02/13, 7:00pm
Milestone puts further value in market cap
Having broken the $500 barrier earlier in the day, shares of AAPL closed today at a new all-time record high of $502.60, though the stock is fluctuating around the closing figure in after-hours trading. The milestone puts Apple even further ahead of ExxonMobile as the world's most valued publicly-traded company with a new market capitalization of $468.61 billion while still maintaining a low price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 14.30.
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02/13, 5:45pm
Will discuss company's financial performance
Apple CEO Tim Cook will address the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco tomorrow, February 14th, with Apple providing an audio webcast of the presentation. While video or audio recordings of Apple executives speaking at industry conferences are not unheard of, it is unusual for Apple itself to be hosting a live broadcast of its CEO speaking to an industry group. Cook is expected to discuss Apple's financial performance.
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02/13, 5:25pm
DOJ next to OK Google-Motorola and adds Nortel
The US Department of Justice in a brief said it had approved both Google's acquisition of Motorola, the joint purchase of Nortel patents by Apple, Microsoft, RIM, and others, as well as a similar Novell patent sale. Antitrust regulators in both cases had decided it was "unlikely" that the deals would hurt competition. It was partly reassured by Apple, Google, and Microsoft all promising to license standards-based patents based on FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms.
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02/13, 5:15pm
10,000 yen off Mac, iTunes downloads
Apple is launched the annual Japanese version of its back-to-school promotion, intended to encourage Mac sales. Unlike the US and Canada, many schools in Japan start classes on April 1st. This year the company is giving away a 10,000 yen ($129) gift card, which can be used toward content at the iTunes Store, the App Store, and/or the Mac App Store.
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02/13, 5:10pm
iPad 3 may have firmer launch date
Apple's rumored early March iPad 3 launch event may have been narrowed down through a claim Monday. The company was said by previously accurate iMore tipsters to be currently set for March 7. It could still change, the people said, but the date was consistent both with the earlier rumor and with Apple's preferences for mid-week events.
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02/13, 4:15pm
Company outsourcing software, maintenance work
Apple is aiming to "quadruple" the amount of money it spends in India, claims local publication The Economic Times. In January the company's CIO, Niall O'Connor, is said to have visited the city of Bangalore, where he was met by senior officials from two technology companies, Infosys and Wipro. O'Connor is reportedly deciding which firms in India will get lucrative software and maintenance contracts worth about $100 million.
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02/13, 4:00pm
RIM director Martin justifies slow turnaround
RIM director Roger Martin in an unusual interview with the Globe and Mail defended RIM's decision to hold for years before bringing in a new CEO. He saw there being no option for an outside CEO until RIM had groomed one from the inside, with outsiders being "morons from the outside" who would inevitably gut the BlackBerry designer. Martin went so far as to liken the departing Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis to the late Steve Jobs, insisting that only the two were talented enough and that RIM couldn't afforded an involuntarily exodus.
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02/13, 3:05pm
Amazon only other tech firm in top five
Apple has taken first place in a Harris Interactive poll on corporate reputations. The company scored a quotient of 85.63, giving it enough to beat out last year's winner, Google, which in the new poll has claimed second place with 82.82. Remaining companies in the top five include Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Kraft Foods.
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02/13, 2:15pm
Samsung thinks UI no factor in facing Apple TV set
Samsung's AV product lead Chris Moseley in an interview Monday was dismissive of the threat posed by a possible Apple TV set. In the chat with Pocket-lint, he insisted that image quality was the primary factor and that Apple wouldn't have the image scaling or "world-renowned" picture quality. He downplayed the interface and software features, normally the highlight of Apple's devices, as backseat elements.
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02/13, 1:40pm
EU gives full approval to Google-Motorola
As anticipated, the European Commission on Monday approved Google's $12.5 billion buyout of Motorola. The approval was without conditions after the EU body decided that it wouldn't hurt smartphone competition or patent issues. Commissioner Joaquin Almunia was aware there was a chance Google might abuse patents to shelter Android, but he promised legal action if that was the case.
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02/13, 12:00pm
ThinkGeek unveils iCade 8-Bitty at Toy Fair
ThinkGeek picked the American International Toy Fair to bring out the iCade 8-Bitty, a much more portable alternative to the iCade cabinet. The wireless iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch gamepad is conspicuously styled like (though not identical to) the original NES controller with four face buttons, Select and Start, although it also has two shoulder buttons. It works with the same iCade-friendly titles, such as Atari's Greatest Hits, as well as any others wanting to use the freely available support.
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02/13, 11:30am
NPD says Apple top US tech brand
Apple now represents about a fifth of all technology sales in the US, new NPD data showed Monday. By the end of 2011, 19 percent of revenue in the US was related to an Apple product. The company was now the top company selling technology in the US, topping HP, Samsung, Sony, and Dell even when the others could include their sales from all categories.
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02/13, 11:20am
Broadcaster first took stance in 2010
UK broadcaster ITV has written a new letter to Apple warning it not to use the name "iTV" for its upcoming TV set, claims The Telegraph. The newspaper notes that ITV CEO Adam Crozier first raised the issue with Apple when he took office in 2010. At the time, Apple is said to have reassured ITV that it wouldn't use the name, at least not in the UK.
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02/13, 10:10am
Company still on rise despite loss of Jobs
Apple's stock price on the NASDAQ has cracked the $500 mark for the first time in the company's history. While Monday trading is still ongoing, the company's shares are worth about $500.34 each as of this writing. The figure represents a jump of nearly $7 over the Friday close.
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02/13, 9:55am
Apple volunteers for wide audits of factories
Apple on Monday took the step of asking the Fair Labor Association to orchestrate "special voluntary audits" of its last-stage suppliers. The investigations, which include Foxconn plants in Chengdu and Shenzhen, began the same day. They include both interviews with "thousands" of workers over conditions as well as inspections and document reviews.
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02/13, 9:35am
Could signal escalation in Apple vs. Proview
Officials in the Chinese city of Shijiazhuang raided an unnamed Apple reseller over the weekend, reports claim. In all 45 iPad 2s are said to have been confiscated; despite the limited scope of the raid, Chinese news sources indicate that a number of other vendors have decided to hide their iPad stock rather than risk losing it. Shoppers should nevertheless still be able to buy iPad 2s from official and unofficial sources in the city.
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02/13, 9:25am
iPad 3 display and shell caught together
A rare instance of investigation of leaked parts may have supported many of the rumors surrounding the iPad 3. Repair shop iLab Factory has combined both a rear shell and a new Sharp LCD and found that the display connector and screw holes for the back were meant to link up to Sharp's new screen. The same look also verified the deeper well for the rear camera and a different mount that wouldn't work with existing parts on the iPad 2.
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02/13, 7:45am
Pegatron maybe pressed to choose Apple vs ASUS
A tentative rumor has had Pegatron allegedly forced to choose between manufacturing ASUS' Zenbooks and Apple's iOS devices. Taiwan's Commercial Times had heard that Apple was supposedly unhappy with the similarity to the MacBook Air and didn't want one of its own contractors to be making what was perceived to be a clone. If it happened, production wouldn't stop until at least March and would be outsourced to a nearby contractor like Compal or Wistron.
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02/12, 11:25pm
Meijer hints at 2012 refresh with price cuts
Large US retailer Meijer has instituted an unusually steep discount on the iPad 2 that may be a further sign of clearing iPad 2 stock ahead of a refresh. All versions of the tablet sold at the store are on sale and start off with sharp price cuts even on the entry 16GB Wi-Fi model, which is down $70 to $429. The deal lasts until February 25, or nearly the rest of the month.
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02/12, 7:25pm
Samsung tablets outsold by Apple in home turf
Industry insider estimates have claimed that the iPad 2 has reached the million-unit sales mark in South Korea. The milestone came after a late November 2010 launch and 700,000 iPads shipped just in 2011, leaving the remaining 300,000 to have been sold in two and a half months' time, the Korea Herald said. That number could be higher, Korean media thought, since many had bought iPads even before official approval.
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02/12, 3:25pm
Google Experience Center would target Project X
An investigation into Google's public records has hinted that the company is planning large expansions that would be incubators for multiple secret projects. The Mercury News sleuthing found that Google was spending over $120 million in construction around its Montain Vew headquarters for both public and private work. Secret projects would reportedly play a part, including for the Android@Home wireless audio device and Google's well-known but still secretive Project X labs.
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02/12, 2:30pm
comScore shows shift to mobile in mail
As part of a larger study, comScore has shown that e-mail is making a large shift away from the web. Among teens and those aged 18 to 24, webmail use dropped by about a third in December from where it was one year earlier. Declines also appeared among the 35 to 44 set (down one point) and 55 to 64 (by seven points).
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02/12, 1:25pm
Apple TV update may join iPad 3 on stage
An upgraded Apple TV media hub might come sooner than thought after signs emerged that multiple stores ran low on stock. Amazon, Best Buy, Buy.com, Radio Shack, and Target all show the device either as out of stock or taking weeks to ship. Apple and others do have supply, but it follows a pattern of third-party resellers usually running out first.
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02/12, 12:30pm
Eddy Cue, Yo-Yo Ma tribute Jobs at Grammys
The Recording Academy in its annual pre-show ceremony gave Steve Jobs its promised Lifetime Achievement award. The posthumous award was accepted on behalf of Jobs and family by Apple Senior VP Eddy Cue. In the acceptance speech, Cue highlighted how music was a central part of Jobs' existence; he was an outspoken fan of The Beatles and Bob Dylan, and often made music a focus of Apple's work.
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02/12, 10:00am
SNL shows troubles of modern 4G ads
Saturday Night Live made technology an unusual target after it poked fun at Verizon in a pre-recorded skit (below). A customer (Fred Armisen) comes in asking about the carrier's 4G LTE network and is barraged with an increasingly technical and nonsensical sales pitch. By the end, LTE is likened to orange juice, and Verizon is described as an "old person's nightmare."
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02/12, 12:15am
We review Dell's smaller XPS performance notebook
The 13- to 14-inch notebook screen size is currently one of the hottest areas of competition right now: it's where Apple, HP, and others start off their higher-end models. Dell has certainly been one of the most active in this space and has brought its high-end XPS line to that space through the 14z. We'll check in our Dell XPS 14z review whether the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the Sony VAIO S, or comparable rivals will feel the strain.
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02/11, 4:35pm
3G iPad 2 models run low at fringes
Fresh checks have shown the earliest signs that iPad 2 supply might be ramping down ahead of the iPad 3 launch rumored for the next few weeks. The 9to5 investigation pointed to sales channel sources who said supply of 3G models was "constrained" across the board. Supporting this, searches at Carphone Warehouse and Orange in the UK both had some or most of their supply as "out of stock."
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02/11, 1:40pm
Apple lawsuit vs Samsung expanded
An expansion upon what few details have been available from Apple's new Samsung lawsuit has suggested that it reaches more at the core of Android and less at Samsung's specific actions. Along with accusing Samsung of violating a newer unlock gesture patent than what was covered in Germany, a second patent for a "universal interface" for retrieving data appeared to Florian Mueller to accuse Samsung of violating Siri-style searches, where stitching together keywords presents just the immediately needed results. While Android on a base level doesn't do this, it would prevent Google from providing a narrower search method in Android.
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02/10, 9:55pm
Windows 8 on ARM to require HTML5 for advanced web
Microsoft's Windows leader Steven Sinofsky picked an interview this week to reveal that Windows 8 on ARM wouldn't support plugins. He explained to AllThingsD that Internet Explorer on these chips, even in the regular desktop, wouldn't run Flash or any similar browser add-ins. Mobile devices were moving away from Flash as a whole, he said.
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02/10, 8:15pm
Relies on brute force, forensic specialists
A somewhat sensationalist press release from Russian forensic-cryptology company ElComSoft claims that it can "crack" passwords users put on documents created in Apple's iWork software (which comprises Pages, Numbers and Keynote). However, the company admits that the attack is just a variation on a brute-force cracking method that attempts to guess the password.
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02/10, 7:45pm
Instagram gets significant visual update
Instagram finished the week with a significant update to its app (App Store). The 2.1 update now has Lux, an image adustment option that automatically brings out details in highlights and shadows in a rough equivalent to high dynamic range (HDR) shooting. Similar to the tilt-shift effect, Lux can stack with other filters.
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02/10, 7:30pm
Amazon hires for own TV shows
Two new job listings have hinted that Amazon will be the next commercial Internet video service to produce some of its own content. Its studio division is hiring for the People's Production Company to create comedies and children's shows. Unlike its counterparts, though, it would be developing for traditional formats as well.
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02/10, 5:55pm
ATT upgrade fee hike coming February 12
A staff memo has leaked plans for AT&T to hike its device upgrade fee. The BGR copy had the cost jumping from $18 to $36. The cost was allegedly necessary because the "overall costs" for upgrading to a new device had gone up, AT&T said.
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02/10, 5:05pm
Option in bulk buys only
Apple is now selling a special scaled-back 13-inch MacBook Air to schools, a report says. The model is said to have the same internal specifications as the standard 11-inch Air, including a 1.6GHz Core i5 processor, 2GB of RAM, 64GB of flash storage, and Intel graphics. The new option is limited to schools buying in bulk, though, at a price of $999 per system, or $4,995 for a group of five. A regular 13-inch Air would normally cost $1,299.
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02/10, 4:45pm
Apple uses patent exhaustion versus Motorola in US
Apple's lawsuit retaliation continued on Friday after it sued Motorola in the US over 3G patent issues. The iPhone designer sought to block Motorola from making patent violation accusations based on its use of Qualcomm's MDM6610 cellular chipset as well as any others it might use. It came after Qualcomm confirmed to Apple that it was already paying for a license to Motorola's 3G patents, which Apple took to mean that it was exempt from paying itself.
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02/10, 3:50pm
USA Today breaks down mobile app ratios
An escaped USA Today presentation has uncovered some of the real results of mobile news app downloads. GeekWire's copy showed a wide gap between downloads for the iPad and Android tablets: at over 2.9 million downloads, the iPad version had more than seven times the downloads of Android, which had 390,000 combined. The ratio on Android was heavily skewed by the Kindle Fire, which at 260,000 downloads had managed twice as much interest as every other Android tablet combined.
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02/10, 2:20pm
Microsoft to open up store in Canada before 2013
Microsoft reportedly has plans to open four more dedicated stores than reported earlier, with one of them marking its first international expansion. The Canadian store is due to open in Toronto before the holidays, The Verge has learned. It will reportedly be joined by another international store this year, with more to follow early in 2013.
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02/10, 2:05pm
MacBook Pro expected to slim across the line
On and off rumors of a major MacBook Pro redesign were supported on Friday with leaks supporting a complete overhaul. The AppleInsider hints had Apple's high-end notebooks being overhauled over the course of 2012 to more closely resemble the MacBook Air, dropping optical drives and slimming down. Rumors of a 15-inch Air were more likely references to Apple repeating what it did with the unibody MacBook Pro, where the 15-inch model led the redesign and other sizes followed later.
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02/10, 12:35pm
Apple sues Samsung twice in one week
Apple scaled up its legal attacks late this week with lawsuits against Samsung both in the US and in Germany. The American complaint, details of which were filed in a Northern District of California court in San Jose on Wednesday and published on Friday, accuses Samsung of violating two patents that it had only just obtained in December. Samsung was accused of copying iOS' techniques for heuristic information finding as well as its method of suggesting a replacement word when a misspelling is highlighted.
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02/10, 12:10pm
iPad painted as integral tool
Apple has updated its "iPad in Business" promotional page with a new profile, the Theatre Consultants Collaborative. The firm designs and builds theater spaces around the world, and Apple is marketing the iPad as an essential part of TCC operations. The company is said to use the tablet for functions like conference calls via GoToMeeting, and handling architectural drawings in AutoCAD WS. An app called AudioTools is used to judge sound frequencies in a space.
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02/10, 11:50am
Chitika claims iOS now used online more than Mac
New Chitika traffic data has seen Apple possibly cross a milestone for web use online. As of February, 8.15 percent of all web traffic being monitored was coming from an iOS device, passing the Mac for the first time with OS X share at 7.96 percent. The two platforms had been converging since October, with the Mac losing share mostly as Apple's other OS gained prominence.
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02/10, 10:50am
Deals on Mac Pros, Flash memory cards, and more
Today's Deals from DealNN include price breaks on Mac Pros, Flash memory cards, and more. Apple.com has recently lowered the cost of the refurbished 2.8GHz Mac Pro, which includes 3GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive, 18x SuperDrive, and ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor with 1GB GDDR5 memory. Currently featured at DealNN, this Mac Pro is now available for the discounted price of $2119 and delivers savings of up to $380.
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02/10, 10:35am
Also had top secret clearance in Pixar era
The US Commerce Department has confirmed that Steve Jobs did in fact serve on the President's Export Council during the George Bush Sr. administration, according to the Associated Press. This week the FBI published a 191-page file on Jobs from 1991, dealing mainly with a background investigation for an appointment to the Council. The AP remarks that Export Council members are unpaid, and meet a minimum of twice a year.
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02/10, 9:25am
EPS could hit $50 in 2012, says analyst
A Mizuho Securities hire, Abhey Lamba, has started Apple coverage at his new firm with a $635 target, says Barron's. The analyst argues that Apple will continue to succeed, and that Wall Street consensus figures are probably too low, despite more intense competition. Android smartphones are mainly taking away share from Nokia and Research in Motion, not the iPhone, he notes.
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02/10, 8:25am
ATT stocks first LTE micro-SIM cards
AT&T's plans for the year took a step forward Friday after a sighting of its first LTE-capable micro-SIM cards. A store contact for Phone Arena caught a briefing that sales staff were to get rid of older cards and replace them with the new versions fully capable of talking to the 4G network. The memo didn't specifically attach the cards to any one device.
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02/10, 7:00am
Motorola suffers setback in German court
Motorola has failed in its bid to force another 3G/UMTS-based patent injunction against Apple in the Mannheim Regional Court, according to Foss Patents. German Judge Andreas Voss dismissed the evidence presented in court by Motorola’s lawyers on the grounds that it had failed to demonstrate conclusive evidence that Apple had infringed upon the patent in question. Instead, Motorola had tried to argue in general terms that as the patent has been declared essential to the 3G/UMTS standard, that Apple by default had to have violated the patent by using the standard in some of its products.
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02/10, 6:10am
Amazon Kindle Fire 9-inch anticipated for midyear
Amazon’s rumored Kindle Fire 9-inch model could be shipping by as soon as the middle of this year, according to All Things D. Pacific Crest Analyst Chad Bartley has raised his estimates on Kindle Fire shipments from 12.7 million to just under 15 million units based on this line of thought. In addition to a new 9-inch Kindle Fire, Bartley’s research also suggests that the first refresh of the original Kindle Fire will also arrive at the same time.
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02/09, 11:40pm
Eolas sees web patent lawsuit claim tossed
Eolas' attempt to patent the "interactive web" may have been dealt a permanent blow after a jury in the normally patent lawsuit-friendly town of Tyler, Texas ruled that the patent was invalid. The decision negated both any attempts at claiming damages and also negated three future trials. The rejection came in part after testimony from the spiritual creator of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, as well as individual creators whose work predated that of Eolas owner Michael Doyle.
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02/09, 11:00pm
Apple iPad 3 keynote, apps poised to focus on LCD
More if indirect support for an early March iPad 3 launch came Thursday night through assertions that Apple was in "crunch mode" rounding up apps to demo the tablet. The rumor's sources at The Next Web had Apple stepping up the process of finding apps that would showcase the new iPad's very high resolution display. Apple was focusing on "graphics-oriented applications with high-definition assets," the tipsters said.
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02/09, 8:30pm
Both tout major advantage over alternative phones
Apple has quietly added two new iPhone 4S ads, both showcasing Siri's voice recognition and intelligent-assistant technology, to its iPhone videos web page. In "Road Trip," a man decides to travel across the US from what appears to be Boston to Santa Cruz with his partner, and both of them consult Siri throughout the trip. In "Rock God," a young man progresses from locating a guitar store to forming a rock band and changes the name Siri addresses him by.
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