Fire Destroys Apple's R&D Building: What's Lost and Recovered

Apple Afficionados or fans have been wondering about what may have been lost in the fire. Steve is not too happy about the losses caused by the fire.

A building housing research and development programs at Apple caught fire last night, producing thick black smoke due to the composition of the roof. In the end, it was the sprinkler systems that did the most damage to the building itself.

The Santa Clara County fire department responded to a call shortly after 10 p.m. on Tuesday night from construction workers who had been working on the roof, according to Daron Pisciotta, a fire captain with the SCCFD.

Units were called in from Santa Clara County, as well as nearby San Jose, Saratoga and Los Altos. No one was injured in the fire, which occurred outside of the main campus, famously known as 1 Infinite Loop. The fire was in building Valley Green Six, just across the street at 20705 Valley Green Dr.

Captain Pisciotta said the fire at this point looks accidental. "The first units to arrive were directed to the roof by construction workers who were doing something on the HVAC system at night so the building wouldn't overheat," he said.

Apple Beats Wall Street Estimates in New Reports

Computer and consumer electronics maker Apple reported fiscal third-quarter earnings Monday that beat forecasts on strong sales of Mac computers and iPhones. But shares fell after-hours as the company's outlook for the fourth quarter disappointed investors.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company posted fiscal third-quarter net income of $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share, up 31% from last year's earnings of $818 million, or 92 cents per share. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.08 per share according to Thomson Reuters.

Apple Computer Is in The News: Apple's Comeback Story

Apple Computer again cracked the top three in U.S. PC sales for the third quarter, according to surveys released Wednesday by both Gartner and IDC.

Worldwide, Apple didn't make the top five PC vendors, according to both firms. But within the U.S., IDC estimated that Apple finished in a virtual dead heat with Acer for third place, just 2,000 units behind the Asian PC maker. Gartner, meanwhile, said that Apple took the third-place spot outright, topping Acer by 65,000 PCs sold.

Both IDC and Gartner retroactively ranked Apple fourth in sales for the second quarter of 2007, if measured against a merged Acer-Gateway business. If treated as separate companies, Apple would have maintained its third-place ranking.

Both sets of data are preliminary, the firms said. The PC sales estimates include desktops, laptops, and X86 servers, but not handheld PCs. Ultraportables and so-called mini-notes were also included, although Gartner estimated that they represented just 3 percent of the market.

Domestically, Dell maintained its top spot, capturing 31.9 percent of the market according to Gartner, with 5.25 million PCs sold; IDC said that Dell's market share was 32.0 percent, with 5.44 million PCs sold. Both firms estimated that Dell grew between 11 and 12 percent from the same quarter a year ago.