Here are your daily Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) news items and rumors for Thursday:
Verizon iPhone, next week?: Cnet reported Wednesday that Apple will host a media event next Tuesday to announce the long-rumored Verizon (NYSE:VZ) iPhone. Citing an anonymous source, the report says the companies will combine on a CDMA smartphone that will go on sale in February. Tech blog Apple Insider has said that Apple’s retail stores are freezing employee vacation days for an unspecified period in the next two months with a “blackout” period covering three weeks, presumably during the release window of the Verizon iPhone. A new iPhone is likely the reason for the black out, the iPad 2 is another strong possibility.
Mac App Store Opens: With Apple’s latest digital storefront, opening Thursday, Mac desktop and laptop users can download an operating system update for Snow Leopard, version 10.6.6, and then access a new Mac App Store icon on their desktop. The new store doesn’t have as many offerings as the app stores on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad — it has opened with just 1,000 apps, many of which, like Apple’s iLife suite, have been previously available as paid downloads directly through Apple’s store website.
The same can be said of video game apps available in the store, such as independent hit And Yet It Moves. The Mac App Store has more stringent guidelines for submissions than on iOS platforms. For example, Mac App Store developers cannot release demo or beta versions of their software through the store. This may be a contributing factor in the limited selection at the Mac App Store’s opening.
Older iPhone on Sale: Beginning Friday, AT&T (NYSE:T) will sell the 8GB iPhone 3GS for $49 with a new two-year service contract. The deal will be available online as well as at AT&T’s retail outlets. The iPhone 3GS was already heavily discounted once in the last 12 months. Following the June 2010 release of the iPhone 4, the 3GS’s price was lowered to $99 with a two-year contract. Dow Jones Newswires speculates that the latest price drop is yet another strong indication that Apple will announce a Verizon iPhone in the immediate future. Depending on whether or not the Verizon iPhone is a 3G compatible CDMA device, or positioned for Verizon’s recently opened 4G LTE network, AT&T may also begin discounting the iPhone 4 in the coming weeks.
Patent Hints at iPad 2 Stereo Sound: A new Apple patent application public this week describes a new design for a handheld device with multiple speakers that would allow for dynamic stereo sound however it’s held. The “Audio Channel Assignment for Audio Output in a Movable Device” patent describes a device like the iPad with multiple speakers that would allow for dynamic sound output beyond two-channel stereo, regardless if the device is held vertically or horizontally. The sound would acclimate to rotation much like the iPad’s screen does, thanks to an audio processor coupled with the speakers. Leaked images of cases for the second-generation iPad have indicated that the new tablet will only have one speaker, however so it’s possible this technology won’t be incorporated into the device until the iPad 3.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
