Apple Executives Answer Shareholders' Questions

Apple held its annual shareholders meeting on Thursday, with CEO Steve Jobs, CFO Peter Oppenheimer, and Senior Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller answering attendeesi questions. According to MacCentralis Jim Dalrymple, Mr. Jobs said in response to a query regarding upcoming releases: "The new products in the pipeline are the best Iive ever seen in my life."

He added: "Intel has a great roadmap. This new [Core Duo] chip is phenomenal--it blows away anything other suppliers have, including our former suppliers." When someone asked about Apple making a media center for recording TV shows, Mr. Jobs replied: "We hear you loud and clear."

When the issue of an overall computer industry slowdown was raised, and someone asked how that might hurt Apple, he said: "You can talk about the negatives of 4 to 5 percent market share, but itis kind of like being in the ocean. Weire on the bottom, so it doesnit matter what the weather is like up top."

Last yearis meeting featured an irritated Mr. Jobs sparring with an environmental group that was upset over the companyis recycling policies. Apple, however, announced a computer recycling program shortly before this yearis meeting, taking some of the wind out of protestersi sails, although one attendee complained that Apple still lags behind other computer makers in how much hardware theyive recycled.

Mr. Jobs rebutted those comments by noting that the Sierra Club recently placed Apple on its list of top 10 environmentally friendly companies and said: "So there is some kind of disconnect with your numbers." He also pointed out that Appleis stores will take PCs in addition to Macs, "because we like switchers, too."

Some attendees asked about Mr. Jobsi new role as a member of Disneyis board of directors, and the CEO said heill be spending less time doing that then when he was in charge of Pixar.