Notes from Apple shareholder meeting 2008

As Apple is a super-secretive organization, any information out of the company gets picked over with a fine-toothed comb. Yesterday's shareholder meeting is no exception.

Appleinsider, MacRumors x2, MercuryNews, Yahoo, C|Net, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, 9to5mac, Macworld, the SF Chronicle and iPhone Atlas all compiled some information. I've taken their information and broken it down by category below.

On the iPhone:

• It won't have Flash for the forseeable future (speed of processor issues)
• There will be lots of applications out (but not until?) this summer based on the SDK
• The SDK will bring gaming to the iPhone/iPod touch
• Will there be an iPhone blogging application? Jobs said "build one using the SDK" - so no plans yet.
• They still plan to sell 10 million in 2008. (Better hurry with the 3G)
• Apple plans to offer the iPhone in both China and India "one day," ... but declined to say when
• Unlocked iPhones are a good thing - it shows demand
• There was opportunity in business for the iPhone

Regarding the company:

• At the meeting, investors passed a shareholder proposal urging the company to allow investors to have an advisory vote each year on executive compensation
• Apple has no plans to buy back stock
• Tim Cook reiterated that they passed Dell to become number one in Higher Education laptop sales.
• Investors voted down another shareholder proposal for Apple to deepen its commitment to limiting its environmental impact by creating a special board committee on sustainability.
• Corporate responsibility - Apple delivered a code of conduct to all of its first tier vendors that it enforces vigorously. Apple has dropped relationships due to vendors not adhering to these. It plans to expand this to lower tier vendors

A successor to Steve Jobs?

After joking that he hoped there wouldn't be a party if he was hit by a bus, Jobs said the board has put a lot of thought into the issue. His job is to make sure that anyone on the company's executive team could potentially succeed him, he said. 'We've got really good leadership at the company," Jobs said. If Steve were to leave in the near term, COO Tim cook seems like the obvious successor.

Gaming:

• Reiterated Windows games released by EA for the Mac using Transgaming's Cider
• Apple gives game developers much needed support - World of Warcraft for instance
• iPhone/iPod Touch games with SDK would be out soon
• Has no plans to take on Microsoft's (or Sony or Nintendo's) dominance/lead in gaming

Stores:

• Apple now has 15,000 retail store employees
• Unlike typical retail operations that have to deal with 80% annual turnover in employees, Apple enjoys the opposite: 80% retention year over year. He noted that employees don't just have retail jobs, but have career paths as Creatives and Geniuses.
• Responding to a question from a Wyoming woman, Ronald Johnson said Apple is moving into new markets further away from the larger population centers, and the company's ability to sell products and deliver a great retail experience are enabling growth potential. He also noted that Apple is looking at Idaho, Wyoming, and other more sparsely populated states to identify suitable locations for Apple Stores.
• More stores coming in Italy

AppleTV:

• Yes Apple hadn't made the 700 mark in rental movies when Apple had said over 1000 by March 1st. Jobs isn't happy about that. Blamed the licensing complexities at the studios. Said they will get there.
• Jobs said, ad-supported free content for the Apple TV seemed like a good idea. (Watch out!)

Other Bits:

• According to Appleinsider, Jobs paused much longer than usual at the question of would Apple introduce a home server/ mini-Xserve type device, raising speculation that such a device is in the works
• MacBook Air wouldn't ever get an optical drive - if you need optical, accept external or buy a regular MacBook
• The iPod Touch would likely retain its storage lead over the iPhone due to space and complexity issues of the more complicated iPhone
• There will be more .Mac applications released later in the year - perhaps based around blogging