Here are your daily Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) news items and rumors for Tuesday:
That’s Right, 100 million iPhones: Tucked inside a note by Morgan Stanley analyst Kathy Huberty on Monday that said any slight dip in Apple share price caused by the announcement of Steve Jobs’ health-related sabbatical represented a significant buying opportunity, the analyst predicted iPad and iPhone shipments will be “stronger than expected” in 2011. The previous estimation was for 72 million iPhone and 30 million iPad shipments this year. Thanks to favorable component costs, however, Huberty raised Morgan Stanley’s estimate to 100 million iPhones and 40 million iPads. With the hype surrounding both the influx of competition in the tablet PC market and the incoming Verizon (NYSE:VZ) iPhone, it should be reassuring to investors that Apple’s supply chain is well in order.
The Real iPad 2 Case?: Numerous images of purported iPad 2 cases were seen in the weeks leading up to the Consumer Electronics Show. Those images were backed up by several manufacturers displaying their own line of cases at CES with the same features, particularly slots for a large, vented speaker as well as rear- and front-facing cameras. AppleInsider reported on Tuesday that an unnamed Chinese Apple accessory supplier is showing off a new “iPad second-generation” case that differs greatly from those previously seen. The new case includes ports that would accommodate a mini DisplayPort jack that would allow for the new tablet to use a mini-HDMI cable for high-definition video output. There’s also a slotting that indicated a new SD card port on the side of the new iPad.
Nokia Shuts Down its “iTunes-killer:” iTunes is expected to control more than 70% of the digital music market by March. While some companies are still trying to topple Apple’s music business — Sony (NYSE:SNE) recently opened the subscription-based Music Unlimited service in December — others are finally giving up the ghost. Nokia (NYSE:NOK) is shutting down its own subscription-based digital music service, Ovi Music Unlimited, after just three-plus years. The service had support from music labels Sony BMG, EMI, Vivendi’s Univeral Music Group, and Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) Warner Bros. Records. According to a Monday report from the Financial Times, the Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Media DRM caused the service’s failure because the security kept Ovi Music Unlimited downloads from being compatible with devices like Apple’s iPod.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
