Related Tickers: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), KKR Financial Holdings LLC (NYSE:KFN), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Apple Finally Reveals How Long Siri Keeps Your Data (Wired)
All of those questions, messages, and stern commands that people have been whispering to Siri are stored on Apple servers for up to two years, Wired can now report. Yesterday, we raised concerns about some fuzzy disclosures in Siri’s privacy policy. After our story ran, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller called to explain Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s policy, something privacy advocates have asking for. This is the first time that Apple has said how long it’s keeping Siri data, but according to Nicole Ozer, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who first brought these Siri privacy questions to our attention, there’s still more that Apple could do.
Why Apple Cannot Finance Its Own Buyout To Go Private (Forbes)
Matt Yglesias has an interesting idea. Why can’t Apple simply buy itself off the stock market and go private? The price earnings ratio seems good enough that it might be able to pull off such a deal. I’ve certainly mentioned the idea here once before. Yglesias thinks that it’s just too big a deal. The markets aren’t large and liquid enough to be able to finance it. The problem here is that in inflation-adjusted terms the largest leveraged buyout in history was KKR Financial Holdings LLC (NYSE:KFN)’s $55.38 billion aquisition of RJR Nabisco back in 1989 (that was $31.1 billion 1989 dollars). Could Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) tap its ~$140 billion in cash reserves to cut down on its borrowing needs and make the scenario more realistic? It sure could. But the problem is that a $512 billion loan isn’t really any more realistic than a $567.38 billion loan. It’s just way too much money. They say some banks are too big to fail, but Apple is too big to buy.
Apple sets earnings call for Tuesday (CNET)
The hard numbers on the fiscal second quarter will come out first, but for further details Apple watchers will want the lowdown from the company’s conference call. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) said Friday morning that it will hold its conference call for the press at 2 p.m. PT on Tuesday, April 23, a little less than an hour after the earnings press release hits the wires. There will also be an accompanying live Webcast at that time.
Woz: Apple’s Share Price May Be Disappointing Now, But They Will Probably Surprise Us All (TechCrunch)
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) with Steve Jobs, said today that Apple’s share price, which hit a 16-month low two days ago, is “disappointing” but that he was confident the tech giant would come out with products which would “surprise and shock us all.” In a wide-ranging speech at the Login technology conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Woz – as he is known – said: “[Apple’s] stock price is a little low right now. Over time I’ve seen Apple go up or down 2x over a few months. It’s very disappointing because if you look at the amount of cash that Apple holds that cash translates to one to two hundred dollars per share of stock just in cash form. So the expectations are a little lower even than they expect.
Apple’s iPad Dominates Tablet Web Usage with 82% Share. (Forbes)
Chitika Insights sampled tens of millions of U.S. and Canadian tablet from March 15th to 21st. Not surprisingly Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPad continues to dominate tablet Web usage with 82% share which is up slightly from February’s 80.5%. From MoPub’s lastest survey…
…mobile ad spend share for all iOS devices increased slightly to over 75% in March. Monthly ad spending on iPhones increased 12% quarter over quarter and now accounts for just over 50% of all mobile ad spending. The iPad’s share decreased to 19% and the iPod fell to 6%.
Why Apple’s alliance with Yahoo makes sense (USA TODAY)
Chinese site exploits Apple’s own tools to distribute pirated apps without jailbreaking (The Verge)
Chinese pirate site 7659 is exploiting Apple’s bulk enterprise licensing tools to distribute free versions of paid App Store applications. Bulk enterprise licensing is supposed to let businesses send in-house apps to employees without dealing with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s App Store. It works via a developer provisioning profile, which facilitates “sideloading” of sorts without jailbreaking. The site is only open to users in China, but that restriction can be circumvented via proxy server. According to VentureBeat, 7659 is full of apps that would otherwise cost money. Those include our best new app last week, Badland, which is usually $3.99, and Final Fantasy V, priced at $15.99 in the App Store.
After Apple’s Rise, a Bruising Fall (CNBC.com)
Wall Street has turned viciously on its one-time iDarling. The rout in Apple’s share price — it fell nearly 2.7 percent on Thursday, bringing the damage since late September to 44 percent — has many wondering when, and where, all of this will end. The answer, of course, is that no one really knows. Yes, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is slowing, as companies inevitably do. But Apple remains enormously profitable and the envy of corporations worldwide. And yet Apple’s decline in the stock market has been so swift and so brutal that the development has begun to change the way investors view the company. Apple no longer looks like a sure thing.
Motorola patent that banned Apple’s push mail in Germany may be invalid, court says (PCWorld)
A Motorola Mobility patent that was successfully used to force Apple to turn off its iCloud push email services for users in Germany last year could be invalid, the District Court in Mannheim, Germany, said on Friday. The court said it doubted the validity of Motorola’s patent entitled “Multiple Pager Status Synchronization System and Method,” also known as the push notification patent, in a lawsuit between Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Google-owned Motorola alleged that several Windows Phone devices in Germany infringed on this patent, according to Microsoft.
Survey finds 19% of consumers interested in buying Apple ‘iWatch’ (Apple Insider)
A new survey has discovered strong consumer interest for a hypothetical “iWatch” from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), with 19 percent of consumers declaring themselves “likely” to buy such a device. The new data from ChangeWave Research published on Friday found that…
…5 percent of consumers considered themselves “very likely” to purchase a smart watch from Apple for themselves or someone else. Another 14 percent indicated they are “somewhat likely” to do the same. In comparison, 18 percent of consumers polled in January 2010 said they were likely to buy a hypothetical Apple tablet, with 4 percent of those “very likely.” And another poll conducted in 2005 found that the number of people interested in purchasing an Intel-based Mac was the same: 18 percent.
How Samsung Competes With Apple in Design (Forbes)
With the Galaxy S3 and the upcoming S4, Samsung has at least caught up with Apple’s design ethos. You can question whether or not Samsung is now a better designed product or not, but the word from the street is that kids do not find Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) all that cool – set that against the China market where everyone wants an iPad. Whereas we all now know a lot about Jony Ive, we know comparatively little about Samsung’ designers. I got a change to put some questions to Samsung Electronics chief mobile designer recently, by email, in order to get a better feel for the company’s design culture.
At $385.10, Apple Inc. ex-cash has never been so cheap (CNNMoney)
In the fall of 2000, when you could buy Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for $7, the stock’s value measured by how much profit it was generating for each outstanding share — the famous PE ratio — hit an all-time low of 5.76, according to Wolfram Alpha. On Friday morning, when the stock touched $385.10, Apple’s value hit a new low. With $137.1 billion in cash and marketable securities as of December, Apple’s PE ratio ex-cash hit 5.42. That’s almost certainly a modern record for a company of this size, profitability and growth rate.
