PR Newswire

   March 28, 2008

   Apple(R) today released Aperture(TM) 2.1, which introduces an open plug-in architecture that makes it easy for photographers to use specialized third party imaging software right from within Aperture. Available today as a free software update, Aperture 2.1 includes the Apple-developed plug-in, Dodge & Burn, which adds brush-based tools for dodge (lighten), burn (darken), contrast, saturation, sharpen and blur. Over the coming months, third party software developers will deliver image editing plug-ins for localized editing, filters and effects, noise analysis and reduction, fisheye lens correction and more.

   "The image quality in Aperture 2 has won over the most demanding photographers," said Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of Applications Product Marketing. "Now, thanks to our open plug-in architecture, users can access an entire industry's worth of imaging expertise without ever leaving Aperture."

   "To date, maybe two percent of my photographs needed to be touched up outside Aperture," said John Stanmeyer, founding member of the VII Photo Agency and contributing photographer for Time and National Geographic magazines. "Now that I can dodge and burn right within Aperture's new plug-in, I can't imagine when I'll have to open any other application to tone my images."

   By clicking on one or more images within Aperture, users can choose from a menu of installed plug-ins and apply specialized imaging operations to either TIFF or RAW images. Apple is working closely with key developers to bring the most requested plug-ins to Aperture such as:

•    Nik Software's Viveza plug-in, powered by U Point technology, which 

     provides a powerful, precise and easy way for photographers to 

     selectively control and adjust color and light in their digital images; 

•    PictureCode's Noise Ninja plug-in that delivers advanced high ISO noise 

     analysis and reduction; 

•    Digital Film Tools' Power Stroke plug-in that features a simple, 

     stroke-based interface to quickly mask and intuitively perform targeted 

     adjustments; 

•    The Tiffen Company's Dfx plug-in that provides an expansive suite of 

     creative filters and effects; 

•   dvGarage's dpMatte plug-in, which is a high performance chroma key tool 

     for creating seamless composites, and the HDRtoner plug-in that enables 

     the selection of multiple photos to create a single high dynamic range 

     (HDR) image; and 

•    Image Trends' plug-ins that include Fisheye-Hemi to quickly and 

     effortlessly correct fisheye lens distortion, ShineOff which 

     automatically removes shine from faces and PearlyWhites that 

     automatically whitens and brightens teeth. 

       Pricing & Availability 

   Aperture 2.1 is available immediately as a free software update to current Aperture 2.0 users. Full system requirements and more information on Aperture can be found at http://www.apple.com/aperture. Information and availability for third party imaging plug-ins can be found on http://www.apple.com/aperture/resources, http://www.apple.com/downloads and at the Aperture community site http://www.aperturepluggedin.com/.

   Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

   (C) 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh and Aperture are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

   CONTACT: Bill Evans, +1-408-974-0610, bevans@apple.com, or Christine Wilhelmy, +1-408-974-9730, cwilhelmy@apple.com, both of Apple

Web site: http://www.apple.com/

Apple crumble. (several key mistakes by Apple Computer CEO Gil Amelio led to his early dismissal)(Brief Article)

    

   The Economist(US)

   July 12, 1997

   NEW YORK

   WHEN Gil Amelio was appointed chairman and chief executive of Apple Computer in February 1996, many in the computer world were puzzled. Mr Amelio had no experience of the cut-throat PC business-and Apple was getting its throat cut. Undaunted, Mr Amelio boasted that he would restore Apple's profitability within a year.

It was not to be. In the five quarters since the beginning of 1996, Apple has lost a net $1.6 billion; in its latest quarter the firm reported that revenues were falling at the rate of 27% a year. This week Apple's shares were trading below $14, compared with more than $70 in 1991. Small wonder, then, that on July 9th Apple's board decided to kick Mr Amelio out-along with his strange choice as chief technology officer, ex-IBMer Ellen Hancock-and seek a new saviour.

   Mr Amelio's missteps were legion. When what Apple really needed was a rich parent, Mr Amelio played hard to get with Oracle, a software giant that came close to buying the firm but balked at Mr Amelio's asking price. Irked, Mr Amelio paid $400m last December for NeXT Software, a company started by Steve Jobs, one of Apple's co-founders-and brought back Mr Jobs as an adviser. NeXT's technology was supposed to boost Apple's efforts to develop a replacement for its Mac operating system. Instead, it threw those efforts into disarray. Worse, having dithered over the launch of a new range of computers, Mr Amelio failed to anticipate demand when he finally released it.

   Did Mr Amelio do anything right? In some respects he did best what he did best at his previous employer, National Semiconductor-cut costs. By the end of this year, Apple will have one-third fewer employees than it had when he arrived. It is also on its way to slicing $500m from its annual operating expenses. And the firm now has $1.4 billion cash in the bank.

Mr Amelio's lasting legacy, however, may be the reunion of Apple and its visionary, if mercurial, co-founder-a move that, in the end, probably cost him his job. Although a slew of recent setbacks-among them the news that Power Computing, a maker of Mac clones, will now sell PCs based on the rival Intel/Windows technology-helped lose Mr Amelio the support of Apple's board, it was Mr Jobs who in effect gave him the push. Last month Mr Jobs registered to sell (and may indeed have sold; nobody seems sure) all but one of his 1.5m Apple shares-a huge vote of no-confidence. With Mr Amelio gone, says Apple, Mr Jobs will for the time being "assume an expanded role". Like running his beloved firm again?