Apple Corporate

Despite Tim Cook's own analysis and the advice of his friends, the Apple chief executive let his gut make the final decision 15 years ago on whether to take a job at the then-struggling Mac maker.

Cook, who joined Apple in 1998 as a senior vice president of worldwide operations, revealed his thinking on the matter during an onstage interview in April at his alma mater, the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Even though he considers himself an analytical engineer at heart, he said he often trusts his intuition for important decisions, calling his Apple decision "… Read more

With less than a week to go before its big developers conference next week, Apple has already begun decorating the outside of the Moscone Center in San Francisco, where the week-long event is held.

As usual, that involves plastering large Apple logos on the outside of the three story building, as well as adorning some of the inside halls with large graphics.

There aren't too many surprises inside so far, though that could change as more signage goes up. In years past, that's included early looks at icons for products like iCloud. Apple typically covers up time-sensitive things … Read more

Apple on Tuesday continued to make the case that its multibillion-dollar campus revamp will be a boon to Cupertino, Calif., where the company is the largest employer.

The company published a new, 82-page document on its site (embedded below) outlining the economic and fiscal impacts the project will have on the city when the new campus is completed.

Some of that includes:

• $68 million spent on "public improvements" like roads and parks in areas around the campus • Around $57 million in annual property tax revenues • $13 million in annual tax revenues, up $3.8 million from 2012 • 7,… Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced last week that Apple had acquired nine startups since October. And, Cult of Mac's Mike Elgan believes one of these companies could be the predictive search app Grokr.

While neither Apple nor Grokr has given any signals that this is the case, such an acquisition would indeed make sense for the tech giant.

Grokr is an app that can be used with iOS. Like Google search, it uses a type of knowledge graph that takes bits of information from across the Web and synthesizes it for users. In a sense, Grokr works a bit … Read more

Apple appears to be delinquent on a hefty tax payment in France.

SACEM, a French society that controls royalties paid to authors, composers, and publishers, said on Friday that Apple owes 5 million euros ($6.5 million) in royalty taxes from iPads sold in France in 2011. The tax, known in France as a copie privee, is levied against all vendors of digital devices that use copyrighted content, according to French blog site The Rude Baguette.

That tax then goes to SACEM, which divvies out the money among the various authors, producers, and other creative folks.

Apple passed on the … Read more

Steve Wozniak thinks like Mitt Romney.

Well, a little. It's not that he quite believes corporations are people too. It's more that he thinks corporations should be taxed like people too.

Corporations like Apple, for example.

At a conference in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Woz told Sky News on Thursday: "Criticism of Apple's tax policies is extremely warranted, in my mind, but my explanation is rather long and difficult."

It's a pity he wasn't asked to testify before the Senate last week. Its members seemed to have all day to listen to Tim Cook. … Read more

Sony is planning to add two new people to its board of directors, and both can trace their roots to Apple.

Eikoh Harada, current president of McDonalds Holdings Japan, and Tim Schaaff, Sony's former Network Entertainment chief, have been nominated to join the electronics giant's board of directors. Although people are elected for boards all the time, Harada and Schaaff's shared histories make these nominations rather interesting.

Harada spent 14 years at Apple and left in 2004 when he was head of the iPhone maker's Japan operations. Schaaff also spent 14 years at Apple and was … Read more

While defending Apple's profile and reputation, Tim Cook was predictably more tight-lipped Tuesday night on other topics, mostly notably much-rumored products that may be in the pipeline.

During an onstage interview at the All Things D conference in Palos Verdes, Calif., Cook insisted that Apple has "absolutely not" lost its cool factor and brushed off suggestions that Apple was losing the mobile OS war because Android accounted for more unit sales.

"For us, winning has never been about making the most," he said. "We make the best phone, we don't make the most … Read more

Apple's been buying a new company every month or two, giving the company nine acquisitions since October, CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday at the All Things Digital Conference in Southern California.

The company has only announced the acquisitions it's required to, according to Cook.

"We are always looking and if anything we will do more of that in the future," he said of buying other companies.

While Apple's been snatching up smaller companies, it hasn't made any big purchases despite having plenty of cash to burn. Cook said the company is not looking at … Read more