Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Four of the five highest-paid employees at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies aren’t chief executive officers. They’re Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) senior lieutenants receiving compensation packages designed to keep management intact in an increasingly competitive industry. The four executives are Bob Mansfield, Bruce Sewell, Jeffrey Williams and Peter Oppenheimer, according to fiscal 2012 compensation figures for top earners filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. About 80 percent of S&P 500 companies had submitted their numbers as of April 12.
Microsoft Working With Suppliers on Designs for Touch-Enabled Watch Device (WSJ)
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) +0.25% is working on designs for a touch-enabled watch device, executives at suppliers said, potentially joining rivals like Apple Inc. AAPL -1.09% in working on a new class of computing products. Earlier this year, Microsoft asked suppliers in Asia to ship components for a potential watch-style device, the executives said. One executive said he met with Microsoft’s research and development team at the software company’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters. But it’s unclear whether Microsoft will opt to move ahead with the watch, they said.
Foxconn Steps Up Hiring as Apple Readies New iPhone (AllThingsD)
Foxconn Technology Group has resumed hiring assembly-line workers in China after a postholiday freeze, in the latest sign that major customer Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is gearing up for production of the new iPhone. Foxconn is the trade name for Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. The Taiwanese company said Monday it has added about 10,000 assembly-line workers per week in Zhengzhou, its major production facility for iPhones, since the last week of March.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Has Filed With Patent Applications (CogoNews)
Recently Bill Campbell, an Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) board member and close friend of Steve Job has gave advice about an iWatch, even an Apple competitor to Google’s high-tech Glass specs might be worth heeding. Campbell had discussion with Intuit CEO Brad Smith as Business week puts it, “things that make a product great, how managers should behave, and some of the recent highs and lows he’s seen in the technology industry and beyond. …Campbell said he couldn’t advice any specifics on future Apple products, he said they could anticipate a lot many things moving on with the application of technology to really intimate things. And calling Google Glass a “phenomenal breakthrough, he said. Wearable computing, then, seems to be on the minds in the know in Cupertino. Such gadgets struck up the buzz at this year’s CES confab. Apple is trying with wristwatch-like iOS devices that feature curved glass.
Amazon lifts executive stock awards (MoneyControl)
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) increased stock compensation for key executives in 2012 as the world’s largest Internet retailer stepped up competition with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), according to a regulatory filing on Friday. In the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Amazon added Apple to the peer group it uses to help determine how much to pay executives. The filing shows how Amazon’s business has changed in recent years, bringing it into closer competition with Apple and pushing the company to lift compensation to be more competitive, analysts and compensation experts said. An Amazon spokesman declined to comment.
Google’s offer to settle E.U. antitrust probe a ‘non-starter’ for competitors (WashingtonPost)
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s offer to settle an antitrust probe with the European Union by labeling its own services more clearly in Web search results is a “non-starter” for a group of competitors such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Foundem and Streetmap. The companies and at least 10 other rivals that filed complaints with the EU will be able to give feedback on the remedies submitted by the Mountain View, California-based company to settle the almost three-year-old investigation.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) saluting mathematician great Leonhard Euler (ThePointDaily)
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has initiated a trend of observing significant historical dates with the help of doodles. Today the search giant has dedicated a doodle in order to celebrate the birthday of Leonhard Euler, one of the greatest mathematicians of all times. The featured individual is famous for creating and introducing the majority of the mathematical terminologies known to mankind. The most famous of them is the conceptualization of the term mathematical function, while the scientist made notable advances in the areas of calculus and graph theory. The great soul had been sent to Earth on the date of April 15, 1707. The birthplace of the great and legendary math-man had been reported to be Basel, Switzerland.
