Apple’s ‘Mission Statement’ Is Making People Worry That The Company Has Gone To Hell

Apple’s ‘Mission Statement’ Is Making People Worry That The Company Has Gone To Hell

HENRY BLODGET AUG. 3, 2013, 11:41 AM 16,896 34

Where are we headed, Tim?

A tech-industry insider sent us the note below highlighting what Apple’s web site is describing as the company’s “mission statement.” The executive’s reaction to this mission statement was not positive. He took it as a sign that Apple has changed fundamentally — and for the worse — since Steve Jobs died. I don’t know what Apple’s official mission statement was when Steve Jobs was alive – but I’d be shocked if it was this pathetic piece of generic corporate mumbo jumbo drivel. It’s almost as if Tim Cook hated Jobs. The “mission statement” the executive was referring to is the paragraph below, which can be found on Apple’s investor relations site and at the bottom of Apple press releases: What is Apple’s mission statement?

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

If that really is Apple’s “mission statement,” it is indeed pretty lame. It’s not a mission statement so much as a list of product lines. And it would be hard to imagine a less-inspiring, more prosaic description of what Apple is (or used to be) all about. Read more of this post

The future of TV; Netflix, Google, Apple, and Intel think they can remake the industry, but there’s a lot of money and brain-power standing in their way

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2013

Don’t Touch That Dial

By ALEXANDER EULE | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Netflix, Google, Apple, and Intel think they can remake the industry, but there’s a lot of money and brain-power standing in their way.

Netflix is having a good summer. The Internet streaming service garnered 14 Emmy nominations last month, including a Best Actor nod for House of Cards star Kevin Spacey. Four days later, the company announced that U.S. subscribers to its video-streaming service hit 30 million.

Netflix shares (ticker: NFLX) are up 170% on the year, making them the best performer in the S&P 500. But it’s the future of TV that investors are really excited about, and Netflix is not shy about putting itself in the center, declaring on its Website, “Over the coming decades and across the world, Internet TV will replace linear TV….As Internet TV grows from millions to billions, Netflix is leading the way.” Read more of this post

China’s third-party payment market had total transactions reaching US$1.127tn in the first half of 2013; China UMS is the leader in the nation’s third-party payment industry, taking a market share of 46.3%, followed by Alipay with 17.8%

Third-party payment market in China worth RMB7tn so far this year

Liao Kuei-ju and Staff Reporter

2013-08-04

In the first half of 2013, China’s third-party payment market had total transactions reaching 6.91 trillion yuan (US$1.127tn), already achieving 66% of last year’s total, our sister paper Commercial Times reports, citing the China Electronic Information Industry Development Institute. The mainland is seeing slowing economic growth but its e-commerce industry has outperformed, with sales jumping more than 100% a year. To grab a slice of the pie, international credit card giant Visa in April began its certification program for third-party payment companies. On Aug. 1, Chinese third-party payment company Tenpay announced it will begin offering secure third-party payment services for international credit cards immediately. Read more of this post