Here are your Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) news items and rumors for Thursday: a Verizon (NYSE:VZ) iPhone by Valetine’s Day, a new social network for shoppers, and Skype adds video calling.
Nix the Chocolate: Bloomberg BusinessWeek says a Verizon iPhone will be announced before next Valentine’s Day. In a report on Wednesday, Peter Burrows said Apple will finally unveil the long-rumored CDMA standard iPhone that will be compatible with Verizon Wireless’ 3G network. The announcement will be made at an Apple-hosted media event and not at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Burrows said that although many believe the move will be catastrophic for AT&T (NYSE:T) — especially following an article earlier this month in Consumer Reports that placed AT&T in last place in almost every mobile phone category — Wall Street analysts believe there is enough room for both providers to support the iPhone. Forrester Research analyst Charles S. Golvin is quoted as saying, “I’m sure some AT&T customers are sufficiently frustrated to switch, but the vast majority are at least happy enough.” AT&T shareholders should cross their fingers that “happy enough equates to “good enough” come Valentine’s Day.
Friends Don’t Let Friends Buy Bad Products: The company-focused blog AppleInsider said a new patent application filed by Apple describes a new social network that would allow users to register profiles and update other users on status and habits. Instead of music purchases through Apple’s digital storefront, however (like its unsuccessful Ping offering), the new network would be based around retail shopping.
Titled “Social Networking in Shopping Environments,” the patent application describes a network that would connect owners of portable Apple devices like the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch. The users would access product lists in brick-and-mortar stores then share information about specific items via the network. Friends and other users would then rate the product listed and click tabs such as familiar “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” as well as others such as “Should I buy this?” The patent application, made public this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was originally filed on Jan. 26, 2009. Given the new interest in retail crossover with Facebook and Twitter, Apple seems wise to tie their mobile devices to retail shopping experiences.
Skype Unveils Voice-Chat App: Internet phone provider Skype promised earlier this month that it would be bringing video chat support to its Apple-platform application, offering an alternative to Apple’s own FaceTime video calling for owners of Apple devices. The new video calling feature is available for download as of Thursday. The update wasn’t expected to come to the iOS version of Skype until after Skype made “a series of video-related announcements” during their conference at the Consumer Electronics Show next month. Two-way video calling is only available to people using a fourth-generation iPod Touch, the iPhone 3GS, or iPhone 4. iPad and third-generation iPod Touch users can only receive calls. The video calling feature requires that the iOS 4.0 operating system and Skype 3.0 app version be installed.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
