MacRumors

Among the many anecdotes about Steve Jobs included in Ken Segall's new book, Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success, one in particular stands out for its glimpse into Jobs' character, providing evidence of his willingness to engage in playful ideas when the mood suited him. The story takes place relatively soon after the launch of the original iMac, with Jobs wanting to find a high-profile way to celebrate the sale of the millionth one to mark Apple's comeback from the dead.

Steve's idea was to do a Willy Wonka with it. Just as Wonka did in the movie, Steve wanted to put a golden certificate representing the millionth iMac inside the box of one iMac, and publicize that fact. Whoever opened the lucky iMac box would be refunded the purchase price and be flown to Cupertino, where he or she (and, presumably, the accompanying family) would be taken on a tour of the Apple campus.

Steve had already instructed his internal creative group to design a prototype golden certificate, which he shared with us. But the killer was that Steve wanted to go all out on this. He wanted to meet the lucky winner in full Willy Wonka garb. Yes, complete with top hat and tails.

Those in the room with Jobs were amused by his excitement over the idea, but less than enthusiastic about seeing it come to fruition. Fortunately for those looking for a way out of it, California law required that all such sweepstake contests allow entry without requiring a purchase. Given that people would then be able to enter the contest without purchasing an iMac and there in fact being a very good chance that the winner wouldn't be an iMac owner or even an Apple fan, Jobs' pet idea for a Willy Wonka-themed prize was cast aside.

While Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs received significant attention for its glimpse into the life of the Apple co-founder and CEO, others with recollections of Jobs have over the years stepped forward with their own accounts and anecdotes serving to provide a picture of his life.

One of those people is Ken Segall, the longtime creative advertising director who spent several stints working with Jobs at various ad firms including the famous TBWA\Chiat\Day that has been responsible for many of Apple's landmark ad campaigns. Segall's new book, Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success, offers an interesting blend of business advice and anecdotes designed to help readers understand how Jobs and the culture of simplicity he fostered enabled Apple to reach the loftiest of heights.

Segall breaks his book down into ten chapters focused on different themes all centered around "the Simple Stick". Under the philosophy of Steve Jobs, the pursuit of simplicity is key in everything Apple does, and as complexity began to creep into projects he repeatedly hit them with the Simple Stick in order to bring them back to Apple's focus.

The Simple Stick symbolizes a core value within Apple. Sometimes it's held up as inspiration; other times it's wielded like a caveman's club. In all cases, it's a reminder of what sets Apple apart from other technology companies and what makes Apple stand out in a complicated world: a deep, almost religious belief in the power of Simplicity.

Having worked with Jobs at both NeXT and Apple, Segall was present for a number of Jobs' highs and lows over the years, events which led to a library of interesting and entertaining stories. Yielding a unique perspective, many of these stories come from the back room where Segall was present for discussions among Jobs, other Apple executives, engineers, and advertising professionals about the future of Apple's products and how to market them to the public.

Insanely Simple debuts tomorrow, April 26, and is available in hardcover from retailers such as Amazon, as well as in e-book format from Apple's iBookstore and other retailers.

Earlier this month, Sprint revealed that it would continue to offer its unlimited data plans as it rolls out its first LTE devices. The news led to reasonable speculation that the policy would also apply to an LTE-enabled iPhone, which is expected to launch later this year.

CNET now reports that Sprint has confirmed plans to continue offering unlimited data for the next iPhone, regardless of whether or not the device supports LTE.

If the next iteration of the iPhone arrives with LTE, Sprint will continue to offer a no-strings unlimited plan, CEO Dan Hesse told CNET. The company is already sticking with unlimited for its first batch of LTE phones, but it was unclear whether the offer would apply to next iPhone.

"I'm not anticipating the unlimited plan would change by that point," he said. "That's our distinctive differentiator."

Hesse notes that the unlimited data plans for the iPhone have been successful for the company, attracting customers from other carriers. As announced in its earnings release earlier today, 44% of Sprint's iPhone sales during the first quarter of 2012 were to customers new to the carrier.

With LTE's faster data speeds, customers have the potential to significantly larger amounts of cellular data, and it had been unclear whether Sprint would be able to continue offering unlimited data to LTE customers for that reason. Sprint has been behind the other major U.S. carriers in its rollout of LTE support, as it initially supported WiMAX for its 4G technology, it is now moving rapidly to begin deployment of LTE to its network.

A pair of filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published early today reveal that former Dixons Retail CEO John Browett, who was announced in January as the next Senior Vice President of Retail at Apple, has officially started work with the company. The development is in line with previous announcements about an April start.

Browett's start date was revealed in an SEC Form 3 filing noting that Browett owned no stock in Apple at the time he began work. The document lists April 20 as the "date of event requiring statement", indicating that he began work at Apple last Friday.

As of that start date, Browett also received a total of 100,000 restricted stock units (RSUs) on Friday, with staggered vesting dates designed to reward Browett for staying on the job. At Apple's current stock price, those RSUs are worth roughly $61 million. The first batch of 5,000 units will vest on October 20, and an additional 15,000 units will vest at Browett's one-year anniversary with the company, which is April 20, 2013. The remainder of the units will vest in batches of 20,000 units on each anniversary of his start date through the fifth year.

Unlike options, restricted stock units do not require the recipient to purchase stock at an exercise price in order to receive the shares. The RSUs simply convert to actual shares on the vesting dates, although there are tax implications to the conversion that generally result in recipients immediately selling off at least some portion of their grants as they vest.

Browett has not yet been added to Apple's leadership page on its website, but his photo and a brief biography should be appearing there in the near future. Browett replaces Ron Johnson, who left Apple last November to become CEO of department store chain J.C. Penney.

Less than two hours after going on sale, passes for Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) have already sold out. The quick sellout comes even as Apple imposed new restrictions this year limiting ticket sales to registered iOS and Mac developers and limiting the number of passes available per developer group.

WWDC has sold out increasingly quickly in recent years, selling out in eight days in 2010 and in under 12 hours last year.

The conference will be held June 11-15 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco.

With only a little over six weeks of lead time, Apple today officially announced that it will hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) from June 11-15 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Conference passes are on sale now for $1599, and come with a new restriction requiring that purchasers be members of one of the company's developer programs.

Tickets are expected to sell out quickly given past years' trends. Last year, the conference sold out in under twelve hours.

“We have a great WWDC planned this year and can’t wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The iOS platform has created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers across the country and around the world.”

Apple notes that it will hold over 100 technical sessions for developers, with over 1,000 Apple engineers on hand to provide support for attendees.

This year's conference again appears to be focused on both OS X and iOS developers equally, with OS X Mountain Lion set for public release later this summer and iOS 6 likely ready to enter developer testing at the conference ahead of an iPhone hardware update later in the year.

The June 11-15 dates for WWDC 2012 are not particularly surprising, given that a generic "Corporate Meeting" event typical of Apple's WWDC listing appeared on the Moscone Center's calendar last year, and the timeframe also appeared as long ago as April 2010 in a tentative convention calendar listing WWDC dates through 2015. Nevertheless, developers able to secure passes to the conference will need to move quickly to obtain travel arrangements and may encounter high prices, as the U.S. Open golf championship is being held in San Francisco during the same week.

Apple today announced financial results for the first calendar quarter of 2012 and second fiscal quarter of 2012. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $39.2 billion and net quarterly profit of $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $24.67 billion and net quarterly profit of $5.99 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 47.4 percent, compared to 41.4 percent in the year-ago quarter, and international sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter's revenue. Apple's quarterly profit and revenue were both company records for the March quarter.

Quarterly iPhone unit sales reached 35.1 million, up 88 percent from the year-ago quarter, and the company sold 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, up 151 percent year-over-year. Apple sold 4 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, a unit increase of 7 percent over the year-ago quarter. The company sold 7.7 million iPods, representing 15 percent unit decline year-over-year.

"We're thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. "The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver."

Apple's guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 includes expected revenue of $34 billion and earnings per diluted share of $8.68.

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q2 2012 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.

Conference Call Highlights

- Very pleased to report results of our outstanding fiscal quarters. New March quarter records for iPhone, iPad, Mac, profit and revenue.

➜ Click here to read rest of article...

Google today announced its long-awaited Google Drive cloud storage service, providing users with 5GB of free storage integrated with Google Docs and other Google services.

Today, we’re introducing Google Drive—a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff. Whether you’re working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancé or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive. You can upload and access all of your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond.

Beyond the free 5GB level, Google offers several levels of paid storage up to 16 TB, all accessible via Google Docs or through clients for PC, Mac, Android and iOS devices -- though the iOS app has yet to be released, Google promises it is "coming soon". One of the biggest features in Drive is the ability to open more than 30 different file types directly in the browser, allowing users without programs like Illustrator and Photoshop to open up files and see what's inside. The service includes extensive sharing and collaboration features, as well.

The launch of Google Drive comes as several other cloud storage services have augmented their services in recent days. Microsoft's SkyDrive, which offers users 7GB of free cloud storage, yesterday updated its offering with an updated iOS app [Direct Link] and a preview client for OS X Lion, which allows users to manage their SkyDrive accounts directly from the Finder. Finally, Dropbox extended its file storage service with the ability to quickly share files stored on Dropbox with anyone, simply by creating a link.

Philip Elmer-Dewitt has put together his list of analyst expectations ahead of Apple's quarterly earnings report this afternoon. The list includes estimates from 23 "independent" analysts and 34 "affiliated" analysts who work for large investment houses or research organizations.

As usual, the independent analysts are much more bullish than the affiliated analysts. The independent consensus expects earnings per share (EPS) of $12.74 on revenue of $42.73 billion. The institutional consensus is EPS of $10.18 on $37.06 billion in revenue. The six analysts with the best track record expect $12.49 EPS on $41.47 billion in sales.

Click through to Elmer-DeWitt's post at Fortune to see the full-size chart.

Apple will announce its earnings for the second fiscal quarter of 2012 (first calendar quarter) and host a conference call regarding the release this afternoon at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific. The earnings release itself typically comes in around 4:30 PM Eastern.

Last quarter the company announced record-shattering results in a number of areas, including $13.06 billion in profit on revenue of $46.33 billion. For the second fiscal quarter, Apple has issued guidance of $32.5 billion in revenue with profits of $8.50 per share. The company typically exceeds its guidance by a significant margin.

AT&T today announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2012, revealing that it activated 4.3 million iPhones during the quarter. The number marks a substantial drop from the 7.6 million iPhones activated last quarter for the launch of the iPhone 4S, but still easily tops Verizon's 3.2 million iPhones sold during the first quarter.

Both Android and iPhone device sales remain strong. iPhone sales were helped by AT&T's 4G network, which lets iPhone 4S download three-times faster than other U.S. carriers' networks. In the quarter, the company activated 4.3 million iPhones, with 21 percent new to AT&T.

While AT&T's activations and sales can not quite be directly compared because activations includes used devices being reactivated on new accounts, AT&T has told us that this is a small difference. Consequently, AT&T's 4.3 million iPhone activations likely corresponds to approximately 75% of its total smartphone sales of 5.5 million units for the quarter.

Even more impressively, the continued trend toward smartphone adoption means that the iPhone is representing a growing proportion of total phone sales (smartphone and non-smartphone) at AT&T. The carrier notes that smartphones represented more than 78% of its total phone sales to postpaid customers, meaning that the iPhone accounted for roughly 60% of AT&T's total phone sales to those customers during the quarter.

The significant drop in iPhone activations for AT&T combined with the significant drop at Verizon are weighing on Apple's stock this morning, with the already-weakened share price down another $10 as trading opens for the day. But while investors appear nervous about Apple's iPhone sales numbers for the quarter, the primary driver will be international sales as Apple increased distribution during the quarter. China is by far the largest component to that equation, with the iPhone 4S not only having launched on China Unicom early in the quarter but also having been added by China Telecom in early March.

Apple will report its quarterly financial results after the close of trading today, at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern Time.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice, a number of U.S. states, and authorities in several other countries announced that they were filing lawsuits against Apple and six book publishers, alleging anticompetitive behavior in shifting to an Apple-backed agency model in which publishers set retail pricing and retailers such as Apple receive a 30% commission on the sales price.

Rather than settling the case as several of the publishers have opted to do, Apple has stood firm in its stance that the move did not represent collusion and price fixing but instead served as a way to give publishers control over pricing and break up Amazon's near-monopoly in the e-book market.

Former Wall Street Journal publisher and Press+ founder Gordon Crovitz published a column over the weekend outlining how Apple's plan for a 30% commission on publishers' sales is merely its standard business practice, not any sort of collusion to fix prices in the market.

'I don't think you understand. We can't treat newspapers or magazines any differently than we treat FarmVille."

With those words, senior Apple executive Eddy Cue stuck to his take-it-or-leave-it business model of a 30% revenue share payable for transactions through the iTunes service. Despite my arguments to Mr. Cue in Apple's Cupertino, Calif., offices last year on behalf of news publishers seeking different terms, to him there was no difference between a newspaper and an online game.

It was a sobering reminder that traditional media brands have no preferred place in the new digital world. It also should be the defense's Exhibit A in the Justice Department's antitrust case against Apple and book publishers: The 30% revenue-share model is Apple's standard practice, not, as alleged by the government, the product of a conspiracy.

Crovitz goes on to outline how the U.S. government's case against Apple and the publishers is misguided, with the agency model having been validated in numerous other industries by federal courts. And with the model looking exactly like that used for apps and other iTunes Store content, it suggests that Apple is not trying to accomplish anything special to gain control of the e-book market.

In fact, Crovitz notes that the e-book market has become significantly healthier since Apple's agency model was adopted by the major publishers.

Over the past couple of years, thanks to the agency model, the Kindle's market share has fallen to 60% [from 90% previously] thanks to competition from iPads and Barnes & Noble Nooks, and there is more variation in consumer prices, typically ranging from $5.95 to $14.95.

Pricing flexibility for publishers is necessary to allow innovation. Why shouldn't some e-books cost 99 cents and others that come with video and hardcover editions be $49.95? Why not give people the option to pay 10% more to access an e-book on all e-readers? Consumers should decide, not Amazon or the Antitrust Division.

With settlements already looking at unwinding the agency model to allow Amazon to once again begin controlling the e-book market by leveraging its consistent $9.99 pricing to drive competitors out of business, investors have become increasingly skittish about Barnes & Noble and other retailers trying to stake out their positions in the market. Consequently, there are real fears among authors, publishers, and retailers that the federal government's efforts are working quickly to restore an Amazon monopoly capable of bringing down its competitors.

Update: As noted by Chris Martucci and others, Crovitz fails to address the issue of the "most favored nation" clauses included in Apple's contracts with the publishers. These clauses prohibited the publishers from offering their content to any other retailer at lower prices than they offered through Apple. When combined with the apparent coordination among the publishers to break Amazon's near monopoly by shifting to the agency model, a case for anti-competitive behavior is more easily made.

But while simply removing the most favored nation clauses from Apple's contracts with the publishers would bring them more in line with the relationship between Apple and app developers, that move alone would not appear to satisfy the Department of Justice.

The government's settlements with several of the publishers have gone beyond the issue of most favored nation clauses and have required that the publishers essentially abandon the agency model as it currently exists. While the settlements would allow a modified form of the agency model to exist, they would require that retailers remain some control over the setting of retail prices.