Here are Your Apple rumors and news items for Friday:
Download Derby: A Friday report from Bloomberg says Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is negotiating with major record labels to allow iTunes users greater flexibility with purchased downloads. According to the story, Apple is meeting with Universal Music, Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) Warner Music, EMI, and Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) Sony Music Entertainment to renegotiate how many times users can download purchased content. The proliferation of iPhones and iPads is straining Apple’s existing model of limited downloads to separate devices from a single iTunes account. The updated agreement would allow users to re-download songs based on stored information, which would make the new system a halfway step to the long-rumored cloud-based iTunes. The new agreement with music labels could go into effect by the second quarter of this year.
China to See 4G iPhone?: China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) Chairman Wang Jianzhou suggested Apple will be delivering a 4G iPhone in the near future. According to a Friday report from Bloomberg, Jianzhou laid out plans for expansion of his company’s LTE network in six major Chinese cities. He then specifically highlighted Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ interest in developing an LTE iPhone “at an early date.” Rumors have suggested that Apple is preparing the iPhone 5 for Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T’s (NYSE:T) 4G LTE networks in the U.S.
12 Million Strong: A Friday report from DigiTimes said Taiwanese component suppliers are ready to deliver a massive number of iPad 2s before the end of the second quarter. The report suggests that Apple has already stockpiled 3 million iPad 2s in anticipation of the device’s March 11 release and is set to ship an additional 10 million to 12 million tablets across the second quarter. This will put Apple well on its way to the 40 million iPads shipped in 2011 — a milestone DigiTimes had predicted for the company. Provided those tablets ship and sell, 2011 would mark a significant jump over 2010 for the iPad. Apple sold 15 million iPads between April and December of 2010.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
