A mass happened in Apple ’s technology sphere over the track of 2011 . Products , leadership changes , and — yes — even lawsuits : All of these saw major shift over the last year . We ’ve cover 2011productsand financials , andpredictions for the year in advance , but to better instance the major events of 2011 , we ’ve amass a collection of quotes from the last twelve month .
Delete the adjectives, and you have the facts
“ Apple deny that its correct name is Apple , Inc. The correct name of Respondent is Apple Inc. ”—Apple ’s reply to an HTC ill
Though few of us like reading stories about them ( and fewer of us likewritingthose stories ) , patent lawsuitssaw a surgein 2011 . Apple sued ( and was sue ) by HTC , Samsung , and Motorola ; settle with Nokia ; and keep on fighting Kodak . ( And that ’s just get over the major bases . ) Though the company are undoubtably waging war on the front man they think they need to fight on , to consumer , it come out reckon much like the quote above : pedantic , a small comical , and with just a smidgen of “ if I hide in a quoin and bang my head against a bulwark , will everyone just osculate and make up already ? ”
“ Apple is unarguably licensed to these patents and the Apple App Makers are protect by that license . There is no base for Lodsys ’ violation allegations against Apple ’s App Makers . Apple intends to deal this letter and the information dress out herein with its App Makers and is amply prepared to defend Apple ’s license rights . ” — Apple ’s response to patent troll Lodsys
This yr , Apple was n’t the only one in in the patent - fighting ring : App developers were bestow into the ruffle , too , thanks to a little lawsuit - happy ship’s company call Lodsys . It discourage — then sue — app developers , assert that Apple ’s in - app buying system encroach upon one of the company ’s patents . To Apple ’s credit , it intervened in the mess , adjudge its app makers safe under patent licenses , but the situation has yet to be solve ; in August , developer Mike Leeput together a coalitionto protect against current and future attack by Lodsys and other so - call “ patent trolling ” on small businesses .
Apple and its products
“ People derive to the Apple Store for the experience — and they ’re willing to give a premium for that . There are lots of components to that experience , but maybe the most important — and this is something that can render to any retail merchant — is that the staff is n’t focused on selling stuff , it ’s focused on building relationships and trying to make mass ’s lives better . ” — Former Apple elderly vice prexy of retail Ron Johnson
It ’s been a heck of a year for the Apple Store : The company ’s retail experimentation turned ten this twelvemonth , its senior frailty president left for JC centime , and it began rolling out the next moving ridge of the party ’s retail innovation efforts . Though the memory board are steering without a maitre d' at the moment ( though9to5 Mac reportsthat Peter Oppenheimer is provide an interim bridge player on the wheel ) , they carry on to elaborate ; in December , Apple opened a stock in New York City ’s Grand Central Stationto large crowds .
“ We ’re going to bump the PC and the Mac to just be a machine . ” — Steve Jobs , talk about iCloud at WWDC
2011 : The class of the iCloud ? Maybe not , but Apple ’s young Robert William Service has taken its first step into a larger world . As Steve Jobs adumbrate on stagecoach , the future of home technology wo n’t be about the devices — it’ll be about the information you push to them .
“ In just three days , the radical App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen … give thanks you to all of our amazing developers who have fill it with over 425,000 of the cool apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads . ”—Apple aged vice President of the United States of planetary selling Philip Schiller on the 15th billion App Store download
It ’s hard to believe that beforeJune of 2008 , there was no App Store . ( Heck , if someone had told the kid down the street that three yr ago , Angry Birds did n’t exist , he might just have had a untimely heart attack . ) But Apple has made singular advancement in the last 36 month or so , and this year was no elision : 15 billion downloads across iOS gimmick ( and millions of iOS users , to boot ) . In January , Mac exploiter sawthe launching of their very own App Store(which has seenmore than 100 million downloads ) , and Amazonfollowed suit in Maywith a fund of its own ( downloads unknown ) .
“ I am a lowly personal assistant . ” — Siri
It may still be in genus Beta , but any Apple productthat can introduce itselfis worthy of a reference . Apple ’s new personal phonation help was bring out alongside the iPhone 4S , with older vice president of worldwide marketing Philip Schiller querying “ Who are you ? ” . Siri , of course , was only too happy to bind .
“ The professional [ editor ] is critical to Apple , and it ’s a customer we do n’t want to lose . ” — Apple managing director of pro video production marketing Richard Townhill on Final Cut Pro X 10.0.1
For every Apple hit this year , there have been a few controversial misses — the companionship ’s professional video suite among them . Redesigned from the ground up with a major price cut and as a Mac App Store - only app , Final Cut Pro Xleft many professional usersupset and angryabout leave out feature of speech and its resemblance to iMovie . The app ’s first update , released a few months after the software ’s launching , bring several need feature back to the program , but moreover , it brought a promise from Apple ’s pro squad — that professionals would have to look a little bit for thing to descend into place , but that the troupe was place to keep them on - board .
“ I am happy to harbinger that we will have a solvent that seduce Quicken 2007 for Mac “ Lion - compatible ” by early give . ”—Intuit general manager Aaron Forth
In addition to everything else this twelvemonth , Apple managed to release a major new reading of OS X , Lion . alas , it bechance to be lack one particularly gall feature of speech : livelihood for PowerPC - scripted programs like Quicken 2007 and early version of Microsoft Office . Users complain , and in belated December , Intuit foretell that it had decided to update Quicken 2007 — an almost six - year - honest-to-god broadcast — to the Intel framework for Lion user . Of of course , we ’ll have to wait until leaping of 2012 to see the fruits of Intuit ’s labor .
“ We are very surefooted that we will set an all - time platter in the December twenty-five percent for iPhone sale . In our wildest dreams , we could n’t have gotten off to a start as great as we have on the 4S. ” — Apple CEO Tim Cook
Malus pumila isnotoriouslytight - lipped when it comes to any sort of succeeding prognostication , but Apple CEO Tim Cook felt convinced enough to allow this tidbit drop during October ’s quarterly financial salary call . Just what Apple means by “ all - sentence track record ” we ’ll have to wait until next class and see , but it ’s sure as shooting an interesting choice morsel to salivate over .
“ I finally check it . ”—Steve Jobs on the Apple TV
During an interview session with the former Apple CEO , Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson write down this quote , which pertain to the oft - rumoredApple TV set(not to be confused with Apple’scurrentApple TV ) . “ I ’d wish to create an integrated TV set that is whole easy to use , ” job reportedly said to Isaacson . “ It would be seamlessly synchronize with all of your devices and with iCloud . ” It ’s hard to make love when — or if — such a gimmick might ever egress from imagineering into reality , but the quotation caught the eye of just about everyone in the applied science domain , send off them on a rumour - mongering spree unheard of since the pre - Verizon iPhone time .
The other folks
“ There are two type of companies : those that put to work hard to charge customers more , and those that work heavily to charge customers less . Both approaches can work . We are firmly in the second camp . ”—Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the newfangled Kindle Fire ’s price
Amazon ’s new fleet of Kindles , released this preceding September , were price at their lowest ever — from just $ 79 to $ 199 — with the focus on integration with the company ’s on-line stores . The $ 199 Fire focuses on cognitive content consumption , with lineal links to Amazon ’s Kindle store , newsstand , app store , music store , and video recording streaming program library .
More tablets than you could tabularise came and go this class . HP both announced — and hit the sack — its TouchPad within 9 months . Other companies could n’t evenget off the dry land . And as we close out 2011 , a serious iPad competition has yet to seem , though many are trying . ( Amazon , at least , appear to be get word upright sales of its new Kindle line . )
“ We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the web browser to work with unexampled mobile machine configurations ( chipset , web browser , O version , etc . ) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook . ”—Adobe vice chairman and general manager of interactive development Danny Winokur
After a lengthy , age - long back - and - onward ( with Steve Jobs himself stepping into the debate ) , mobile Flash is no more . Adobemade the announcementin November , reference HTML5 ’s bump and abilities as factor in its conclusion . The company will now set Flash solely toward the background market .
Nothing’s going to change my world
“ I want you to be sure-footed that Apple is not go to change . I care for and celebrate Apple ’s unequaled principle and values . Steve built a caller and acculturation that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay dependable to that — it is in our DNA . We are going to stay on to make the upright products in the world that delight our client and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do . ” — Tim Cook
After Steve Jobs resigned as Apple ’s CEO in August , his freshly appointed heir , Tim Cook , sent out this electronic mail to employees .
“ There may be no greater tribute to Steve ’s winner than the fact that much of the earth learned of his pass on a equipment he invented . ”—U.S. President Barack Obama
It was sad to find out about Steve Jobs ’s third medical parting in January . Shocking to see him resign in August . And when the Apple illusionist passed away on October 5 , it was a sensational blow to masses across the human race — one , more probable than not , hand over on one of the devices he help create .
“ Oh wow . Oh wow . Oh wow . ”—Steve occupation
job was often quoted on his quips and trademark idiomatic expression , but these words , remove from his sister Mona Simpson ’s eulogy , are reportedly the last the Apple co - founder uttered before his death .
