Apple Inc. Employees Might Quite if They Are Forced to Create a 'Backdoor'

Apple might start to lose its employees if the government keeps pushing them to build 'GovOS'

F.B.I. has been on Apple, Inc.’s case for way too long even if the Federal Authority manages to win against the technology giant in the court fight, it’s safe to say that it won’t be able to win from the company’s engineers. Forcing a private organization to break its own security system might not be as easy as the FBI thinks it is.

As per a report by the New York Times, even if the authorities win at the court fight against the Silicon Valley organization, the engineer who will be working on the ‘backdoor’ software might quit or leave the company entirely – because they would rather leave their jobs than be forced into doing something that they don’t want to do. If all the employees associated with this task take action against it, it will be next to impossible for FBI to convince them otherwise.

As per a recent filing released by the iPhone maker, it will take up to two to four weeks to create a backdoor which they are calling ‘GovOS’ and six to ten engineers will be assigned to perform the devious task. This timeline is likely to fulfill provided the team is consistent and motivated to work on it. If anyone on that specific team lags, there’s a possibility that the creation of the software could take an indefinite time.

The CEO, Tim Cook has been constantly emphasizing on the fact that he or his lawyers are not anti-law; they are on the government’s side but they just don’t believe in creating a backdoor for something that could be destructive to millions of iPhone users all across the globe. Cook further explained that in the case of the San Bernardino suspect’s iPhone, he does not have the key to that iPhone and at this point, the government simply wants a key for iPhones to use for unknown purposes in the future. He added during an interview with the Time that he was not trying to annoying the FBI; he was simply trying to protect thousands of his customers.

Apple has mentioned in its legal documents that the government’s demands are taking speech freedom awake from the people by asking for something that is offensive for millions of iPhone users. A venture capitalist, Jean-Louis Gassee stated that the culture followed at the most valuable company in the United States is an independent and rebellious one. Jean once worked as an engineer at the technology company and says if the government forces the engineers to go forward with creating this software, they are pretty much on their own.

Tim Cook even mentioned in one of his telegraphs last month to its customers how the engineers are likely to respond to this request; he stated that these are the workers who create strong encryptions for the protection of its customers and now they are being ordered to go against their work and weaken those protections which would ultimately make users less safe.

Apple Inc. Vs, FBI The Case Just Keeps Getting Better

Tonight is the night we will find out who won this battle. The Monday ruling could have a huge effect on the decision.

The on-going battle between two giants the FBI and Apple Inc. has gone to another level now. All eyes are glued on who would win this battle. It all started when the FBI asked the tech giant to decrypt an iPhone that was found on one of the suspects of the San Bernardino attack in December. However, this saga has come to point where we can say that the ball might be in Apple’s court.

There had been an unrelated but similar case earlier and on Monday a federal judge in Brooklyn stated that the iPhone maker cannot be forced to by-pass the security passcode on the device. This case involves a meth dealer’s iPhone 5s by the name of Jun Feng. There was a raid at the meth dealer’s house during which the DEA – Drugs Enforcement Administration discovered a phone; while questioning the suspect, he state that he did not remember the password due to which the DEA had to turn to the FBI for assistance.

In the following months of the raid, the FBI constantly nagged the iPhone maker to unlock the device or create a backdoor for the specific device so they are able to access the data of the phone however Apple Inc. did not comply with the request of the Feds. However the authorities did not stop asking the technology company to do so despite that fact that the suspect was pleaded guilty. This makes us think that the FBI just wants the company to create a backdoor through which they are able to gain access to millions of user’s data.

The authorities even played the “All Writs Act” card to their advantage however it failed to work for them as the Federal Magistrate Judge James Orenstein stated that it lacked legal footing. They relentlessly came up with arguments for the company to comply with their request. The matter still stands that if the company even decided to create such a software it would give access of data to potentially everyone because who is to say that they the hackers will not gain access to the software.

The ruling that was passed on Monday worked more in the tech giant’s favor than in the favor of the FBI as the company and a number of other technology companies have argued at numerous occasions that they cannot be forced to do something that they do not want to do especially when it comes to the violation of its customer’s privacy. The iPhone manufacturer has made its stance very clearly with everyone publicly, despite the fact that it understands the importance of national security the organization does not want to jeopardize the privacy of its users and hence has decline to unlock the phone.

However the technology giant wants to put this case behind it now due to which it has appeal to the Congress and not the court so that a final decision can be made on the matter. Yet to see what the answer will be tonight. 

Will Apple Remain The Most Valuable Company?

Analysts anticipate that the Silicon-Valley giant, Alphabet Inc. is all set to overtake Apple's position of most valuable company.

When the market closed on Friday, it gave both the investors and analysts on a hot topic for discussion –will Apple be dethroned by Alphabet Inc.? In the closing hours, the tech titan; Apple Inc. stood at the market capitalization of $540 billion while the internet search giant Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. showed the market cap of $524 billion. Both the companies are neck-to-neck with the latter being just $16 billion less.

More than a year ago, Apple had a bolstering market cap of $643 billion while then Google was way far behind at $361 billion. However, things didn’t go well for the Silicon-Valley’s iPhone maker. The last quarter report was the final blow on the company. When the company declared that it has the slowest growth in iPhone sales since its first release in 2008, all hell broke loose.

Not only did the company lose the investors and analysts trust however it is also on the verge of losing its tag of “the most valuable company.” Whereas Alphabet has impressed the investors with its humungous growth in ad market and Internet search. It is also working on other products like video, mobile, web browsing, email, and mapping. Hence, the company witnessed the stock growing up by 43% since the beginning of 2015.

Moreover, the analysts are not quite happy regarding CEO Tim Cook’s attitude towards the company’s performance. The conflict of ideas is widening between the two. While analysts are concerned about iPhone slow rate of sales, Cook boosts about the company’s strong profit. He also persisted that the high tech gadget maker is performing reasonably well in its other businesses. For example, Apple Watch –the luxurious watch –stood with the likes of Rolex. Its iTunes Store and other app store generate strong revenue for the company. Further, the proposed “iPhone 7” may also bring high revenue for the company.

Analysts argue that iPhone is company’s “core product” and the company’s other core products including iPad and Mac laptops are not having high sales either. Moreover, it is not only the “revenues” which are making the investors and analysts skeptical. The company has also adopted an unfavorable strategy of raising debt to meet its capital return activities. Raising debt to pay dividends doesn’t appreciate the value of the stock.

Amidst all this it looks like that Internet giant may overtake the innovative mobile phone developers soon. Alphabet’s stock is skyrocketing and many analysts are optimistic about its earnings –scheduled on February 1, 2016. Also, in the world of finance, a colossal earnings report can add billions to the value of the company in a single day. The diminishing demand of smartphones and growing market of digital advertising paves the way for Alphabet to stand tall in the Silicon-Valley.

Investors Pessimistic About Apple's Earnings for the Quarter

The technology giant is all set to make its earnings call tomorrow; analysts remain pessimistic.

Investors are anxiously waiting for Apple Inc. to release its earnings report for the holiday season. Analysts remain pessimistic about the financial results as they suggest that the technology giant will not be able to match or even come close to the sales of the iPhones reported in the same quarter last year. The shareholders are waiting for the million dollar question to be answered: Will the company be able to outperform its mark of 74.5 million this quarter?

Strategy Analytics along with researchers assume that the company will be report poor shipments this quarter which would be the first ever year over year decline reported by the smartphone manufacturer since 2007, when the iPhone was introduced.

The iPhone 6 and 6s have not performed comparatively well in the market; everyone would agree on that. In its effort to tap the market demand for big screens, the flagship smartphone maker has failed to give its best performance. Another reason for the poor performance of the 6 and 6s was because customers did not find any new or different features and realized that it was quite similar to the 5 series.

Apple Inc. majorly depends on the sales and performance of its iPhone as it accounts for two thirds of its revenue. This negativity can be seen in the company’s stock price; due to the demand for the product the stock has been under hot water. On Monday, Apple stock was being traded at a share price of $99.44 indicating a decline of 1.95% from a day earlier.

The latest earnings report will be the most important report that the company will release so far. The iPhone maker has seen its fair share of growth – turns out it was not there to last forever. Back in 2013 the company reported revenue generation of $57.6 billion and was expecting to report as much as $76.6 billion in revenue for the current year.

According to the estimations of financial experts, Cupertino, California based organization is expected to report revenue of $55.7 billion – the first ever decline in revenue – this could be of 4%. Because of these pessimistic predictions many investors have already sold the stock. However, the analysts, at this point say that as long as it managed to not underperform the expectations, the company should be fine.

The earnings call will be a chance for the business’s management to explain themselves and the sudden decline in the sales. Many are expecting this to be the ‘biggest event’ in the history for the technology giant. According to the analysts at Bloomberg, for the first quarter of the current fiscal year the earnings per share could be of $2.23 along with 75 million iPhone unit sales.

It could be a moment for celebration for Google Inc. if Apple reports its first year over year decline in sales as it will finally be able to take the trophy of the most valuable company. The technology corporation failed to achieve any milestones in the 2015. On the other hand, it was a shining year for the search engine giant Alphabet, Inc.  

Just a few hours left to see how the Silicon Valley leader did last quarter.