Apple Corporate

Report: Apple's 30-year ban at California resort lifted

Thirty years is a long time to suffer for the bad behavior of a few young and boisterous tech workers. But after being permanently banned from the posh La Playa Carmel resort in 1983 for an evening of skinny-dipping and other misdeeds, Apple executives appear to be back in the fold.

According to SFGate, the new ownership of the La Playa Carmel has decided to extend an olive branch, and Apple seemingly has booked an event there.

Welcome back, Apple: All is forgiven.

That was the message from the new owner of the recently restored La Playa Carmel, where Cupertino'… Read more

No, Facebook Home won't be coming to the iPhone

Don't hold your breath for Facebook Home to make an appearance on the iPhone.

A Facebook executive told Bloomberg on Monday that the social networking giant is in talks to bring its newly debuted user interface to Apple's iPhone, as well as Microsoft's Windows Phone platform.

Earlier today, The Next Web reported that Facebook isn't in talks with Apple or Microsoft about porting over Home, citing unnamed sources familiar with the discussions.

Facebook Home is the social networking giant's way of increasing its presence in the mobile world without actually building a smartphone or mobile … Read more

Apple's senior execs dominate top 5 best-paid

When it comes to compensation, these days it's good to be one of Apple's top executives.

During Apple's 2012 fiscal year, four of its executives landed in the top five for highest compensation at a Standard & Poor's 500 company. But the folks that made it into that list might surprise you.

According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which collected compensation data from some of the world's top executives, Apple senior vice president of technologies, Bob Mansfield; CFO Peter Oppenheimer; general counsel Bruce Sewell; and operations chief Jeff Williams all made it into the top five for … Read more

T-Mobile's iPhone off to a damp, but hopeful, start

NEW YORK--There are bright summer mornings in midtown Manhattan when tech enthusiasts happily line the streets around the famous Apple "cube" on Fifth Avenue or sneak to nearby carrier stories to land a new iPhone or iPad.

This was not one of those days. It was gray and soggy outside T-Mobile's flagship store in midtown Manhattan this morning, a wet reminder that winter isn't quite over despite what the calendar says. Similarly, T-Mobile hasn't yet succeeded in attempts to move past its own dark season.

But T-Mobile, for once, had a reason to celebrate. Today … Read more

Apple-AppGratis flap triggers threat from French minister

Fleur Pellerin, France's digital industry minister, is taking Apple to the public woodshed for pulling the AppGratis service from the App Store, saying the tech giant's "brutal" treatment had put the French startup in danger. She now plans to ask European regulators to more closely regulate digital platforms including search engines and social media.

"I recall that the French are the world's second largest developers of software applications behind the United States for mobile devices," Pellerin was quoted as saying in LeMonde Informatique. "What is the sense of investing if, overnight, the … Read more

Judge chastises Apple, Google over patent litigation

Apple and Google's Motorola Mobility are doing everything they can to keep their patent litigation going, a district court judge has charged.

In an order released earlier this week, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Scola said that he believes Apple and Motorola "have no interest in efficiently and expeditiously resolving this dispute; they instead are using this and similar litigation worldwide as a business strategy that appears to have no end." According to Bloomberg, which was first to report on the ruling, Scola said that the companies are not properly using the court's time and … Read more

Apple pays $10M to license Palm, other patents

Apple may once have called Palm's patents essentially worthless, but it doesn't seem to think that anymore.

The company reportedly spent 1 billion yen, or $10 million, to license patents from Access Co., a Japanese company that makes software for mobile devices, set-top boxes, and other products. Access acquired PalmSource, the owner of the Palm operating system, in late 2005.

A Google translation, via the Japanese-language Macotakara blog, notes the agreement was signed on March 31 and covers smartphone patents from Palm, PalmSource, Bell Communications Research, and Geoworks.

We've contacted Apple and Access and will update the … Read more

Ahead of iPhone 5 launch, T-Mobile touts trade-in program

T-Mobile is cranking up the hype for its iPhone 5 launch on Friday.

The carrier added another incentive to hop on its bandwagon, extending its trade-in program to include older iPhones from other carriers. In exchange, customers can avoid putting money down for a new iPhone 5, as well as get a reduced monthly rate.

It is clear T-Mobile is excited to offer the iPhone, a key product that's been missing from its lineup as virtually every other carrier -- big and small -- began offering it. T-Mobile is hopeful that Apple's iconic device can reverse years of … Read more

Former Apple retail boss Ron Johnson out at J.C. Penney

Ron Johnson, J.C. Penney's chief executive and former Apple retail chief, is out at the clothing retail giant, CNBC reports.

Johnson joined J.C. Penney in November 2011, after spending more than a decade at Apple, building and growing its retail empire.

That success did not equate at Penney's, where Johnson attempted to run the more than 1,100-store company as what he referred to as "a startup." That initially included getting rid of sales events, in place of fixed pricing. Johnson also tried to add high-tech features to the store, like free Wi-Fi and … Read more