Apple appoints Jeff Williams as COO, Johny Srouji as SVP hardware, Phil Schiller now in charge of App Store

Phil Schiller has been leading Marketing at Apple and is now taking charge of App Stores

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple has announced the promotion of Jeff Williams as Chief Operations Officer, the addition of Johny Srouji as VP of hardware and SVP of Marketing Phil Schller is now in charge of the App Store.

Williams is Tim Cook's second in command, a former IBM'er and now occupies Cook's position before Steve Jobs turned over the reigns to Cook in 2011. While it may or may not be an indication of succession for Apple's top executive position, it does show confidence in Jeff William's ability to manage operations as Apple scales in terms of operations and services.

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Today is the last day to order photo books from Apple to receive by Dec 24

Timeless memories, epic captures and even funny snapshots tend to stay trapped in people's phones when they could really be enjoyed as an impressive printed card or photo book. iPhone users have until today (December 15) to make and order photo books using the Photos App in order to get them by December 24 via standard shipping. These photo books come in a variety of sizes and prizes and solve the problem of finding the right gift for people who have it all.

Source: Apple

The Apple Beat: Focusing on accessories

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

As far as accessories go, these are very subjective things. The colour, look and feel may not be right  for everyone, but the whole point is that now consumers have more choice including ones that are consciously made for their product by Apple.

2015 has seen an unprecedented release of products from Apple. Not only has it covered the requisite updates in most of its major categories such as MacBooks, iMacs, iPhones and iPads. We've had a deluge of new products. The 12-inch Retina MacBook, new Retina iMacs, Apple TV, the iPad Pro, as well as various accessory categories. We've also seen a new Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad as well as Magic Mouse peripherals.

In the past month alone, we've seen the Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil for the iPad Pro, which are both necessary adjuncts to complete the creative and content creation aspect the iPad Pro promises. We've also seen an elegant charging dock for the Apple Watch, which maximizes its Nighstand Mode feature, plus Apple's very first Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 6S. Apple, it seems, is making more products and devices than ever before.

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Tesla finishes third behind Apple and Google as Most Innovative Firm by BCG

Electric Vehicle innovator Tesla Motors joins elite company as it receives the honour of being the third Most Innovative Firm from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Coming in behind Apple and Google, Tesla joinslist of the 50 most innovative companies is based on a survey of 1,500 senior executives at a variety of companies whose products and services yield industry-wide innovation. Tesla beat out Toyota, BMW and Daimler in the top 10. Hit jump for the top 10 list.

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