Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:
Demand Pattern: Consumers are showing a marked preference for Apple’s (AAPL) new flagship iPhone, forcing the company to scale back production of its new lower-priced model, MacRumors notes. A Chinese media source says that, in October, Apple supply partner Pegatron was producing 320,000 iPhone 5c units per day. That output has now been slashed to just 80,000 units a day. Manufacturing of the iPhone 5c at alternate producer Foxconn — which is concentrating on the iPhone 5s — has fallen to between just 8,000 and 9,000 units a day. While production of the iPhone 5c continues to fall, consumer desire for the pricier iPhone 5s appears to be growing. The iPhone 5s is now outselling the iPhone 5c by a 3-to-1 margin, according to industry research firm Fiksu. The iPhone 5s was seen outpacing the iPhone 5c by just a 2-to-1 margin shortly after both iPhones launched in October. Supplies of the iPhone 5s remain tight, while the iPhone 5c has been relatively easy to find since its debut.
More: An activist investor has increased his stake in Apple, AllThingsD notes. In August, Carl Icahn revealed that he had taken a large stake in the iPhone-maker and would pressure the company to increase the size of its planned share buyback from $60 billion to $150 billion. By the end of September, regulatory filings indicated that Icahn held Apple shares worth about $1.9 billion. That stake had grown to 4.77 million shares — worth about $2.5 billion — in October, according to a letter Icahn sent to CEO Tim Cook last month. The billionaire recently had dinner with Cook, where he reportedly continued to press for a higher share repurchase. Apple has roughly $150 billion in cash.
Big Wager: In testimony before a court in California, a top Apple executive described the iPhone as a “bet the company product,” CNET notes. Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, made the statement yesterday during the iPhone-maker’s latest round in court against Samsung. The new trial is meant to determine how much Samsung will have to pay for violating an Apple patent. Last year, a jury found the South Korean electronics giant guilty of patent infringement and ordered it to pay Apple $1 billion. A judge slashed that award to $600 million and ordered a new trial to assess any additional damages. Apple is asking for $379 million in additional damages. In his testimony, Schiller noted that launching the first iPhone came with “huge risks” for Apple, which made a massive investment in the new device.
For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
