Apple Inc. and FBI Case Finally Over – So Who Really Won This Battle?

The technology company did not create the backdoor software itself, but someone else did.

The long legal case going on between Apple Inc. and the FBI over encryption of an iPhone has finally come closer to its end. The Feds have officially decided to drop their request of unlocking, rather forcing the technology company to unlock an iPhone of a terrorist suspect in the San Bernardino Attack in December. The government has recently stated the FBI no along needs Apple’s help of the specific device as it has managed to unlock the phone themselves with the assistance of a third party who remains to be anonymous. Hence, they have concluded that the assistance of the Silicon Valley giant is not required anymore.

A quick review of the case that during the San Bernardino was Attack, an iPhone 5C was discovered that happened to be that of one of the suspects who were involved in the incident, Rizwan Farook. However, after obtaining the device, the FBI was unable to unlock it and hence was unable to extract any information from the smartphone due to the strong encryption that Apple provided. However, they approached the CEO of the technology organization, Tim Cook, who refused to create a ‘backdoor’ for the device. Since the company refused to assist in this matter, as they did not want to break the security of their system and jeopardize the security of millions of iPhone users all across the globe. Later, the matter was taken to the court by the FBI due to which a number of other tech companies in the industry got involved as well including Google, Facebook and Microsoft – and understanding Apple’s stance, supported the company and stood by it.

However, after a number of hearings, the court was about to make the final announcement last week but since the FBI found a third party to assist them in their endeavor, the FBI abruptly cancelled the final hearing and stated: they required two more weeks to see if this works for them however, it was finally announced earlier yesterday that the method was successful and they were able to unlock the iPhone due to which the case is officially closed now.

This ultimately means that Apple has won this battle victorious, but has it really? We think not, as the whole point of not creating software to not jeopardize the privacy of millions of iPhone users all over the world. However, now apparently there is a backdoor if the FBI has managed to unlock the iPhone. Tim Cook continuously emphasized on how creating software to unlock would be back for privacy, national security etc. and that is exactly what has happened. The third party has managed to create software (backdoor) that can break Apple’s security measure which was only there to keep the privacy of its customer’s secure. This puts a big dent on the security encryption of Apple, and hence damages a bit of the company’s brand image as well.

Apple Inc. is not working on knowing how this was done and they want all the details of how the FBI and the third party managed to break the lock in order to make its security more strong. However, now the officials are getting back at the company by declining to do so. They have refused to let them know who the third party is and how they hacked the phone which leaves the company vulnerable to future hackers.

However, despite all this, the company states that it is on the government’s side and will support it no matter what. And they have further stated that they will continue to support the law enforcement with any of their investigations as they have continually tried to do so in the same case as well. 

Apple Fined $450 Million In E-Books Case

The U.S Supreme Court rejected Apple's appeal and settled on paying a fine of $450 million to consumers, states and legal fee.

Apple has been fined $450 million to withdraw from an antitrust suit as the U.S Supreme Court has completely retracted from Federal Court’s verdict. The Supreme Court has denied listening to any argument against the fact Apple’s involvement in the manipulation of prices of electronic books.

Apple Inc. had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the verdict that stated that the technology company was involved in over-charging its customers for eBooks. This appeal by the iPhone maker was reject by the Court. As per a court filing in 2014, the iPhone maker had agreed to pay the above-mentioned amount to settle the allegations that were made by U.S Justice Department and a number of other consumers.

As per the settlement, the Cupertino, California based organization has to pay $400 million to the customers that it was over-charging for e-books, over $30 million as legal fees while $20 million to the states. The U.S Justice Department said in a statement that consumers of e-books will also get credits for future eBook purchases.

Bill Baer, the assistant attorney general, said in a statement that the tech giant was ‘knowingly’ involved in overcharging the eBook customers with the help of book publishers but this issue is settled once and for all.

The technology company launched the iBook store back in 2010 in an effort to capture Amazon’s bookstore market. In the eBook world, Apple made this entry in an attempt to dethrone the retail giant however it is quite evident that it didn’t manage to live up to its endeavors as now the company is being forced to pay a handsome amount of money as fine for conspiring with book publishers.

At the time when Apple wanted to dominate the e-book market, Amazon Inc. was known as the loss leader in selling books as it was selling them for a price of $9.99 but nonetheless, it dominated the market.

According to this case, the federal judge found out that Apple was conspiring with five of the best publishers in Manhattan; they were shifting to a system according to which the publishers would set the prices instead of the retailers. Denise Cote, the U.S. District Judge stated that due to this strategy, there was a 40% increase in the eBooks best sellers.

Furthermore, the District Judge also mentioned how the late founder and CEO of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs was questioned at an event while introducing the iPad regarding the high prices of eBooks on the iBookstore. He was asked why someone would pay $14.99 when they can buy the same eBook at a price of $9.99 from Amazon. To this, Jobs replied that the prices would be the same and that the publishers were not happy with selling the books at a rate that Amazon was selling the books.

In its defense, the tech company stated that ever since they have entered the market the competition has enhanced and the prices of these eBooks has fallen. 

Yahoo To Cut 15% Of Workforce By The End Of 2016

Yahoo is working on a new strategic plan according to which it will cut 15% of its workforce and additionally close down five units.

Surprisingly, Yahoo! Inc. reported better than expected results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015. During the after hour trading, the stock of the search engine company went down by 1% only. Despite of the fact that it reported better than expected financial results, it provided a poor guidance for the upcoming quarters, which results in the decline of the stock, but the chief executive officer of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer has a revival plan to bring the company back on track.

According to the earnings call, the company reported non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.13. The EPS was completely in line with the estimations of the analysts. However, analysts had predicted the technology giant to report revenue of $1.19 but it managed to beat the consensus of analysts and reported revenue of $1.27 billion for the latest quarter.

The revenue reported by the tech organization reflected a 2% year-over-year growth; additionally the EX-TAC revenue was seen at $1 billion, which indicated a 15% year-over-year decline. The company reported a net loss of $4.35 billion for the year 2015. A number of people stated that this net loss was mainly due to the $4.5 billion goodwill impairment charge. This means that the business paid more for the startup businesses that it acquired during the year. Revenue for 2015 stood at $4.96 billion, which reflected 8% year-over-year growth.

Since the past two years, revenue growth has been flat according to the collected Yahoo statistics. The traffic acquisition cost (TAC) is fairly increasing due to the deals that have been struck with Microsoft Corporation and Mozilla.

According to the guidance provided by the company for the year 2016, the full revenue is likely to be somewhere between $4.4 billion and $4.6 billion. This estimation by the organization is low in comparison to the estimations of analysts, as they are expecting revenue to be $4.78 billion for the year.

Yahoo! Inc. stated that in the first quarter of fiscal year 2016, the technology business is likely to report revenue of somewhere between $1.05 billion and $1.09 billion – which does not live up to the expectations of analysts yet again.

CEO Marissa Mayer said during the earnings call that the New Year will be a transition year for the organization in which the earnings and the revenue is likely to decline but will return to a normal to modest growth in 2017 and 2018. Additionally, she also suggested a new strategic plan that will transform it to bring better days.

As per the strategic plan, the company is expected to close down 5 units and probably cut down 15% of its workforce in the end of 2016 – this indicates that ever since 2012, the total workforce cut will be of 42%. With this cut in the workforce, the business will be able to maintain its focus on its profitable segments.