Here are your daily Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) news items and rumors for Friday:
The Daily Debut: After months of delays, the Apple and News Corp. (NYSE:NWS) co-developed iPad-exclusive newspaper The Daily will debut next Wednesday. It is expected that Apple will also detail the new subscription-based app payment model that has been rumored to be starting up alongside The Daily. News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has already confirmed that the “paper” will be sold in 99-cents-a-week subscriptions.
25 Million Strong: In a Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, RW Baird analyst William Power blew out previous predictions of how many new iPhone customers would be reeled in with the February release on Verizon’s (NYSE:VZ) network. Where other analysts have estimated that the Verizon iPhone would grow Apple’s smartphone business by some 12 million subscribers this year, Power said that a survey of 1,000 smartphone users across each major carrier in the U.S. suggests that Apple’s iPhone user base could grow by 25 million users under the right conditions. Power did say in that this figure is “directional” and not a solid prediction, as Apple’s ability to manufacture iPhones and customer eligibility may limit the number of new Verizon iPhone users.
iPod Classic Refresh?: Apple hasn’t introduced a new model of the iPod Classic portable media player since the fall of 2009, focusing instead on flash memory-based iPod Touch, iPod Nano, and iPod Shuffle handhelds. Website Hardmac noted on Friday that Toshiba (PINK:TOSBF) has just announced a new line of 1.8-inch hard drives, upgrading maximum capacity from 160GB to 220GB. The new drives are upgraded versions of those used in the current iPod Classic media players, suggesting the Apple could release one last generation of the device using the significantly larger storage. The original iPod, released in 2001, had a 5GB Toshiba hard drive.
iTunes Update: Continuing software preparation for the Feb. 10 release of the Verizon iPhone, Apple released an update to its iTunes software late on Thursday. According to update notes, iTunes version 10.1.2 improves the program’s stability and performance as well as allows for the syncing of movies, music, and other downloads with the CDMA model of iPhone 4.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
