Here is your daily Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock news and rumors for July 29, 2010. More software woes for Apple today, with AAPL admitting that their mobile operating system iOS 4 is causing grief for iPhone 3G owners. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced the latest Mac edition of their Microsoft Office suite and Amazon revealed two new models of the Kindle to compete with the iPad.
AAPL Trying to Resolve iPhone 3G OS Problems: The version of Apple’s mobile operating system iOS 4, launched alongside its new smartphone the iPhone 4, isn’t quite fully featured on the iPhone 3G. iPhone 3G iOS 4 doesn’t allow user multitasking, it doesn’t support Bluetooth keyboards, and there’s are just a couple of the more notable inferiorities inherent in that version of the operating system. The truth is that the iPhone 3G just doesn’t have the memory necessary to take full advantage of iOS 4. Of course, according to some users, it’s dangerous to run the operating system on an iPhone 3G at all. Since iOS 4’s release, iPhone 3G users who have installed the operating system have reported decreased battery life, overheating, and general slowness in the device. The problems have been bad enough to warrant attention from Apple itself. A spokeswoman for the company told The Wall Street Journal that the company is researching the problems iOS 4 is causing in the iPhone 3G and looking for a quick resolution. Whether or not that resolution will take the form of a software update or a whole new version of the operating system remains to be seen.
New Office 2011 Suite for Macs: The ever-popular and ubiquitous office suite from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is getting a fresh update on Apple iMac and MacBook computers. Office 2011 features a new Template Gallery allowing users to select base templates from an online archive when creating their own customized documents. Microsoft is also introducing a “Ribbon UI,” a user-interface that marries the aesthetics of Mac systems menus and icons with the familiar branding of the Office suite while also increasing the functionality to better cohere with the Mac OS X operating system. The other feature is a completely overhauled version of email client Outlook that finally incorporates conversation view in emails viewed in Outlook, a new database format, and Time Machine support for backing up email archives.
Amazon Release New Kindles: With the Apple Inc. iPad tablet computer potentially hitting 13 million in sales by the end of 2010, it’s no wonder Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is struggling to figure what to do with its eReader, the Kindle. Their latest move to bolster the device’s market share came today when the online bookseller announced two new models of the Kindle this morning. Both Kindle’s are lighter and thinner than previous models, but there is a key difference between them. While one, coming in at the previously established list price of $189, features 3G support for downloading books and basic, black and white web browsing, the other supports Wi-Fi only. The Wi-Fi model is also markedly cheaper at $139, an attempt to further establish the Kindle as an impulse buy for travelers and gift givers. While these are decent updates to Amazon’s Kindle line, the company faces an uphill battle against the iPad considering AAPL’s device supports a Kindle app from Amazon themselves with greater functionality than can be found on the Kindle.
As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
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