Apple's retail chief Angela Ahrendts and top lawyer Bruce Sewell each sold over $10 million in company stock over the past week, according to a pair of disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Pursuant to her trading plan adopted in February, Ahrendts sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock between May 4 and May 8, netting nearly $11.1 million based on the weighted average sale price of the five transactions. Ahrendts still owns 103,116 shares in Apple following the sale, worth nearly $16 million.
Sewell sold 67,500 shares of Apple stock in multiple transactions on May 5, netting just over $10 million based on the weighted average sale price. Sewell still owns 141,325 shares in Apple following the sale, worth nearly $22 million.
Ahrendts has served as Apple's Senior Vice President of Retail since 2014, overseeing the company's physical and online storefronts. Under her leadership, Apple has been renovating several of its stores, partly in an effort to turn them into community gathering places rather than just sales floors.
Sewell has served as Apple's General Counsel since 2009, overseeing all legal matters, including corporate governance, intellectual property, litigation and securities compliance, global security, and privacy. He came into the spotlight last year twice during separate battles with the FBI and Spotify.
Amazon today debuted an all-new touchscreen Echo device, which it's calling the "Echo Show," following a report from yesterday that said the company was gearing up to debut the new Echo as soon as today. As was expected, the Echo Show is a smart home speaker system that has all of the features of the basic Echo system with an additional 7-inch touchscreen.
With the addition of a touchscreen, Amazon said that users will be able to watch video flash briefings and YouTube, see music lyrics, check on security cameras, swipe through photos, view weather forecasts, make to-do and shopping lists, and more. Far-field voice recognition, eight microphones, beam-forming technology, and noise cancellation allow users to be heard from anywhere in the room, as well as over loud music coming from the Echo Show itself.
One of the biggest additions with Echo Show is a new video chat experience that allows users to make hands-free calls to friends who also have an Echo Show, or who use the Alexa smartphone app. A Feature called "Drop In" lets users quickly contact or send messages to other Echo Show devices to do things like let someone know it's time for dinner, or check in on a child's nursery.
The Echo Show will connect to smart home products like Hue and Wink, and allow for simple daily tasks like timing food in the kitchen and catching up with the news.
For news and information you can see and hear, just ask Alexa for your video flash briefing from CNN. Curious about the latest movie trailers or a need a how-to video from YouTube? Just ask.
Echo Show helps keep you organized at home. Start a timer in the kitchen and watch as it counts down, or easily see and manage your family’s calendar. Sign in to the Alexa App to take your to-do and shopping lists with you. Just add an item to the list from home, and whoever is out shopping will see it added instantly on their Alexa App.
The Amazon Echo Show is the latest in a long line of Amazon smart home speakers, following the original Echo, Echo Dot, and most recently the Echo Look. While Amazon sits on top of the market for these voice-controlled speakers, more companies are looking to add similar products into their line-ups. This week, Harman Kardon teased the upcoming launch of a speaker with Microsoft's Cortana built in, with an aesthetic very similar to Echo.
Apple has long been rumored to be getting into the smart home speaker market as well, with plans to launch a device that would be visually similar to Google Home and have deep Siri integration, as well as the usual Apple services like Apple Music and iCloud. Rumors about such a device began around this time last year, and Apple is now believed to debut the Siri smart speaker as soon as WWDC in June.
Although a screen on the Siri device has not been mentioned in rumors, Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller recently mentioned that having a screen available suits more user-friendly situations than a device that exclusively uses voice controls. "So there's many moments where a voice assistant is really beneficial, but that doesn't mean you'd never want a screen," Schiller said. "So the idea of not having a screen, I don't think suits many situations."
The Amazon Echo Show is available to pre-order right now in black and white for $229.99 and will begin shipping June 28. Those who purchase two Echo Show devices at once can save $100 off of the order with a special promotion that Amazon is debuting for the launch of the new speaker.
Apple today announced that it will be releasing the film "Harry Styles: Behind the Album" exclusively on Apple Music on May 15.
The film chronicles the former One Direction singer's so-called "musical journey" while creating his debut solo album, set to be released on Friday.
Apple shared a 30-second preview of the film on its YouTube channel today.
Apple's full description of the video:
Apple Music Presents: Behind the Album, a new film from production company Fulwell 73, chronicles Harry’s musical journey while creating his much anticipated debut solo album. The film features exclusive interviews and behind the scenes footage shot in Jamaica, Los Angeles and London during the making of the album and is complemented by Harry and his band performing songs from it for the first time at the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London.
Styles' debut solo single "Sign of the Times," to be included on the album, is already available on Apple Music.
Uncertainty over which company will end up with Toshiba's much-sought-after NAND chip unit -- the second-biggest in the world -- has deepened today with a report by Reuters, which states that the Japan-based Toshiba is now facing legal actions from its business partner and chip unit bidder Western Digital. The U.S.-based data storage company is claiming that Toshiba has violated a contract by transferring Western Digital's joint venture rights entirely to the newly formed chip unit, which Toshiba is soon to sell off.
As a result, Western Digital is reportedly asking for exclusive negotiating rights with Toshiba as a means to win the bid and retain its contract with the supplier, and the U.S. company is threatening legal action in the event that it does not. Western Digital currently operates a semiconductor plant in a joint partnership with Toshiba, but it is not seen as a favored bidder in the eyes of Toshiba executives because it has placed a "much lower offer than other suitors."
The legal process set in motion by Western Digital could not only delay Toshiba's NAND chip unit sale, which the company needs to be completed to offset a nearly $9 billion loss related to its overseas nuclear division, but could put an end to the auction altogether. Toshiba has rejected any of Western Digital's claims that it has violated the joint venture contract.
The clash between Toshiba and Western Digital - both its business partner and one of the bidders for the chip unit - risks delaying or even quashing an auction that the Japanese conglomerate is depending on to plug a $9 billion hole in its accounts.
But in a May 3 letter sent by Toshiba's lawyers, the TVs-to-nuclear conglomerate disputed Western Digital' s argument and said it would pursue all available remedies if it saw continued interference in the sale process. Western Digital's "campaign constitutes intentional interference with Toshiba's prospective economic advantage and current contracts. It is improper, and it must stop," the letter, which was seen by Reuters on Tuesday, said.
Western Digital now has until May 15 to sign a few agreements related to its joint venture partnership with Toshiba, and if it doesn't all Western Digital employees will be restricted from facilities, networks and databases related to Toshiba's NAND chip unit. According to Masahiko Ishino, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center, Western Digital has a solid ground for legal action: "From a commonsense standpoint, it's hard to buy Toshiba's argument that it doesn't need approval from its JV partner because it's almost a 50-50 joint venture."
Outside of the legal battle, Toshiba executives are said to be prioritizing potential bids from what would amount to a consortium of the New York-based private equity firm KKR & Co LP and a few Japanese government-backed investors representing Japan Innovation Network Corp. The Japanese government is said to be "keeping a close eye on the process," and would prevent any deal that could potentially transfer sensitive technological information to another country, namely Foxconn and its deep China ties.
Now, KKR and Japan Innovation Network Corp are preferred bidders, and are expected to enter a joint offer in the upcoming second round of bidding in mid-May. If the duo win exclusive rights to Toshiba's NAND chip unit, the technology would stay in Japan, appeasing the local government, and the new owners of the unit could aim for an IPO down the line.
The two new preferred bidders come after TSMC and Foxconn were originally reported as the main companies interested in Toshiba's chip unit, but TSMC eventually dropped out and then Foxconn faced troubled waters with the Japanese government. Last month, Apple was rumored as willing to spend several billion dollars to obtain a "substantial stake" in the Toshiba NAND chip unit, with enough of a share ownership to allow Toshiba's executives to retain partial ownership in Japan.
Other potential buyers include South Korea's SK Hynix, Amazon, Google, Broadcom, and more, who are all looking for a major foothold in the flash memory market that could allow them to compete with the likes of Samsung. The winning bidder is expected to be revealed sometime in June.
Apple subsidiary FileMaker today announced the launch of FileMaker 16, the newest version of the company's popular database platform that's designed to make it easy for businesses to build a range of customized apps able to work effortlessly across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and the Web.
FileMaker 16 focuses on enhancing mobility, scalability, and security, along with providing new features and integrations for an improved app creation experience.
"Today's leaders empower their teams with the tools they need to quickly adapt as their needs change. The FileMaker 16 Platform builds on our track record of success, providing customers with the latest features, enabling them to create great apps that work across iPad, iPhone, Windows, Mac and the web."
When developing an app, FileMaker users have access to a new Layout Objects window, which offers up a hierarchical list of each object in a layout. The feature is designed to make it easier to make quick changes to an object without the need to ungroup the object set.
Enhanced cURL options and predefined JSON functions improve integration to make it simpler to exchange data with other web services and applications, and for large teams, custom apps accessed through FileMaker WebDirect can now be used by up to 500 users simultaneously.
Security has been enhanced and simplified with the addition of third-party authentication through providers that include Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. These existing account credentials can be used to log into FileMaker-based custom apps.
For the FileMaker Go app, there are new animations and transitions that are designed to provide visual cues to make it easier for users to navigate through their custom apps, along with a new enhanced signature capture feature for signing documents on the iPad or iPhone.
Pricing for FileMaker is not changing with the release of FileMaker 16, but there have been some pricing changes in certain countries due to currency adjustments.
Since last year, FileMaker has used a subscription licensing structure for teams of five or more users, with access to FileMaker Server and FileMaker systems across desktop, mobile, and web. Pricing starts at $888 per year for a team of five. A perpetual license is also available for $2,664 for a team of five, but it does not include access to future versions of FileMaker.
For individuals, a perpetual license for FileMaker Pro 16 is available for $329, while FileMaker Pro 16 Advanced is priced at $549. A free trial is also available.
WhatsApp has bolstered the security of the iCloud backup feature in its messaging platform, in an attempt to protect archived chat logs from being accessed in a readable form (via TechCrunch).
WhatsApp has offered end-to-end encryption on its messaging service for some time, but that encryption did not previously extend to iCloud backups of messages. Given that Apple holds the encryption keys for iCloud, a subpoena of Apple or an unauthorized iCloud hack could potentially allow access to WhatsApp messages backed up there.
However, WhatsApp has moved to prevent that possibility by also pre-encrypting the backup files. "When a user backs up their chats through WhatsApp to iCloud, the backup files are sent encrypted," a WhatsApp spokesperson told Forbes, confirming the change.
WhatsApp quietly added the encryption to WhatsApp iCloud backups late last year, however the change only came to light last week when professional hackers claimed to be able to circumvent the security measure.
According to Russian-based Oxygen Forensics, third-party hacking tools are able to download the encrypted WhatsApp data backed up to iCloud and then generate an encryption key to decrypt the data using the associated SIM card. The tools could potentially be used by police with access to a phone where the WhatsApp account has been deactivated but the encrypted messages are still stored in iCloud. WhatsApp has yet to comment on the claims.
The encryption debate has been reignited in recent weeks on both sides of the Atlantic. FBI director James Comey revealed earlier this month that his agency had been unable to access the data on more than 3,000 mobile devices in the first half of the fiscal year, despite having legal authority to avail themselves of the contents.
A recent statement by U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein also appeared to confirm that the government had used $900,000 of public money to pay for the third-party tools to unlock the iPhone used by the San Bernardino terrorist. No information of relevance was found on the device, the FBI later revealed.
Meanwhile in the U.K., government home secretary Amber Rudd recently claimed that it is "completely unacceptable" that authorities cannot gain access to messages stored on mobile applications protected by end-to-end encryption, such as WhatsApp. Rudd said she would be discussing the situation with technology companies in the near future.
Since that time, a draft technical paper prepared by the U.K. government has been leaked that contains proposals related to the removal of encryption from private communications. The paper reveals that companies would be required to provide the raw data "in an intelligible form" without "electronic protection" within one working day. Discussions about the feasibility of the proposals are said to be ongoing.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Alipay, the mobile payment system offered by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is coming to the U.S., thanks to a deal brokered with credit card processing service First Data Corp.
The expansion follows limited trials in California and New York, and will bring Alipay into direct competition with Apple Pay, Android Pay, and PayPal. Alongside online payments and money transfers, Alipay users can also hail a taxi, book a hotel, and buy movie tickets directly from within the app.
The partnership will allow Chinese tourists who visit the U.S. to use their mobile phones to complete transactions at 4 million merchants and retailers around the country. That compares to about 4.5 million U.S. merchants that currently accept Apple Pay.
The U.S. is behind China in terms of the proportion of customers using mobile payments, but that's forecast to change in 2018. As noted by Bloomberg, given U.S. consumer's relative indifference to mobile payments, Alipay's entry into the country may actually benefit Apple, as more retailers gear up to offer tap-and-go transactions to shoppers, be they Chinese tourists or U.S. residents.
Alipay has about 450 million customers worldwide, but Alipay's deal with First Data aims to offset the mobile payment's loss of ground in China to rival Tencent Holdings, which has successfully leveraged the popularity of WeChat to roll out WeChat Pay. The WeChat app's dominance in the country is also said to have negatively affected the relevance of iOS features in China.
In February, Apple partnered with China's state-run bankcard association, China Union Pay, enabling the lender's cardholders to use Apple Pay.
Amazon has started running and promoting its own live music gigs in the U.K. as an extra incentive for customers to sign up to its Prime membership (via Engadget).
Called Prime Live Events, the initiative will offer music concert tickets at iconic London venues by major artists performing "up-close and personal". Tickets to the music shows will be exclusive to Prime subscribers and all of the gigs will be filmed and released globally through the company's Prime Video streaming service.
The first Prime Live Event will be on May 23 with a Blondie performance at the Round Chapel in Hackney, followed by shows in June featuring Alison Moyet and Texas, with Katie Melua performing the next month in Chelsea.
The U.K. ticket purchasing service Amazon Tickets – set to launch in the U.S. soon – also got an update today, allowing Prime members to purchase tickets ahead of general public release. Depending on the new initiative's success, Live Events also could be rolled out to other international markets.
Amazon has experimented with the concert hosting strategy before. Robbie Williams performed at St. John Hackney Church on December 14, as did John Legend at The Round Chapel the next day. Both were limited to Amazon customers and later released through Prime Video.
Apple has hosted an annual music event in London for several years now. The iTunes Festival was recently renamed Apple Music Festival to bring it under the banner of Apple's own subscription service, through which fans could view the streamed performances live and on demand.
Amazon is planning to update its Amazon Echo line with a new speaker that includes a screen and video calling capabilities, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The upcoming speaker will feature a 7-inch touchscreen, used to make internet-based video/telephone calls and display visual results for spoken queries. Camera functionality could also be included, mirroring the capabilities of the recently introduced Echo Look.
Amazon's existing Echo speaker
The new Echo screen device will likely support some of the same functionality as the Echo Look, which will enable consumers to take videos and photos of their outfits and compare them via algorithms, according to one of the people. It is unclear why Amazon is launching the two devices so close together or how the market segments they target may differ.
Amazon may be planning to unveil the speaker, which has been in beta testing for a few months, as early as tomorrow, Tuesday, May 9.
Amazon's existing Echo device is currently priced at $150, but it normally sells for $180. The new speaker is expected to be sold for over $200, due to the included display.
Along with the new speaker, Amazon is also said to be planning to roll out telephone services to existing Echo devices over the next few weeks. To begin with, intercom functionality may be available, allowing two Echo devices to communicate with one another.
The imminent launch of an Amazon Echo device with a display comes as Apple is rumored to be nearing the final stages of development on its own Siri-based speaker, which would compete with the Echo and the Google Home.
Rumors have not suggested Apple's upcoming device will include a display, but Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller recently made some comments suggesting voice-activated smart speakers would be better with screens.
According to Schiller, a voice assistant without a screen doesn't "suit many situations," especially when it comes to social networking services, photos, and games.
I have yet to see any voice-only games that, for me, are nearly as fun as the one that I play on my screen. And so I think voice assistants are incredibly powerful, their intelligence is going to grow, they're gonna do more for us, but the role of the screen is gonna remain very important to all of this.
Amazon's new Echo product will be the first of the in-home smart speakers that includes a display. Apple's own device, which is said to include Siri integration and "excellent acoustics performance," reportedly has an "over 50 percent chance" of debuting at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
In celebration of Mother's Day, which takes place on Sunday, May 14, Best Buy is having a major sale and dropping the price on the iPhone 7, Apple Watch Series 2, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy and may earn commissions on purchases made through these links.
All of Best Buy's Apple Watch Series 2 models are available at a $70 discount, dropping the price on the entry-level 38mm models to $299 and 42mm models to $329.
All 9.7-inch iPad Pro models are also available at a discount, with Best Buy dropping the price by $100. For the entry-level 32GB 9.7-inch iPad Pro, that lowers the price to $499.99.
When purchasing and activating an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus on a monthly installment plan through Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon, customers can save up to $300.
Apple's latest MacBook Pro models (the 13-inch version without a Touch Bar) are available from Best Buy for $100 off, dropping the price from $1,499 to $1,399. Both Silver and Space Gray models are discounted.
Best Buy is also discounting the MacBook Air by $200, dropping the price on the entry-level 13-inch model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage from $999.99 to $799.99.
Best Buy's discounted prices will be available through the end of the week, with the deals set to end on May 13.
Instagram made a major change to its service recently, allowing photo uploads from its mobile site for the first time. When accessing the Instagram website on an iPhone or iPad, there's now a new photo upload button.
Prior to the update, Instagram only allowed photo uploads from its mobile apps, and the iOS app is limited to the iPhone, so iPad users were forced to download an iPhone-only app with an unoptimized layout to upload photos to the social network.
The Instagram website on mobile devices was previously only available for browsing photos, liking content, searching, and viewing notifications, but now it's possible to upload photos. A new Explore tab is also rolling out on the web.
In a statement to TechCrunch, Instagram said it's designed to help people "have a fuller experience" on the social network. TechCrunch points out that the mobile upload feature is vital for Instagram's global growth, as many people in developing countries may not be able to download the app due to cellular connectivity and data concerns.
"Instagram.com (accessed from mobile) is a web experience optimized for mobile phones. It's designed to help people have a fuller experience on Instagram no matter what device or network they are on."
Photo uploads are only available when the Instagram mobile site is accessed from an iPhone, iPad, or other smartphone or tablet. The desktop site does not allow for photo uploads.
When T-Mobile first began offering cellular iPads in the fall of 2013, the company included a plan that provided customers with 200MB of free LTE data each month for the life of the tablet, a promotion that is now coming to an end.
As noted by TmoNews, T-Mobile has updated its Free Data for Life support page to note that the program is no longer available for new activations as of May 7, 2017. Customers who signed up for Free Data for Life on or before May 6, 2017, are able to keep the 200MB data plan with their current iPads so long as they continue to be T-Mobile subscribers.
T-Mobile's free data plan has always been tied to a specific device rather than an account, so when upgrading to a new iPad, customers who use Free Data for Life will not be able to keep the data plan. Going forward, no new tablets that are released will be eligible for the program.
Important: As of May 7, 2017, Free Data for Life is no longer available for new activations. If you signed up for FDFL on or before May 6, 2017, you can keep it with your current tablet as long as you own and use your tablet with T-Mobile.
Free Data for Life was originally introduced as one of T-Mobile's Un-carrier initiatives, and T-Mobile was the only company to offer a free data plan for iPads.
T-Mobile currently offers just one data plan, T-Mobile One, with unlimited data. T-Mobile One customers can add a tablet to their plans for $20 per month.
Apple-owned Workflow was updated to version 1.7.4 today, re-introducing features that were removed when Apple acquired the app and adding new Apple Music actions.
For those unfamiliar with Workflow, it's an automation tool that can be used to create a variety of workflows to accomplish tasks like creating GIFs from photos, pulling images from a website, calculating a tip, posting photos to multiple social networks at once, and much more.
When Apple purchased Workflow back in March, several actions were removed, but support for Google Chrome and Pocket has now been re-added and workflows involving those apps are now functional once again.
Along with support for Google Chrome and Pocket, today's update introduces new actions for Apple Music users. There's now an "Add Music to Up Next" action and a "Clear Up Next" action for automatically adding content to an Apple Music playlist.
Today's update also includes a long list of bug fixes, which are outlined below:
- Get Distance now supports getting the distance from a specified location - The order of items passed from a Dictionary action to Choose from List is now preserved - Fixed getting prices for books in Search iTunes Store - Fixed making archives with special characters in the filename on iOS 10.3 and later - Fixed an issue where workflow glyphs in the Today Widget may be stretched and cut off - Fixed an issue where latitude and longitude may be formatted incorrectly in international locales - Fixed an issue where .wflow files may fail to open on iOS 10.3 and later - Fixed an issue where improperly formatted URLs from Pinboard could cause Workflow to crash - Fixed an issue where booleans may not update when their value is changed inside dictionary fields - Fixed an issue where handing off clipboard content from the Today Widget or Action Extension may throw a "The file Clipboard could not be opened" error - Fixed an issue that could cause Workflow to crash on launch - Other bug fixes and minor additions
When Apple purchased Workflow, the Workflow team said app integrations and the Gallery would be updated on a regular basis, but a later report suggested Apple planned no more updates. Based on today's update, which adds new features, that report was incorrect.
Though two new actions have been re-introduced, there are still features missing from the Workflow app. Maps actions are restricted to Apple Maps, and translating text only works with Microsoft's translation services. Other previous app actions, including Uber, Telegram, and LINE, are still unavailable.
Apple may be planning to purchase half a city block in downtown Reno, Nevada, for the purpose of creating a purchasing and receiving facility, reports Reno's KRNV.
The Reno City Council will discuss Apple's plans to purchase the property, located at 6th Street and Evans Avenue, at a Wednesday meeting. Apple is planning to build the facility alongside a planned data center at the Reno Technology Park, which Apple has been pursuing since 2012.
A filing from an assistant city attorney states that Reno and Urban Development have a reimbursement agreement to allow Apple to buy the land. The agreement would have Apple getting sales tax reimbursements through Urban Development for the cost of buying and adding to projects in the city's Téssera district.
Apple already operates one data center in Reno, and has been expanding on it for several years. When finished, the site will encompass 14 buildings and 412,000 square feet.
Apple is also planning to build a second data center adjacent to its existing center and requested permission from the city for the project back in early 2016.
Mother's Day takes place in the United States this Sunday, May 14, and Apple is gearing up to launch an all-new challenge in the Activity app for Apple Watch owners in order to celebrate the national holiday. The challenge will begin showing up in the Activity app this Friday, May 12, but will only be open on Sunday.
To accomplish the challenge, users will have to complete a walk, run, or wheelchair workout that lasts for one mile or longer on Mother's Day. Users who meet that goal will get a Mother's Day achievement in the Activity app, and a sticker to use in Messages. The challenge will only be available to Apple Watch owners in the United States (via 9to5Mac).
"Earn this rose badge and a special Messages sticker on Mother's Day. Just do a walk, run, or wheelchair workout of a mile or more in the Workout app or in any third party app that writes these workouts to Health."
Mother's Day will mark the fourth public challenge that Apple has debuted for Apple Watch owners, coming after a 3.1-mile workout on Thanksgiving, an Activity ring competition in January to celebrate the New Year, and a 30-minute outdoor exercise on Earth Day.
Apple Watch owners can track their Mother's Day workout through Apple's own Workout app, or using any third party app that can connect and track exercise data through the Health app. Similar to the previous Activity challenges, users will have only the designated window -- in this case, one day -- to complete their workout before the achievement and sticker are no longer able to be earned.
Apple's stock is currently trading above the $153 mark for the first time ever, after factoring in a 7-for-1 split in 2014, giving the company a record-high market cap of roughly $800 billion. That means Apple is within $200 billion of becoming the world's first trillion dollar company.
Google Finance values Apple at closer to the $810 billion mark today, but the tool appears to be overcounting the company's number of outstanding shares, which totaled 5,225,791,000 as of last quarter. Apple's outstanding shares have declined as the company continues its share buyback program.
Apple's stock has been on an impressive run since dropping to as low as $89.47 in 2016, when the iPhone maker reported its first decline in annual revenue since 2001, and its first drop in iPhone sales ever.
Apple analyst Brian White of Wall Street investment firm Drexel Hamilton continues to believe Apple "remains among the most underappreciated stocks in the world," with "attractive upside" for investors. White raised his 12-month price target for Apple's stock to $202 today, up from an already bullish $185.
An excerpt from White's research note, distributed today and obtained by MacRumors:
Apple's valuation has been depressed for years as investors grew concerned that Apple would fall victim to the missteps of consumer electronic companies of the past. However, Apple has proven its resilience through its unique ability to develop hardware, software and services that work seamlessly together. We believe this positions Apple very well to capitalize on the trend toward more "things" becoming a computer.
White's price target implies that Apple could become the world's first trillion dollar company within the next year. Apple shares trading for $202 would currently give the company a market cap of around $1.05 trillion.
Over a dozen prominent Wall Street analysts remain upbeat about Apple's stock price heading into the second half of the year, with lots of excitement surrounding the significantly redesigned "iPhone 8" expected to launch in the fall. The smartphone's sales may be boosted by a large "supercycle" of users due to upgrade.
Following a fewreports from last year that centered upon Apple's intent to restore the historic Carnegie Library in Washington D.C. and outfit it as a prime destination for Apple retail, the company has now shared a few renderings and details about the location with The Washington Post.
The location will be home to Apple's new "Today at Apple" events, which will include concerts, art exhibitions, photography classes, coding sessions, and more. Still a retail location, Apple will generate customer interest in purchasing a new product through its Genius Grove, where users can get product assistance on a tree-lined sales floor. The Genius Grove will be located where the Carnegie Library's book collection was previously housed.
What long ago were reading rooms would become places to browse and sample Apple products.
“This is a way of creating a reason to come to the store, to touch and feel our products, but also to have an engaging experience with someone who is passionate about the same thing,” said B.J. Siegel, Apple Retail’s senior design director.
One of Apple's major intentions for the Carnegie Library location is to make its presence there subtle while restoring the building to its "original grandeur." The Apple logo won't be prominently featured on the sides of the Carnegie Library, and the company hopes that it will "take a little work to find the store’s signage and logo." In the render below, the logo appears as small double signage flanking the main entrance to the building.
Carnegie Library is said to take on the history-focused renovations of previous Apple retail locations, including Apple Opéra in Paris and the upcoming location in Brooklyn. Although Apple plans a few changes to Carnegie Library, like a major new skylight above a central events area, the company's intent to find and preserve historic landmarks beloved by a local community is "part and parcel to the experience Apple is trying to create," according to Apple Retail senior design director B.J. Siegel.
Rather than plastering the buildings with the company’s logo, Apple’s designers say they will focus on restoring the building’s historic character. It can take a little work to find the store’s signage and logo — which is the point.
“For us, it wasn’t about coming in and leaving our mark,” Siegel said. “It was about bringing the history back out and respecting it.”
“We’ve discovered that big garish logos on historic buildings don’t work very well, so often we try to find more subtle ways to brand the building,” he added.
For its part, the Washington, D.C. government is on Apple's side, with mayor Muriel E. Bowser stating that Apple's location in Carnegie Library "could link D.C.’s rich history to our continued economic renaissance, will demonstrate the strength of our retail market, and will tell companies across the globe that the District is open for business." The Historical Society of Washington D.C. will remain in offices on the second floor of the building.
Later this evening, Apple is set to present its plans to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in Washington, D.C., but the exact opening date for the Carnegie Library location has not yet been set.
A year after the public disagreement between Apple and the FBI, which centered on the passcode-locked iPhone 5c of the San Bernardino terrorist, one of the major questions remains how much the United States government and the FBI paid for the tool it used to crack open the iPhone. That question became so focused upon that a trio of news organizations filed a lawsuit to find out the exact amount that the tool cost the FBI.
Speculation in the midst of the Apple-FBI drama placed the price of the tool at upwards of $1.3 million, and then somewhere below $1 million. A recent statement by senator Dianne Feinstein appears to confirm the latter estimation, with Feinstein revealing that the U.S. government paid $900,000 to break into the locked iPhone 5c. The classified information came up during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, where Feinstein was questioning FBI director James Comey (via The Associated Press).
Senators Charles Grassley and Dianne Feinstein
"I was so struck when San Bernardino happened and you made overtures to allow that device to be opened, and then the FBI had to spend $900,000 to hack it open," said Feinstein, D-Calif. "And as I subsequently learned of some of the reason for it, there were good reasons to get into that device."
In the ongoing lawsuit filed by the Associated Press, Vice Media, and Gannett, the organizations cite the Freedom of Information Act: "Release of this information goes to the very heart of the Freedom of Information Act's purpose, allowing the public to assess government activity - here, the decision to pay public funds to an outside entity in possession of a tool that can compromise the digital security of millions of Americans." The FBI has repeatedly argued that the number should stay classified.
Despite the ongoing legal battles that the Apple-FBI event sparked, last year the FBI reported that it found "nothing of real significance" after it had gained access to the iPhone 5c, providing answers to some questions about the terrorist attack but generating no solid leads. In regards to the third party who was paid the $900,000 for the hacking tool, it's been widely reported that Israeli firm Cellebrite was the FBI's source, but a more informal group of professional hackers has also been suggested.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
