With the iPhone, Apple TV, and a name change, Jobs & Co. are setting
a new course for the outfit once known only for its computers
by Arik Hesseldahl
SPECIAL REPORT
January 10, 2007, 12:00AM EST
If there was anything on the minds of higher-ups at wireless handset
manufacturers on Jan. 9, it was very likely what to take for a
headache -- a pounding one caused by a new competitor, the company
formerly known as Apple Computer (AAPL).
In unveiling a device called the iPhone-the subject of rumors and
speculation for years-Apple also officially changed its name, dropping
the "Computer" that had been part of the moniker since the computer
maker was founded in 1976. At the same time, the newly incarnated
Apple stormed into new markets, turning the biggest names in cell
phones-Nokia (NOK), Motorola (MOT), Research In Motion (RIMM), and
Samsung-into overnight competitors.
The new name and device represent Apple's strategic shift away from
its origins as a personal computing company that has at points
struggled both to survive and to set the computing world's agenda.
The shift was enabled by the five-year-old iPod line of digital media
products, which have produced enormous sales and profit growth,
propelled Apple into the forefront of the digital media age, and now
leave it poised to set the wireless phone industry on its ear. "This
is a day I've been looking forward to for two and a half years," Apple
CEO Steve Jobs told the capacity crowd at the MacWorld Expo trade show
in San Francisco. "Every once in a while a new product comes around
that changes everything."
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070110_535914.htm
SPECIAL REPORT
The Apple Economy
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/special_reports/20070108theappleec.htm
* Apple's iFuture Depends on Partners
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070108_349212.htm
* Apple's Chinese Supply Lines
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070108_583738.htm
* Apple's Wireless Effect
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070108_255246.htm
* Companies Embrace the Mac-Slowly
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070108_880656.htm
* Apple Sets the Design Standard
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2007/id20070108_046657.htm?chan=tc&chan=technology_the+apple+economy
* Getting to the Core of Apple's Influence
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/01/0107_apple_design/index_01.htm
* Apple's Cinema HD Display Has Star Power
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070110_011023.htm
* iPhone and Apple TV Unleashed
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/01/0109_apple/index_01.htm
* Interactive S&P Stock Report: Apple
http://search.businessweek.com/interactiveStock.jsp?ticker=069064171149228001074054013117180117010254186085
* The Future of Apple
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070110_535914.htm
Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)