Quite a few Apple HDTV rumors have been talked about today, although this time it comes from renowned Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who took to the stage at IGNITION: Future of Media conference this morning. According to his predictions, Munster is certain that there will be an Apple TV launching next year. He basically told everyone in the audience that if they were thinking of purchasing a new TV to wait, as it’s going to be amazing. Sounds awesome!

As you may or may not know, apart from stepping down as CEO of Apple – Steve Jobs is currently a very ill man. There are even photos on other websites showing just how ill he looks. We came across some great stories from other business people who have worked with Steve and we would rather show that, so here we go…

Vic Gundotra, Google’s VP of Engineering
One Sunday morning, January 6th, 2008 I was attending religious services when my cell phone vibrated. As discreetly as possible, I checked the phone and noticed that my phone said “Caller ID unknown”. I choose to ignore…The message left was from Steve Jobs. “Vic, can you call me at home? I have something urgent to discuss” it said.

“So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I’ve already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow” said Steve. “I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”

Of course this was okay with me. A few minutes later on that Sunday I received an email from Steve with the subject “Icon Ambulance”. The email directed me to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon.

Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products…In the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I’ll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.

Mark Parker, president and CEO of Nike
We had worked together on a Nike-Apple collaboration called Nike+. So we took what Apple knows and Nike knows, and brought new technology to the market. Anyway, long story short, he said, “Congratulations. It’s great [that you've been named CEO]. You’re going to do a great job.” I said, “Well, do you have any advice?”

He said, “No, no, you’re great.” Then there was a pause. “Well, I do have some advice,” he said. “Nike makes some of the best products in the world–products that you lust after, absolutely beautiful stunning products. But you also make a lot of crap.”

He said, “Just get rid of the crappy stuff, and focus on the good stuff.” And then I expected a little pause and a laugh. But there was a pause, and no laugh at the end.

Allen Paltrow, student at Princeton University, via Tumblr
Growing up I was a huge apple fan-boy (fine, still am.) The first NY apple store in Soho opening was probably the coolest thing that happened to me between the ages 6 and 12. For a while I would spend almost every weekend there. Every year for halloween I was a mac, and I made a habit of shaving the Apple logo into my head to celebrate every OS launch. My neighbor Brooke mentioned that Steve Jobs, busy as he is, always reads email sent to his public address. I think I was around 12, and I sent a very enthusiastic and grammatically incorrect message including a picture of my shaved head. Apparently he forwarded it to the head of Public Relations, Katie, and I got invited to the opening of the 5th Avenue Cube. I can never thank them enough. This was probably the high point of my childhood.

Jonathan Berger, Apple intern, via Blogspot:
Steve got to about his 4th question from the audience [at an Apple Town Hall in 2000] and by this point almost every single intern had their hand up. He gestured in my direction but I could tell he was actually looking at an intern in the row right in front of me. I got a bit aggressive and barged ahead with my question anyway before the other intern could begin. Steve smiled a bit in apology to the intern I had just trampled over but let me continue. I was nervous. “Steve, many years ago you left Apple to start Next. But recently you returned to Apple. Why did you come back to Apple?”

[Jobs answered:] “When I was trying to decide whether to come back to Apple or not I struggled. I talked to a lot of people and got a lot of opinions. And then there I was, late one night, struggling with this and I called up a friend of mine at 2am. I said, ‘Should I come back, should I not?’ and the friend replied, ‘Steve, look. I don’t give a fuck about Apple. Just make up your mind,’ and hung up. And it was in that moment that I realized I truly cared about Apple.”

David Sheff, freelance journalist, via Playboy magazine’s 1987 interview:
The Interview was all but complete when I met [Steve] Jobs at a celebrity-filled birthday party for a youngster in New York City. As the evening progressed, I wandered around to discover that Jobs had gone off with the nine-year-old birthday boy to give him the gift he’d brought from California: a Macintosh computer. As I watched, he showed the boy how to sketch with the machine’s graphics program. Two other party guests wandered into the room and looked over Jobs’s shoulder. ‘Hmmm,’ said the first, Andy Warhol. ‘What is this? Look at this, Keith. This is incredible!’ The second guest, Keith Haring, the graffiti artist whose work now commands huge prices, went over. Warhol and Haring asked to take a turn at the Mac, and as I walked away, Warhol had just sat down to manipulate the mouse. ‘My God!’ he was saying, ‘I drew a circle!’ “But more revealing was the scene after the party. Well after the other guests had gone, Jobs stayed to tutor the boy on the fine points of using the Mac. Later, I asked him why he had seemed happier with the boy than with the two famous artists. His answer seemed unrehearsed to me: ‘Older people sit down and ask, “What is it?” but the boy asks, “What can I do with it?”

via @fastcompany

Visionary CEO Steve Jobs has resigned from Apple. In a letter to the board of directors, Jobs wrote, “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know.”

“Unfortunately, that day has come,” he added.

Jobs then suggested that COO Tim Cook be named his successor, although requested that he stay aboard as chairman of the board.

Whether or not his health played a role in his decision to step down is unclear, though likely. In January, Jobs took a medial leave of absence, leaving Cook in charge of day to day operations.

Jobs is largely credited with reviving Apple, taking it from a bankrupt company to the world’s most valuable company in a ilttle over a decade, with the launch of revolutionary products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Whether Apple’s string of successes will continue in a post-Jobs world has been a serious question for investors and consumers alike.

Ending his letter, Jobs concluded on a positive note.

“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it,” he said. “And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.”

Cupertino.org has posted a bunch of PDF files pertaining to Apple’s very Pixar-flying-saucer-esque new headquarters, planned for the old HP lot they acquired. The building, formed like a giant ring with apricot orchards, massive underground parking, and room for 20,000 employees, will make use of the same kind of leading edge design and manufacturing Apple has used for everything from their products to their Apple Stores, especially in constructing those huge, rounded glass panels.

If you haven’t already, watch the video of Steve Jobs pitching the idea to Cupertino City Council right > HERE

Will Apple switch chips again, and embrace ARM CPUs on its Macs instead of Intel silicon? It very well might, because it could mean your MacBook lasts pretty much all day on a charge. Now that would be a good thing for sure!

Intel’s Light Peak data connection tech has evolved, and is now on sale in a real device–Apple’s new MacBook Pros. It’s clever, super-fast, and is actually a stealthy trick to replace the rats nest of wires on your desk with a new protocol, making USB (even the newly arrived USB 3.0) a thing of history.

Intel has, ahead of a press event later today, released its web page about the tech and it spares no effort to trumpet the benefits: “From the company with the fastest processors comes the fastest way to get information in and out of your PC and peripheral devices.” It’s a 10 gigabit-per-second data transfer protocol that gives “high-speed data and display transfers in each direction at the same time” all with a “single cable.”

Intel even goes as far as giving us figures to work with: A full HD movie can be transferred in “less than 30 seconds” and you can backup “1 year of continuous MP3 playback in just over 10 minutes.” That’s 20 times faster than USB 2.0 (according to Apple) and 12 times faster than FireWire 800 can manage.

Apple remarks that Thunderbolt can push 10 watts of power over the cable, which surpasses the 0.5W to 1W of USB, and is enough to let you tackle “workstation-class projects on the go.”

By including Thunderbolt on new Macs–and possible the super-hot-selling iPad device when iPad 2 arrives–Intel and Apple are trying to unseat the aging USB protocol from its throne before USB 3 has even hit mainstream consumers.

Apple posted huge numbers this week, while news of the company’s leader Steve Jobs taking medical leave hit the front pages. Apple’s financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2011 beat most Wall Street estimates.

At an increase of 71%, the company posted its highest revenue ever at $26.74 billion. Earnings grew 78%, for a net quarterly profit of $6 billion, thanks to massive sales of 16.24 million iPhones (up 86% year-over-year) and 4.13 million Macs (up 23%). Apple also shipped an impressive 7.33 million iPads. Only iPod sales dropped, yet Apple still shipped 19.45 million units. Sales of the iPod Touch shot up 27%, and now represent half of all iPods sold.

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said several times that the company was “thrilled” the iPhone 4 would soon be available to Verizon’s 93 million customers, and that Apple was trying to meet the potentially high demand.

“We going to do everything possible to get the iPhone into as many hands as possible,” chimed in Apple COO Tim Cook. “We believe there’s a huge pent-up demand [on Verizon].”

Cook, who is filling in for Steve Jobs as interim CEO, also took time to discuss the company’s future. Though not a direct response to concerns of Jobs’s health, Cook’s comments could be seen as a way to alleviate any worry over a potential replacement for the Apple founder.

“In my view, Apple is doing its best work ever,” said Cook. “The team here has an unparalleled breadth and depth of talent, and a culture of innovation that Steve has driven in the company. Excellence has become a habit. We feel very very, very confident about the future of the company.”

APPLE co-founder Steve Jobs has told staff he is taking a break so he can focus on his health. It’s the second such break for the chief exec in two years.

Jobs said he will continue in his role for the company but has handed over all day-to-day responsibilities to another senior executive.

Jobs said: “I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can.”

Jobs was “cured” of a rare form of pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumour in 2004.

Then, while on six months away from work between January and June 2009, he underwent a liver transplant.

Apple’s share price has plunged in the past whenever news and rumours about Jobs’ health have surfaced, such is his importance to the firm.

Steve Jobs is undoubtedly a huge fan of the Beatles. Their music can often be heard playing before Apple press events. Ironically, however, the Fab Four are nowhere to be found on iTunes–until now.

Apple is going to announce a deal that would give their iTunes store the rights to carry The Beatles‘ catalogue of music, reports the Wall Street Journal. The seminal rock ‘n’ roll band is the biggest hold out on iTunes, but not the only one–Led Zeppelin, Kid Rock, Pink Floyd, and AC/DC are among the others. According to sources close to the matter, the Beatles deal may have been struck last week, when reps from Apple, Apple Corps Ltd., and the Beatles’ struggling label, EMI, met to iron out the details.

Is this the announcement Apple is planning for tomorrow?

Apple reported its first $20 billion quarter Monday, with record revenue and earnings for the iconic maker of the Macintosh computer, iPhone, iPad and iPod.

Net income rose 70% to $4.3 billion on $20.3 billion in revenue, up from $2.5 billion on $12.2 billion in revenue in the year-ago quarter.

The big surprise: Apple’s iPhone sales greatly surpassed Wall Street analysts’ projections of 12 million, with sales of 14.1 million handsets in the quarter.

Is Apple trying to block popular European streaming music service Spotify’s US launch?

In meetings in Los Angeles recently, Apple executives told their music industry counterparts that they had serious doubts about whether Spotify’s business model could ever generate significant revenues or profits, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions.

But Apple executives worried about the effects of a free music service might have on the rest of the market. They noted that it’s tough to sell something that someone else is giving away, the sources said. One industry insider said it is only logical that if Spotify were allowed to launch a free-music service here, at a time when Nielsen recently reported that the growth of digital sales has flattened out, it could eat into the businesses of proven revenue-producers like Apple and Amazon.

iTunes is operated at low-margins for Apple as a way to encourage iPod and iPhone hardware purchases, but low-margins at iTunes like sales levels is still a large amount of money and Apple hasn’t been this successful so far by leaving anything on the table.

The iPad has been selling about as fast as they can make them, and it’s not even completed its first international roll-out. Now there’s an increasingly real-sounding rumor that Apple has a 7-inch version of the iPad on the way, and it may even arrive this year.