Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:
More Choices: An unnamed insider source tells 9to5Mac that consumers who purchase iPhones from Apple’s (AAPL) retail stores will soon be able to choose pre-paid and month-to-month wireless plans. Shoppers who opt for pre-paid and month-to-month wireless plans will be able to buy their iPhones at full price and then sign up for the discount plans at the Apple Store. Apple has partnered with T-Mobile (TMUS) and AT&T (T) to offer the new plans. This will be the first time that Apple Stores have offered pre-paid and month-to-month wireless plans. Apple stores will begin offering pre-paid and month-to-month wireless plans during the last week of June. Consumers must activate their devices at the Apple Store. CEO Tim Cook has made raising the percentage of overall iPhones sales made at Apple Stores a priority for Apple.
New Price: On Monday morning, Apple shares began trading at under $100 for the first time in nine years, the Associated Press notes. The sudden drop from Friday’s closing price of more than $645 per share was the result of Apple’s 7-for-1 stock split, announced back in April. AAPL shares have risen about 23% since the stock split was announced. Under the split, Apple shareholders of record received six additional AAPL shares for each share they already owned. Apple’s Friday closing price was then divided by seven, opening Apple at $92.69 per share on Monday. Apple said it conducted the split to reduce its per share price in order to make the stock more accessible to investors. The split also means that the number of outstanding Apple shares has jumped from roughly 861 million shares to around 6 billion shares. The AP notes that by cutting its share price, Apple improves its changes of being added to the prestigious Dow Jones Industrial Average, which includes just 30 stocks. Stocks with share process above $300 are not usually included in the DJIA. Apple has conducted three previous stock splits — all 2-for-1 — in May 1987, June 2000 and February 2005. On their first day of post-split trading, AAPL shares were up about 1% at midday.
Social: Apple has purchased Spotsetter a social mapping and recommendation app, TechCrunch says. Spotsetter was created by Stephen Tse and Johnny Lee, who have now both joined Apple. Spotsetter added social data to map interfaces, providing users with destination recommendations based on reviews, friends’ recommendations and other social data. The app was able to compile data from social venues like Twitter (TWTR), Facebook (FB), Yelp (YELP), Zagat, TripAdvisor (TRIP) and the New York Times (NYT). Spotsetter had raised $1.3 million in financing and as of last year had 5 million user profiles. Apple will likely use Spotsetters’ technology to add social content to its Maps app.
For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
