Friday, May 9,2008 @ 1:50pm
Jobs' world traveling low this winter
In the past, Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty asserted that Steve Jobs' plane travel filings with the SEC are indicative of Apple product releases, since Jobs tends to travel more when signing deals with new companies. Silicon Alley Insider notes that while this is usually the case, March quarter filings show that Jobs' travel reimbursement is only $30,000 – contrasted against $550,000 in the December quarter – despite Apple sealing major international deals with cell carriers Vodafone, America Movil, and Telecom Italia.
Silicon Alley Insider also theorizes that the deals could have taken place before or after the March quarter, or that representatives for each of the three telcos came to Apple's campus to do business. Another theory is that Jobs flew on United Airlines, thereby reducing flight expenditures from having to maintain his Gulfstream V jet.