Here are your Apple news items and rumors for Friday:
Rocking out the Google Cloud on iPad: Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iCloud storage service — which lets iTunes users upload their music libraries to Apple’s servers so they can be downloaded to any device at any time (for a subscription fee) — will open for business later this fall. As of today, many iPad users can start enjoying cloud-based music storage and listening, though not through iTunes. Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google Music service, very similar to iCloud’s iTunes Match service, now supports Apple’s tablet. Unlike iCloud, Google Music, which still is in the testing phase and isn’t fully open to the public, is free. Your move, Apple.
Sprint Brings Unlimited Data Plans to iPhone 5: As more people buy smartphones, telecoms AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) have had to pull back from offering their subscribers unlimited data access on their 3G and growing 4G networks, much to the chagrin of iPhone users with prolific downloading habits. Sprint (NYSE:S) will offer those users a safe haven this fall. A Friday report at Bloomberg reiterated that not only will Sprint carry Apple’s latest smartphone when it releases in October, the struggling telecom will actually offer unlimited data plans to its users. The company’s current unlimited data and voice plan costs $99.99 per month.
Big Q3 iPad Sales: A Friday report in the Taiwan Economic News (via 9 to 5 Mac) said iPad sales during the third quarter of 2011 might turn out significantly higher than expected. A source within Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn claims that while the company predicted it would ship 14 million iPads to Apple between July and September, the number likely will turn out to be closer to 20 million. If accurate, Apple will have sold more than double the number of iPads it sold during the second quarter of the year when it released the iPad 2 model.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.
