MacRumors

Apple recently opened up another AppleCare repair warehouse in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, reports 9to5Mac. The 182,000 square-foot facility is the second in the United States, joining Apple's existing warehouse in Elk Grove, California.

Apple's California-based AppleCare warehouse is used as a repair hub, with Apple retail locations across the country shipping damaged products to the facility, where they are repaired or replaced and shipped back out across the United States.

Along with opening a new repair facility, Apple has also been working to cut down on costs and decrease repair times by performing more iPhone repairs in-house, electing to replace displays and other parts in Apple Stores and at Apple Authorized Service Providers rather than offering replacements.

In August, Apple launched a redesigned AppleCare website that includes a simpler interface and 24/7 live chat support. The company is also said to be working on significant changes to its AppleCare services, aiming to switch to per-user AppleCare subscription plans rather than offering per-device coverage.

The home where Steve Jobs first began building computers with Steve Wozniak has been designated a "historic resource" by the Los Altos Historical Commission reports the San Jose Mercury News.

The home, located at 2066 Crist Drive in Los Altos, California, is still owned by Jobs' sister Patricia Jobs and the designation will add an additional layer of reviews should the owners of the home ever try to renovate it.

The vote is the culmination of a two-year effort by the commission to preserve the one-story, ranch-style home as it stands. Chairman Frank Bishop praised the work of his colleagues and city staff, which included extensive research and a property evaluation.

"The documentation looks very complete -- better than some of the books as far as accuracy goes," Bishop said.

The designation will add another layer of review if renovations to the home are ever sought. The commission would be able to make a recommendation to the city council about any proposed changes.

Jobs and Wozniak assembled the first Apple I computers at the home, with the first 50 sold to the Byte Shop in Mountain View for $500 each and the rest sold to friends at the Homebrew Computer Club.

Research firm IDC today released its estimates on worldwide mobile phone sales for the third quarter of 2013, once again showing Apple's iPhone growth trailing that of the overall smartphone market. Apple's 33.8 million iPhone shipments were up 25.7% year-over-year, compared to 38.8% growth for the entire market. Market leader Samsung grew at slightly higher than the industry average, and Apple with its 13.1% share was able to hold onto the second-place ranking ahead of Huawei, Lenovo, and LG, all of which showed strong growth but remained at under 5% market share.

Apple's total volumes speak to the early success of the iPhones 5S and 5C, and the softening demand of older devices prior to the new models launching. The iPhone 5S lived up to the hype of the gold case and the fingerprint sensor, and the iPhone 5C with an array of colors. At the same time, limited usability on the fingerprint sensor and higher-than-expected pricing on the iPhone 5C drew mixed reactions. Still, this did not prevent Apple from enjoying a record 9 million units shipped in their debut.

As in previous quarters, Apple's performance in the overall mobile market benefited from the decline of the featurephone, with the company's 25.7% year-over-year growth easily topping the market's overall 5.7% growth and allowing Apple to remain firmly in third place behind Samsung and Nokia. According to IDC, smartphones accounted for 55% of total mobile phone shipments during the quarter, up from 42% in the third quarter of 2012.

LG Display is reportedly close to a deal with Apple to provide OLED displays for the upcoming iWatch, according to The Korea Herald (via Unwired View). The report also states that RITEK subsidary RiTdisplay will be the other primary display supplier in addition to LG for the smartwatch. Samsung was also said to have met with Apple over becoming a potential supplier for the iWatch, but discussions between the two companies were reportedly "not productive". A report from May stated that Apple had begun sampling 1.5-inch OLED displays from RiTdisplay for the iWatch, as Apple had also hired a senior OLED expert from LG Display this past February.

“Instead of relying on one supplier for its iWatch, which will be unveiled next year, Apple will have two vendors to be safe. The key provider will be RiTDisplay and LG Display will be the second,” Seoul-based HMC Investment Securities’ analyst Kim Young-woo said. “Japan Display might also be a candidate, but so far its capacity seems lacking.”

Apple has been long rumored to be working on the iWatch, which is expected to serve as an accessory to the iPhone and other iOS devices, giving users easy at-a-glance access to common functions along with additional biometric integration. Apple CEO Tim Cook stated in Apple's fourth quarter earnings call yesterday that the company still plans on introducing new product categories within 2014, which is a likely timeframe for the release of the iWatch as previously indicated by sources of the Financial Times as well as supply chain insiders familiar with the matter.

Following today's fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent an email (via 9to5Mac) to employees to thank them for their hard work and to invite them to an employee communications meeting that will be held on Tuesday, October 29.

In the email, Cook notes that he is "extremely proud" of the ongoing collaboration across the company, reporting that business at Apple "has never been stronger."

Team,

We've just posted financial results for fiscal Q4, including record-setting iPhone sales. I am happy to report that Apple's business has never been stronger, and we are heading into the holidays within amazing lineup led by the new iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, the stunning iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display. You and your teams work incredibly hard to deliver the very best products in the world, and our customers simply love them. I'm extremely proud of the collaboration going on across the company and everything we've accomplished as result of this great team effort.

Please join me for an employee communications meeting tomorrow at 9 AM Pacific time. The meeting will be broadcast to locations throughout Cupertino and Apple offices across the world. AppleWeb has a complete list of sites where you'll be able to watch live or see a replay in certain time zones. We've also created a link on AppleWeb where you can submit your questions in advance, and we'll do our best to answer as many as we can during the meeting. I look forward to hearing from you.

Tim

The meeting will be held at 9 AM Pacific Time in Cupertino, and broadcast to employees around the world via a live stream or replay. Apple will also be taking questions from employees, which can be submitted on the internal AppleWeb.

Apple today announced that it had sold a record-breaking 33.8 million iPhones during the September quarter, up from 26.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also announced a total of $37.5 billion in revenue, with a net quarterly profit of $7.5 billion or $8.26 per diluted share.

During today's fourth quarter earnings call, Tim Cook announced that Apple has completed a total of 15 "strategic" acquisitions during the course of fiscal 2013, which equates to one acquisition every three to four weeks.

Over the course of the year, Apple has focused on purchasing quite a few mapping companies, with the aim of improving its mapping services. Acquisitions have included Embark, HopStop, WifiSLAM, and Locationary.

Apple has also recently acquired data compression startup AlgoTrim, personal assistant app Cue, wireless chip developer Passif Semiconductor, and discovery and recommendation startup Matcha.tv.

While quite a few of Apple's acquisitions have been made public, a number of deals have clearly remained under the radar and may come to light as Apple works to unveil products in new categories over the course of 2014.

According to Tim Cook, Apple has "great products" coming in categories that Apple does not currently participate in, potentially alluding to its iWatch or upcoming advances in the television industry.

During today's fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the Retina iPad mini, noting that it is unclear whether Apple will have enough supplies to meet demand for the tablet.

According to Cook, while Apple is aware of how many Retina iPad minis the company can produce, it is unclear how much demand will exist for the tablet. As noted by Apple during the Retina mini's second-generation introduction, a Retina display has been one of the most requested features for the tablet.

Multiple sources have suggested that the Retina iPad mini will be in short supply throughout 2013, which has been all but confirmed by Apple's nebulous November release date. According to a report from last week, following its November debut, Retina iPad mini supplies could be "ridiculously tight" until 2014. Cook did not offer any further information on a prospective launch date.

While supplies of the Retina iPad mini will be constrained, supplies of the iPad Air are expected to be more plentiful. When the iPad Air goes on sale on November 1, the company is expected to offer same day in-store pickup for orders. On account of high quantities of the iPad Air, Cook was positive about overall iPad sales during the quarter, stating "I think it's going to be an iPad Christmas."

Cook also confirmed that Apple has had a significant backlog on iPhone 5s supplies, but is working to build up stock each week. He remains confident that Apple will be able to continue to build up its iPhone 5s supplies as it launches in additional countries around the world in the coming weeks. Currently, iPhone 5s shipping times in the United States and multiple other countries remain at 2 to 3 weeks.

During its financial conference call today, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a new perspective on the company's iPhone strategy.

Cook was asked questions about how Apple plans to address lower price segments of the smartphone market and where the iPhone 5c stands in the lineup. He stated that the iPhone 4s is now the entry-level iPhone contrary to the pre-launch belief that the iPhone 5c would be the entry-level device:

If you look at what we've done, we're selling the iPhone 4s as our entry offer. We sell the iPhone 5c as the mid-tier and the 5s. Our goal is to have growth across the iPhone but we want each of those categories to grow as compared to what we were doing previously. If you look at the total that we're making in the low end and mid tier and high end, the sum there, we'd like to grow in each one of those. We're really please that we did that.

Cook also elaborated the philosophy of seeing the iPhone 4s as the entry level iPhone after discussing foreign device pricing strategy and why the company did not keep the iPhone 4 in its lineup given its sales success:

What we did with our lineup this time was the 4s is replacing the 4. If you look at the US as an example, the 4s is now free. The 4 was free previously. When you translate that out of the US, it depends on the market as to what specifically happens. Currency changes and the strength of the dollar doesn't always play in our favor in some geos.

We see the 4s as our entry iPhone offer that gives somebody the ability to access the entire ecosystem as a fantastic product. We understand that there is elasticity in that market and it will move accordingly.

Apple sold a record 150 million iPhones in fiscal 2013, up 25 million units from 2012. The company has sold 421.3 million smartphones since the iPhone's launch in 2007.

During today's fourth quarter earnings call, Tim Cook confirmed that Apple still plans on introducing new product categories within 2014.

According to Cook, Apple believes that it can use its skills building software, hardware, and services to create "great products" in categories that Apple does not participate in today. "We're pretty confident about that," said Cook.

Apple has been rumored to be working on a number of innovative products, including a smart watch dubbed the iWatch, which will compete with offerings from several other companies like Nike, Jawbone, and Samsung, along with a potential Apple television set.

Apple's iWatch is rumored for a 2014 release, while a possible release date for a television set has been more hazy. The company is also possibly working on other offerings within the television sector, including a potential set-top box that replaces traditional cable boxes.