In the news…
- Apple is celebrating its most successful financial year ever, with over $205 billion cash in the bank. Chief executive Tim Cook said the firm had made more than $234 billion in 2015. The company now has more money in the bank than the Czech Republic, Peru and New Zealand make in gross domestic product (GDP) a year, according to World Bank statistics. The Guardian story.
- Apple is still refusing to unlock an iPhone for the US Justice Department on the grounds that it will “threaten the trust between Apple and its customers and substantially tarnish the brand.” Apple has the ability to access data on the iPhone 5s because it is running the company’s iOS 7 operating system, which does not have the encryption features that have been built into subsequent versions of Apple’s mobile software. UK Business Insider article.
- Research shows that Apple employees live in swankier houses than other people, and that home values are rising much faster in neighbourhoods where Apple workers live. The gap between homes that Apple employees live in and overall prices in those areas has widened since the release of the first iPhone in 2007. The iPhone has helped boost Apple’s stock price and, in tandem, employee compensation. Wall Street Journal story.
- Following a recent announcement that IBM is partnering with Apple on enterprise app development, now IBM is apparently subsidising the price of Apple Watches for its employees to use to make them fitter, as part of its “Commit Health” initiative. IBM did this previously with Fitbit trackers. What a nice employer. Tech Radar story.
