Here are your Apple rumors and news items for Wednesday:
Online Apple Store Reopens for Verizon iPhone 4 Business: Tech stock Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) took its web store offline yesterday, leaving a placeholder that advised users that it would reopen shortly. The digital storefront reopened at midnight and now offers the GSM iPhone 4 with support from AT&T (NYSE: T) and the brand new CDMA iPhone 4 supported by Verizon (NYSE: VZ). Service maps for both networks are hosted on the new store pages. Shipping estimates for the CDMA iPhone show that even though customers won’t be receiving their smartphone this week on its official release date, they will be able to get them sooner than expected. The estimated shipping date for the CDMA iPhone 4 is February 18 with delivery to follow “within 5 business days.” The quick turnaround implies that Apple has a healthy stock of the devices with more on the way, so first month sales of the phone should be as healthy as they can be. Many preorder customers had to wait weeks to receive their GSM iPhone 4s when that phone released last summer due to insufficient supply.
New Apple Patent Lets Carriers Compete to Offer Service: Concerns over which carrier supports the iPhone based on its mobile standard technology (GSM, CDMA, LTE, etc.) may not be a problem for the device in the future. A patent titled “Dynamic carrier selection” originally filed in 2008 has been granted to Apple. The “mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)” technology described would force network operator services to bid against each other to provide service to iPhone owners. The filing reads: “In some situations, bids are received from multiple network operators for rates at which communication services using each network operator can be obtained. Preferences among the network operators are identified using the received bids, and the preferences are used to select the network operator for the mobile device to use in conducting communications.” This system would presumably do away with standing contracts that cover multiple services like calls, texting, and data usage and could lead to a more consumer friendly smartphone business.
European Publishers Concerned About Apple Subscription Fees: A Tuesday report from the BBC says that the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association is up in arms over Apple’s 30% cut of subscription fees for digital magazines sold through iTunes. The ENPA is also upset over Apple barring publishers from selling iPad editions of their magazines and newspapers directly through their own web outlets, restricting them to iTunes or the App Store. European president of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association Grzegorz Piechota says that Apple has not been clear about its restrictions for publication sales in the past leading to apps like the Sony (NYSE: SNE) Reader App being removed from the App Store for breaking rules publishers weren’t aware of. “Apple has been contacting some publishers, and not contacting some. Some get emails, others get informal phone calls,” he continued. “The whole process of accepting or rejecting apps is not transparent. It’s very hard to explain why some apps are being accepted and some are being refused; some apps allow you to read content that is bought somewhere (sic) else and others that won’t let you do this.” The INMA and ENPA plan to meet in London on February 17 to discuss how to proceed with Apple.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
