 1 percent, those who make $380,000 or more, saw their incomes increase by 33 percent. 

Then consider that when the majority sees or senses that the game is rigged against them — that opportunity is much more available to a few, compared to the rest — it erodes trust. People no longer feel vested in our democracy and our common interests. Those who have worked hard, only to fall behind, become restless. 

“If you’re a CEO of one of the big 500 companies, you’re probably making as much in two or three hours as a normal wage worker is making in some cases in two or three years,” says Sister Nora Nash, a Philadelphia-area Catholic nun, who works with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. “How can you morally look at your life and see how that is just?” 

I called Sister Nash, who’s taken on Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein among others, because frankly I was struggling. 

Something seemed inherently wrong with the notion that one person, whose company’s success relies on the work of hundreds of thousands of others around the world, should be paid nearly $400 million in a year. And, of course, the question goes well beyond Tim Cook. The What the Boss Makes survey is filled with executives who were paid far more than mere mortals would know what to do with. 

But what? What exactly is wrong with paying an executive more than the GDP of a small country? 

Sister Nash explained that the way she sees it, it’s all about keeping our communities from coming apart at the seams. 

“We look at the problem of the growing inequity here in this country and throughout the world,” she says. “And we say we really need to be working for the common good; and the common good of the human community is to bring about some sort of sustainability.” 

Instead, she says, more and more of the country is slipping into poverty. It’s a bleak picture, but Sister Nash is keeping the faith (occupational hazard). 

Highly paid CEOs have tremendous power and tremendous means to do good. She points to the philanthropy of Bill Gates, who was for years vilified as a stingy billionaire, and his wife, Melinda. 

“They’ve really taken the time to see what they can do to change the lives of people,” she says. 

And so, we can all hope that in time, Tim Cook and his fellow valley moguls will be popping for far more than a celebratory round of drinks. 

Contact Mike Cassidy at mcassidy@mercurynews. 

com or 408-920-5536. 

Follow him at Twitter. 

com/mikecassidy.