March 29, 2024

2 Years Into Nokia Turnaround, Some Good News

Mr. Elop painted the bleak outlook as he prescribed a radical cure for the Finnish mobile phone pioneer: The rejection of the company’s own Symbian smartphone operating system for a shotgun wedding to Microsoft, itself stumbling badly with smartphone software. After that, sales slumped sharply, losses mounted and huge layoffs followed.

On Thursday, he delivered unexpected good news: a profit. Sales of its new smartphone line, the Lumia, powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, soared more than 50 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, according to preliminary financial information.

In what was seen as a make-or-break quarter, Mr. Elop said Nokia would break even or turn a 2 percent profit rather than report a loss as large as 10 percent, as analysts expected.

Nokia will report its earnings on Jan. 24.

Wall Street reacted to the announcement by sending Nokia’s American depositary receipts up 18.67 percent, or 70 cents, to $4.45.

“While we definitely experienced some tough challenges in the first half of 2012, we are managing through these issues,” Mr. Elop said in a conference call with journalists.

What Nokia has accomplished under Mr. Elop is to produce a line of increasingly competitive smartphones that are starting to draw favorable comparisons with those from Samsung and Apple, the two companies most responsible for knocking Nokia from its lofty perch.

“The Lumia smartphones are night-and-day different from Nokia’s old Symbian handsets,” said Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst with the International Data Corporation in London. “I think what we are starting to see now is what will be a steady turnaround in Nokia’s fortunes.”

The company, which dominated the cellphone business until Apple introduced its iPhone in 2007, still has a long way to go to achieve its former stature. In the third quarter, Nokia held on to a 4 percent share of the global smartphone market, and was ranked a distant No. 10 in the sector, according to Strategy Analytics, a research firm.

Samsung and Apple, the No. 1 and No. 2 smartphone makers, together had 50 percent of the global smartphone market, and their sales were growing. While its competitors rose, Nokia has generated nearly 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in losses under Mr. Elop, and eliminated a third of its work force.

The key to its turnaround was the introduction in October of the top-of-the-line Lumia 920 and 820, which used the new Windows Phone 8 operating system. Since then, Nokia has spent heavily on advertising in Britain and Europe to promote the models. The company will not disclose how much it had spent on its campaign, but its television ads were ubiquitous over the holidays, said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics in London.

The heavy promotion, which was aided by Microsoft’s own advertising, has helped the company recapture some of its lost glory, Mr. Mawston said.

But he warned that “Nokia still lacks the true killer phone that will enable it to compete with the iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S III.” He expected Nokia’s share of the global smartphone market to rise to 6 percent by the end of the year.

The company’s financial position is likely to revive even more quickly as a result of the strict cost-cutting imposed by Mr. Elop, who ran Microsoft’s business software division before joining Nokia in late 2010.

Since then, Nokia has shut factories across Europe. Last month, the company sold its 540,000-square-foot glass-and-wood headquarters in the Helsinki suburb of Espoo to Finnish investors, and leased it back. The maneuver netted Nokia 170 million euros.

Besides a more competitive array of phones, Nokia has discarded its market-leader mentality. Employees are now routinely traveling in economy class and sharing rides to airports. Workers no longer use costly telephone conference calling but speak in group teleconferences using less expensive Internet calling services.

“The company is a lot smaller now but people are working better together,” said Susan Sheehan, a Nokia spokeswoman. “Everyone has been pitching in.”

Even at Nokia Siemens, the company’s long-suffering network equipment venture, the future is looking brighter than it was two years ago. On Thursday, Nokia said the unit, which contributes about 40 percent of total sales, would report an operating profit for the quarter, its third consecutive quarterly profit.

Nokia, in its announcement to investors, even revised the operating profit margin forecast at the venture to 13 to 15 percent of sales, up from a range of 4 to 12 percent.

Looking ahead, Nokia said it expected to return to an operating loss of 2 percent of sales because of the first-quarter postholiday buying lull and fierce competition. But the results for the coming three months could vary widely.

Pete Cunningham, an analyst at Canalys, a research firm in Reading, England, said that Nokia still faced challenges. “2013 could still turn out to be another very difficult year for Nokia. It is way too premature to say that the company has made a turnaround.”

Mr. Cunningham said he used the Lumia 920, Nokia’s newest smartphone, during the Christmas holidays and liked it.

“But the more I used the phone, the more apparent it became to me that there are big gaps between Lumia and its competitors in terms of the functionality and usability of its apps,” Mr. Cunningham said.

“I still think there is a lot of work to be done on Lumia.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/technology/nokia-sees-results-from-new-smartphone-line.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Samsung Forecasts Record $8.3 Billion Profit

SEOUL — Samsung Electronics projected Tuesday a profit of $8.3 billion in the quarter that ended last month as demand picked up for the flat screens it makes for mobile devices, including those for products sold by Apple.

The forecast could signal a run of five consecutive record quarters, but it may end in the January-to-March period because of weaker seasonal demand. But a strong line of new smartphones — the biggest earner for Samsung, the South Korean giant — and improving chip prices have eased concerns that earnings growth could slow this year.

“Investors are a bit concerned that Samsung’s momentum may slow in the first half,” said Kim Sung-soo, a fund manager at LS Asset Management. “The smartphone market is unlikely to sustain its strong growth, as advanced markets are nearing saturation despite growth in emerging countries.”

Samsung has outpaced Apple — its biggest rival and also its biggest customer — with sales momentum bolstered by its Galaxy Note II phone-tablet hybrid in the fourth quarter. IPhone 5 sales were a little below expectations, analysts said.

While Apple introduced just a single new smartphone last year globally, Samsung bombarded the market with 37 variants adjusted to regional and consumer tastes, including both high-end and low-end smartphone models. By comparison, HTC of Taiwan released 18 models, Nokia of Finland released nine and LG Electronics of South Korea introduced 24.

HTC said Monday that its fourth-quarter profit had slumped about 90 percent as its sales had continued to trail those of the Galaxy range of phones and the iPhone.

Samsung gave its October-December earnings guidance before the full earnings release expected by Jan. 25.

Shipments of Samsung’s flagship phone, the Galaxy S III, which overtook the iPhone 4S in the third quarter to become the world’s best-selling smartphone, are likely to have slipped to about 15 million in the past quarter from 18 million in July to September, analysts estimate, but sales of about 8 million of the Galaxy Note II should more than make up for that, pushing overall smartphone shipments to about 63 million.

“The Note was selling well, boosting fourth-quarter profit, while iPhone 5 sales were less than expected,” said Song Myung-sub, an analyst at HI Investment Securities. “Samsung’s profit will drop in the current quarter because of decreased phone profits. It will launch the Galaxy S IV only in March or April, so, without new models, phone sales prices will fall this quarter. For the whole year, Samsung will launch new models faster than Apple and have the upper hand in the smartphone market.”

The new Galaxy, widely expected to be released within months, may have an unbreakable screen and full high-definition resolution, with 440 pixels per inch, as well as a better camera and a more powerful processor.

“Samsung’s smartphone shipments are likely to grow, even in a seasonally weak first quarter,” said Peter Yu, a BNP Paribas Securities analyst. “The early launch of the Galaxy S IV would drive second-quarter growth momentum.”

He predicted Samsung’s 2013 operating profit would grow 25 percent to almost $35 billion.

Samsung is expected to increase its smartphone sales by more than a third this year, and widen its lead over Apple as it offers a broader range of mobile devices, said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, a market researcher, which forecasts Samsung will sell 290 million smartphones this year, up from a projected 215 million in 2012.

Apple is expected to sell 180 million iPhones, up from 135 million sold last year, Mr. Mawston said last week.

Kim Sung-in, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said he expected Samsung to ship 320 million smartphones this year and double sales of its tablets to 32 million.

Samsung said its operating profit in October to December had jumped 89 percent to 8.8 trillion won, or about $8.3 billion, from a year ago, just higher than an average forecast of 8.7 trillion won by 16 analysts surveyed by Reuters. That is 8.6 percent higher than its previous record of 8.1 trillion won in July to September.

Analysts expect profits from the mobile division will more than double from last year and increase slightly from the previous quarter, to about 5.8 trillion won. A recovery in chip prices and flat screens should also bolster earnings, helped by booming sales of mobiles carrying Samsung’s chips, microprocessors and flat screens.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/business/global/samsung-forecasts-record-8-3-billion-profit.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Bucks Blog: A New Airport App in Time for Holiday Travel

Travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta.Associated PressTravelers at Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta.

The Web site Nerdwallet, which earlier this year introduced a tool to help consumers compare airline fees, has added a new feature to its travel site in time for the holidays, to help save time and money at airports.

TravelNerd Airport Guide aims to help travelers make their way around airports quickly and cheaply, with detailed maps of terminals and gates, as well as tools to help find inexpensive parking and compare the fastest — and cheapest — ways of getting to local destinations. Available as a Web site and as a free iPhone app, the airport guide provides information for about 50 airports, including places to eat and drink — or to get work done — on layovers.

The tool joins such popular airport apps as iFly Pro and GateGuru, which have a head start and cover more airports.

Alicia Jao, vice president of travel media at Nerdwallet, says TravelNerd’s guide aims to distinguish itself by offering maps and tools that are both comprehensive and easy to use. It has created its own terminal maps, to make sure details like “pet relief” areas and nurseries are easy to spot on the map, rather than being presented in a list.

For each airport, the site offers quick find options with headings like coffee, terminal maps and Wi-Fi. For example, if you have a layover at Logan Airport in Boston and you’re hankering for a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, click on coffee and TravelNerd will tell you there’s a Dunkin’ outlet near Gate C25.

One tool Ms. Jao highlighted lets you compare ground transportation options to popular destinations by both cost and time. That way, you can decide if you want to spend extra to get somewhere fast, or if you prefer a cheaper, but possibly slower, alternative.

The option is available for about 20 high-traffic airports. So if you’re headed to, say, San Francisco International Airport and want to know the best way to get downtown, the tool tells you at a glance that taking BART, the public transportation system, is the cheapest option at $8.25, but the most time consuming, at 45 minutes.

The fastest option, it says, is the Uber on-demand car service, which will shave 15 minutes off your trip but will cost as much as $65.

The mobile app features a taxi-sharing feature, to help you find others interested in sharing a cab to your destination.

One important ground transportation option — rental cars — isn’t featured on the site, but may be in the future, Ms. Jao said.

TravelNerd’s new guide doesn’t include smaller regional airports like the one I use most often, and I’m not planning any air travel this month. So I haven’t had a chance to test it on the go. If you have a chance to try it, let us know what you think.

Article source: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/a-new-airport-app-in-time-for-holiday-travel/?partner=rss&emc=rss

State of the Art: Presenting the Nook HD, iPad Mini and Windows Phone 8 — Review

Hollywood studios try to avoid opening big movies on the same weekend, to avoid diluting the buzz and the press coverage. “Oh, no — we can’t open that day,” one might say. “ ‘Titanic II: The Return’ is opening that weekend.”

That’s usually the way it works with the tech companies, too, especially as the holiday shopping season begins.

This year, though, a barrage of huge tech announcements all landed within about a week. Windows 8. Microsoft Surface. The iPad Mini. Google Chromebook. The Barnes Noble Nook HD. Windows Phone 8. A 10-inch Samsung tablet and a new Google phone.

All right, tech industry. You want splintered news coverage? You got it. You get to share this column: one-third of a column each for the three big touch-screen headlines of the week. Meet the iPad Mini, Nook HD and Windows Phone 8.

The iPad Mini

The rumors were true: Apple now has a smaller iPad.

The iPad Mini is half the weight of the big iPad (0.7 pounds versus 1.4), thinner (. 28 inches versus .37), shorter (7.9 inches versus 9.5) and narrower (5.3 inches versus 7.3). Those specs add up to one towering meta-change: you can comfortably hold this iPad in one hand. It’s still too wide for a blazer pocket, alas, but it’s certainly purseable and overcoat pocketable.

It’s available in white-and-silver and black-on-black, both with metal backs, both gorgeous.

Apple’s masterstroke was keeping the screen shape and resolution the same as on the iPad 2 (1,024 by 768 pixels). As a result, the Mini can run all 275,000 existing iPad apps unmodified, plus 500,000 more iPhone apps. The text and graphics are a little smaller, but perfectly usable.

Sadly, the Mini doesn’t gain Apple’s supercrisp Retina display. Nobody’s going to complain about the sharpness — it packs in 163 pixels per inch (ppi) — but it’s not the same jaw-dropping resolution as the big iPad (264 ppi). Gotta hold something back for next year’s model, right?

You pay $330 for the base model (16 gigabytes of storage, Wi-Fi connections). Prices run all the way up to $660 for four times the storage and the option to go online over the cell network.

By pricing the Mini so high, Apple allows the $200 class of seven-inch Android tablets and readers to live (Google Nexus, Kindle Fire HD, Nook HD). Those tablets also, by the way, have high-definition screens (1,280 by 800 pixels), which the Mini doesn’t.

But the iPad Mini is a far classier, more attractive, thinner machine. It has two cameras instead of one. Its fit and finish are far more refined. And above all, it offers that colossal app catalog, which Android tablet owners can only dream about.

Over all, the Mini gives you all the iPad goodness in a more manageable size, and it’s awesome. You could argue that the iPad Mini is what the iPad always wanted to be.

Barnes Noble Nook HD

The redesign of this $200 e-book reader/video player focuses on the three things that matter most in a hand-held e-book reader: weight, size and screen clarity.

In those ways, the Nook HD trounces its nemeses, Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD and Google’s Nexus 7. The Nook is lighter (11.1 ounces, versus 12 on the Nexus and 13.9 on the Kindle) and noticeably narrower, despite the same-size screen, because it has a far slimmer bezel. You can wrap your hand around its back, even if you’re dainty of hand.

And the screen is much sharper: 1,440 by 900 pixels (versus 1,280 by 800). At 243 dots ppi, the Nook’s screen comes dangerously close to the iPad Retina’s 264 ppi. Wow, is this screen sharp. Movies, books and magazines pop.

Whites are so white on this screen, it could be a Clorox commercial; the Nexus and Kindle screens look yellowish in comparison. (A 9-inch, $270 version, the Nook HD+, is also available.)

The software continues to improve. You can now create up to five accounts, one for each family member, each listing different books and movies. (It doesn’t remember where each person stopped reading a given book, but BN says that’s coming soon.)

The base-model, $200 Nook comes with only 8 gigabytes of storage — half as much as the Kindle; on the other hand, it has a memory-card slot, so it’s simple and cheap to expand. The Nook includes a wall charger (it can’t charge from a USB jack), which the Kindle doesn’t. And the Nook doesn’t display ads, as the $200 Kindle does.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/technology/personaltech/presenting-the-nook-hd-ipad-mini-and-windows-phone-8-review.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Bits: In Shake-Up, Apple’s Mobile Software and Retail Chiefs to Depart

Scott Forstall at an Apple event in September.Jeff Chiu/Associated Press Scott Forstall at an Apple event in September.

8:24 p.m. | Updated Apple fired the executives in charge of the company’s mobile software efforts and retail stores, in a management shake-up aimed at making the company’s divisions work more harmoniously together.

The biggest of the changes involved the departure of Scott Forstall, an Apple veteran who for several years ran software development for Apple’s iPad and iPhone products. Mr. Forstall was an important executive at the company and the one who, in many respects, seemed to most closely embody the technology vision of Steven P. Jobs, the former chief executive of Apple who died a year ago.

But Mr. Forstall was also known as ambitious and divisive, qualities that generated more friction within Apple after the death of Mr. Jobs, who had kept the dueling egos of his senior executives largely in check. Mr. Forstall’s responsibilities will be divided among a few other Apple executives.

While tensions between Mr. Forstall and other executives had been mounting for some time, a recent incident appeared to play a major role in his dismissal. After an outcry among iPhone customers about bugs in the company’s new mobile maps service, Mr. Forstall refused to sign a public apology over the matter, dismissing the problems as exaggerated, according to people with knowledge of the situation who declined to be named discussing confidential matters.

Instead, Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, in September signed the apology letter to Apple customers over maps.

Apple said in a news release on Monday that the management changes would “encourage even more collaboration” at the company. But people briefed on Apple’s moves, who declined to be identified talking about confidential decisions at the company, said Mr. Forstall and John Browett were fired.

John BrowettDixons Retails, via Associated Press John Browett

Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, said neither executive was available for an interview. Mr. Forstall did not respond to interview requests over e-mail and Facebook.

Mr. Browett, who took over as head of the company’s retail operations in April, will also leave the company after a number of missteps. Apple said that a search for a new head of retail was under way and that the retail team would report directly to Mr. Cook in the meantime.

Mr. Forstall will leave Apple next year and serve as an adviser to Mr. Cook until then.

Eddy Cue, who oversees Apple’s Internet services, will take over development of Apple maps and Siri, the voice-activated virtual assistant in the iPhone. Both technologies have been widely criticized by some who say they fall short of the usual polish of Apple products.

Jonathan Ive, the influential head of industrial design at Apple, will take on more software responsibilities at the company by providing more “leadership and direction for Human Interface,” Apple said. Craig Federighi, who was previously in charge of Apple’s Mac software development, will also lead development of iOS, the software for iPads and iPhones.

Apple said Bob Mansfield, an executive who previously ran hardware engineering and was planning to retire from Apple, will lead a new group, Technologies. That group will combine Apple’s wireless and semiconductor teams. Apple in a statement said the semiconductor teams had “ambitious plans for the future.”

Recently, Mr. Mansfield had been working on his own projects at the company, operating without anyone reporting to him directly. One of the areas of interest Mr. Mansfield had been exploring is health-related accessories and applications for Apple’s mobile products, said an Apple partner who declined to be named discussing unannounced products.

Mr. Forstall was a staunch believer in a type of user interface, skeuomorphic design, which tries to imitate artifacts and textures in real life. Most of Apple’s built-in applications for iOS use skeuomorphic design, including imitating thread of a leather binder in the Game Center application and a wooden bookshelf feel in the newsstand application.

Mr. Jobs was also a proponent of skeuomorphic design; he had a leather texture added to apps that mimicked the seats on his private jet. Yet most other executives, specifically Mr. Ive, have always believed that these artifacts looked outdated and that user interface design on the computer had reached a point where skeuomorph was no longer necessary.

Mr. Forstall, who trained as an actor at a young age, also shared with Mr. Jobs a commanding stage presence at events introducing Apple products, often delivering his speeches with a pensive style that echoed that of Mr. Jobs.

According to two people who have worked with Apple to develop new third-party products for the iPhone, the relationship between Mr. Forstall and Mr. Ive had soured to a point that the two executives would not sit in the same meeting room together.

A senior Apple employee who asked not to be named said Mr. Forstall had also incurred the ire of other executives after inserting himself into product development that went beyond his role at the company. One person in touch with Apple executives said the mood of people at the company was largely positive about Mr. Forstall’s departure.

“This was better than the Giants winning the World Series,” he said. “People are really excited.”

The departure of Mr. Browett was less surprising to outsiders. In August, the company took the unusual step of publicly apologizing for a plan by Mr. Browett to cut back on staffing at its stores. Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham Company, said he was never convinced that Mr. Browett was a good choice to join Apple because he had previously run Dixons, a British retailer that is viewed as being more downmarket than Apple’s retail operations.


This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: October 29, 2012

A caption with an earlier version of this post misspelled the surname of Apple’s departing retail director. He is John Browett, not Browlett.

Article source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/apples-mobile-software-and-retail-chiefs-to-depart/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Bucks Blog: Wednesday Reading: Making Vegan Food the New Normal

September 26

Wednesday Reading: Making Vegan Food the New Normal

Making vegan food the new normal, Google working on maps for iPhone and iPad, some New York schools provide morning-after pills and other consumer-focused news from The New York Times.

Article source: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/wednesday-reading-making-vegan-food-the-new-normal/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Bits Blog: Japanese Look for Alternatives to Apple’s Maps

Tokyo's maze of buildings.Kimimasa Mayama/European Pressphoto Agency Tokyo’s maze of buildings.

In the wake of the problems Apple’s new iPhone apps are causing Japanese, smartphone users are flocking to another map app, from Navitime. The Tokyo start-up scoffs at Google Maps when it comes to mapping journeys through the streets of Tokyo that confuse even native Tokyoites.

Google had done a better job than Apple in mapping Japan, incorporating various data sources and putting its software engineers to work to tailor its map app to meet local needs and tastes. But with Google’s maps no longer easily accessible from the newest iPhones, the past few days have given Japanese map companies a chance to show their stuff.

Navitime, a pioneer in online map navigation here, claims to provide a “total navigation” service on every available transportation medium, and the service largely lives up to its name.

On the Navitime app, a search for train directions between two locations in Tokyo not only brings up timetables and routes on foot; the app also suggests which train cars to board to avoid crowds and get to the correct exits quickly.

A crowdsourced function, meanwhile, gives a real-time analysis of congestion on Tokyo’s notoriously crowded subway lines, from Level 1 (seats available) to Level 5 (packed in, can’t move) to the dreaded Level 6 (impossible to board the train at all).

And for those who give up on Tokyo’s trains, Navitime provides maps tailored for cyclists, who can select routes that have fewer uphill routes or go mainly along big roads, for cyclists who like to go fast. Or users can opt for routes that stick to narrower backstreets for a quieter ride.

“It’s the attention to on-the-ground detail that counts,” said Keisuke Onishi, Navitime’s chief executive, who founded the mapping service in 1997 after studying mapping algorithms in college in the 1980s.

Mr. Onishi now leads a 400-person company that sends out teams to physically check and update routes and estimated times.

“You just can’t work off existing data. You have to go out and get live information,” Mr. Onishi said, “or people are going to get lost.”

Article source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/japanese-look-for-alternatives-to-apples-maps/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Bucks Blog: Thursday Reading: Lang College Offers Credit for Gap Year

September 13

Thursday Reading: Lang College Offers Credit for Gap Year

Lang College offers academic credit for gap years, McDonald’s to post calorie counts, first impressions of the iPhone 5 and other consumer-focused news from The New York Times.

Article source: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/thursday-reading-lang-college-offers-credit-for-gap-year/?partner=rss&emc=rss

All iPhone Sales Suspended At Apple Stores in China

Apple said in a statement that it had temporarily suspended sales of all iPhones at its five mainland China stores out of concern for the safety of customers and employees. The phones will still be offered online, through Apple’s official partner, Unicom, and at authorized resellers. The statement did not say when Apple stores would resume selling the iPhone 4S.

Demand for iPhones in China far exceeds supply, which has spawned an army of scalpers who hire migrant workers to snap up products that the scalpers then resell at much higher prices.

The horde of more than 1,000 people who gathered outside the store Friday in the Sanlitun district of Beijing included organized teams of migrant workers, identifiable by matching armbands or hats. Some of the migrant workers said they were bused in and promised payment of 100 renminbi, or about $16, for purchasing a phone.

Wary of unrest, police ordered the store not to open, according to one source familiar with the situation. Furious, some would-be customers threw eggs. Police dispersed the crowd and temporarily cordoned off the store.

Those recruited by scalpers were particularly angry. Some said the store’s closing meant that they would get only 10 renminbi, meant as a food allowance, after standing in line all night in freezing temperatures.

It was the second time in less than a year that the Sanlitun store had been forced to temporarily close while trying to offer a new product. In May, four people were injured and a glass door was smashed when a crowd waiting to buy the iPad 2 turned disorderly, according to China Daily.

At Apple’s other Beijing store and three stores in Shanghai, the iPhone 4S sold out quickly, leaving some disappointed, but with no reports of incidents.

China is Apple’s fastest-growing market: with just five of the company’s stores, it accounts for one-sixth of its global sales. Timothy D. Cook, chief executive of Apple, said last week that “customer response to our products in China has been off the charts.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=578bde4668b3b545eb3d206dd2378809

Apple’s Chief Receives Stock Worth $376 Million

The new chief of Apple, Timothy D. Cook, received a one-time stock award worth nearly $400 million, the largest given by a company in a decade.

The company’s board granted Mr. Cook one million restricted stock units to signal its confidence in him after Steven P. Jobs turned over the helm of the company to his longtime lieutenant.

The stock award, half of which vests in 2016 and the remaining half in 2021, was worth more than $376 million, based on the closing price of Apple’s shares on Aug. 24, 2011, the company said Monday in a public filing.

“As far as a singular award, we haven’t seen anything this large in a long time,” said Aaron Boyd, head of research at Equilar, an executive compensation data firm.

The only one-time stock award in recent memory that was worth more, said Mr. Boyd, was the January 2000 stock option package that Apple gave its co-founder, Mr. Jobs. The 40 million options in that award were valued at more than $600 million at the time, Mr. Boyd said.

Mr. Jobs, who was ousted from Apple in the mid-1980s, returned to the company in 1997 and transformed Apple with a string of hit products including the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

Mr. Jobs died in October after a years-long battle with cancer.

Mr. Jobs received $1 a year in salary during the past three years, according to the filing, while Mr. Cook received a salary of about $900,000 in 2011.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=324ecd695c8dd9e43aa5143f63a6d2fb