In sickness and in health

Apple and Microsoft – arguably the greatest sources of technological innovation in recent years – are travelling down very different roads during the current economic crisis. This week, Apple reported second-quarter profit and sales that topped analysts' estimates after the iPhone and new versions of the iPod helped the company sidestep a slump in consumer spending. Meanwhile, Microsoft, for the first time in its 23-year history as a public company, reported revenue fall year-over-year as PC shipments tumbled. Its earnings also sank 32 per cent. Apple's net income rose 15 per cent to $1.21 billion (Dh4.4bn), or $1.33 a share. Sales climbed 8.7 per cent to $8.16bn during the period, which ended March 28. Analysts had predicted profit of $1.08 a share and sales of $7.95bn. It also celebrated the billionth application download from the App Store. "Thanks a billion," Apple said on its website after a counter ticked off the billionth download. "Over one billion downloads in just nine months." Microsoft may seem to have little to be thankful for this year. In January, the software-maker said it needed to resort to its first mass layoffs, cutting 5,000 jobs. On Thursday, it announced it would do away with merit pay increases for employees in the next fiscal year. Microsoft said that in the quarter ended March 31, profit totalled $2.98bn, or 33 cents per share. In the same quarter of 2008, Microsoft earned $4.39bn, or 47 cents per share. Mirroring the fate of the firms they started before the personal computer became a household name, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are also on different trajectories. Jobs, the man credited with saving Apple, is currently CEO but convalescing with ill health. Gates, who retired from Microsoft last year, is travelling the world using his immense wealth for good. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced grants totalling $57m in Poland, Romania and Vietnam this week to guide those countries in providing internet access through public libraries. The foundation has also pledged $5m to help libraries serve more people during the economic downturn, starting with communities in Iowa and Georgia. As of 2007, Gates had given more than $28bn to charity. Earlier this month, Gates was in the UAE agreeing a deal with the charity Dubai Cares to co-fund projects intended to improve the health and education of children in the developing world. Meanwhile, Jobs' health issues have also been in the news in recent months – shareholders concerned he might be too ill to run Apple. The firm insists he will be back in the hot seat by June. However, documents released this week included a statement by Steve Jobs that he was reluctant to lead the company again during his spell away from Apple in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jobs said he had concerns about retaking a "pretty messed up" Apple in 1997 and agreed to become the executive officer because he could not find anyone capable enough to effect a turnaround. "Apple was not in good shape and everybody knew it," Jobs said. "The kind of candidates that we were being offered up by the headhunters were not very talented – it just slid into the fact that I stayed." Jobs, who co-founded Apple in 1976, described being "basically fired" by Apple's board in 1985 before returning to re-establish the company's prominence as a technology innovator with products including the iPhone and iPod. He is as synonymous with Apple in the minds of shareholders, consumers and the media as Bill Gates was when he was chairman and CEO of Microsoft. Gates has begun a new chapter in his life away from the corporate world – Jobs in contrast is deeply rooted, in sickness and in health, at Apple. (Agencies) Apple in controversy Apple has apologised after a "deeply offensive" game for the iPhone called Baby Shaker was approved for sale in the company's online store. The application, which appeared in Apple's App Store on Monday and cost 99 cents to download, allowed a user to violently shake an iPhone screen to make a baby stop crying. After enough shakes, the hand-drawn baby displayed on the screen stopped wailing and a large red 'X' appeared over each eye. "This application was deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store. When we learned of this mistake, the app was removed immediately," Apple said in a statement. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .