Tag: salkever

Alex Salkever is leaving BusinessWeek Online as Technology Editor, and writes today that this will be his final “Byte of the Apple” column for the news organization. “I started writing this column roughly three years ago,” says Salkever. “At the time, I didn’t understand what I was getting into.” The popular Mac columnist talks about what he has learned from Apple over the past few years, and looks at some of the things that inspired him.

In an unconventional “Byte of the Apple” column this week, Business Week’s Alex Salkever writes an apology letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. It turns out that when Salkever wrote a column back in January, 2004 dismissing the iPod mini as “too pricey” and “destined to flop,” he received an email from Jobs asking that if his assumption was incorrect he would publish an apology — publicly.

BusinessWeek’s Alex Salkever puts into words what many are thinking of the new iPod mini. “Less music in a device marginally smaller at about the same price. Get it? I didn’t, and few others will, either,” he writes. “Even Jobs’ Jedi-esque powers of reality dispersion can’t alter the unfavorable math behind Apple’s new offering. Here are the hard numbers. The new iPod mini will cost $249. It will offer 4 gigabytes of capacity on its hard drive.

In his latest BusinessWeek column, Alex Salkever says Apple needs better corporate governance, increased quality control, and more product upgrades to make 2004 better than 2003. “Apple clearly had a bang-up year and should be commended for positioning itself well going into the nascent tech upturn. Despite what doomsayers have intoned for years, Apple remains a vibrant niche player and the foremost technology innovator in the PC game. But it could still improve its game quite a bit.