Apple May Face Sanctions Over Documents in Privacy Suit (Bloomberg)
Apple Inc. (AAPL) may face court-ordered penalties over its information-sharing practices in a privacy lawsuit after the iPhone maker was previously scolded for “unacceptable” conduct. U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal, at a hearing yesterday in San Jose, California, invited plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case to pursue sanctions against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) after saying that the company’s document production “has more than doubled since the court got involved” in policing information-sharing obligations.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) hired Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch, adding a software executive who helped build some of the earliest Macintosh applications and later sparred publicly with the iPhone maker. Lynch, who has worked at Adobe since 2005, will become Apple’s vice president for technology, reporting to Senior Vice President Bob Mansfield, the Cupertino, California-based company said yesterday. During Lynch’s tenure, Apple and the software maker clashed over the use of Adobe’s Flash video program on Apple’s devices. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) co-founder Steve Jobs said Flash was ill-suited for mobile computing and banned its use on the iPhone or iPad. Lynch said the move would cost Apple customers.
Billionaire David Einhorn’s Big Moves: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Aetna Inc. (AET), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) (Insider Monkey)
Billionaire David Einhorn, founder of value-oriented hedge fund Greenlight Capital, managed to return some 21.5% annually through 2010 (since he started Greenlight in 1991). Greenlight and Einhorn employ a fundamental approach to investing, focusing on intrinsic value. During the fourth quarter last year, Einhorn reiterated his confidence in a couple of his top picks by adding to his positions, notably keeping a certain tech giant as his top pick, while also betting on a couple other tech companies.
Wednesday movers: Apple heads south on price cut (MarketWatch)
Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) and BlackBerry were notable technology stocks trading higher Wednesday while Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) retreated after suffering a yet another price target cut. Apple AAPL is headed south after Michael Walkley, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, lowered his price target to $600 from $650 although he kept a buy rating on the stock. “Based on our handset market analysis and discussions with suppliers, we believe Apple could launch a refreshed iPhone 5S this summer or during third quarter versus our initial expectation for a launch in June,” Walkley wrote in a note.
Adobe, Blackberry, H-P head up tech gains (MarketWatch)
Tech stocks were up Wednesday morning with Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) and Blackberry Inc. putting in strong gains, and Hewlett-Packard Co. also edging upward ahead of the company’s shareholders’ meeting. Adobe shares rose more than 4.5% to $42.60 after the software company reported late Tuesday a fiscal first-quarter profit of $65.1 million, or 13 cents a share, on $1.01 billion in revenue. During the same period a year ago, Adobe earned $185.2 million, or 37 cents a share on sales of $1.05 billion.
Apple finally fixes lockscreen vulnerability with iOS 6.1.3 release (techradar.computing)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has today released iOS 6.1.3, a minor software bump to eliminate the security vulnerability that had allowed the iPhone lockscreen to be bypassed by unauthorised users. Through a complex combination of button presses, hackers had been able to crack iOS 6.1 and access the device’s call log, contact list, and photo albums without entering the user’s passcode. The issue was first unearthed by hackers on February 14 and, while Apple almost immediately acknowledged the problem, a fix had not been forthcoming until now.
Japan expresses its love for Apple and Steve Jobs, in manga (The Japan Times)
Apple Inc. has been always loved by people in Japan. Even during its toughest years, in the 1990s, after cofounder Steve Jobs had been expelled and the company was almost dead, its Macintosh computer held a much greater market share in Japan than in other countries. At that time, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) made up over 10 percent of all personal computers sold here, when the world share was around 5 percent.
Nobody needs an Apple iWatch or anything like it (CNN Money)
Apple and Samsung’s purported desire to create a “smart” watch to pair with their smartphones seems to be an incredibly dumb idea. The two, usually wise, companies would be making a grave mistake entering the low-margin cellular accessory market, where the competition is fierce and the barriers to entry are incredibly low. Furthermore, the utility of such a device seems questionable, likely appealing to a limited subset of consumers of unfashionable geeks and pudgy weekend warriors.
Apple’s $137 billion burns a hole in someone else’s pockets (CNN Money)
The first paragraph of the commentary posted Wednesday on the website of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank founded by, among others, Clinton-era labor secretary Robert Reich, lays out the thrust of the argument pretty succinctly: “For more than a year, there has been a high-profile debate over what Apple should do with its enormous cash reserve, now amounting to $137 billion…”
Apple’s newest vice president: Bozo or rising star? (CNN Money)
The news that Apple (AAPL) has hired Kevin Lynch, formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE)’s chief technology officer, to be its new vice president of technology, has sparked something of a civil war among Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) partisans. So who is Kevin Lynch? As AppleInsider’s Daniel Eran Dilger points out, he’s a seasoned software team leader who could help fill the vacuum created with the departure last fall of Scott Forstall.
Walmart adds iPhone scan-and-checkout feature to 12 more markets (Reuters)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it is tripling the number of U.S. stores in a pilot program that lets shoppers scan items with their iPhones and pay at self-checkout counters. Walmart’s “Scan & Go” program will soon be in more than 200 stores, up from about 70. The pilot began near its home office in Bentonville, Arkansas in late 2012, then expanded to Atlanta.
