Apple Inc.

[CityFarmer]

Icahn is right on his bet on Apple, at least till now...

Billionaire Icahn says Apple is one of best buys in decades

NEW YORK (Jan 29): Carl Icahn, one of Apple Inc.’s largest shareholders, said that the stock is undervalued after the company posted record earnings and that he will raise his US$203 target price.

Icahn also suggested buying back more shares.

“I don’t recommend too many stocks unless I think it’s a no-brainer,” Icahn said Wednesday on CNBC. “Apple, I think, is one of the best buys in the last couple of decades.”

Apple reported Tuesday a record US$18 billion quarterly profit, fuelled by holiday sales and the new, larger-screened iPhones.

Shares of the Cupertino, California-based company rose 5.7 percent to US$115.31 at the close in New York, the biggest daily gain since April 24.
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http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...ys-decades

[CityFarmer]

It shows the power of branding. Apple win the battle, even as a late comer for big phone...

Battle of the big phones: Samsung down in China, Apple gains

SEOUL — Samsung lost the battle of the big phones last quarter as Apple’s copycat large iPhone lured buyers in the crucial Chinese market.

The South Korean company said today (Jan 29) its October-December profit sank, with an improvement in its semiconductor business insufficient to mask its mobile problems.

It was in China, the world’s largest market for smartphones, where Samsung’s dramatic decline was most evident. Its weakness there is a key reason why Samsung’s share of global smartphone sales dropped to about one quarter last year from a one-third share in 2013.

Apple contributed to Samsung’s latest reversal in fortune, launching iPhones with bigger screens that robbed Samsung’s Galaxy phones of a key selling point. Samsung was already battling competition in low-end phones from upstart manufacturers such as China’s Xiaomi.

Samsung is struggling in countries such as China because “they’re sort of being eaten from the bottom up by regional players” including Huawei and Xiaomi, said Mr Ben Bajaran, an analyst at Silicon Valley research firm Creative Strategies.

“And now with Apple being competitive in larger phones, you’re seeing Samsung losing any edge they had at the high end,” he said.
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/batt...pple-gains

[CityFarmer]

Apple shareholders are laughing to the bank...

In comparison, the biggest company in market cap in SGX, is Singtel, slightly less than S$66 billion...

Apple closes at record market value of more than US$700 billion

SAN FRANCISCO (Feb 11): The world’s largest company by market capitalization got a little bit bigger on Tuesday.

Apple, which began flirting with a record valuation of US$700 billion during midday trading in November, ended the day at US$710.7 billion, marking the first time a US company has reached that milestone.

Shares rose 1.9 percent to US$122.02 at the close in New York.

The iPhone maker is now more than twice as valuable as longtime rival Microsoft.

Exxon Mobil, the world’s next-biggest company, has a market capitalization of US$385.4 billion.
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http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...00-billion

[CityFarmer]

Carl Icahn wants more from Apple...

Icahn values Apple at more than US$1 trillion

BENGALURU (Feb 12): Activist investor and major Apple shareholder Carl Icahn says the iPhone maker's stock should be trading at US$216, far above its record high of US$124.92 hit on Wednesday.

At US$216 per share, Apple - already the world's most valuable company - would be worth about US$1.3 trillion, or about the size of South Korea's gross domestic product.

The company is valued at just over US$700 billion currently.
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http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...1-trillion

[FA+TA]

Apple has 'several hundred' workers designing new electric car, codenamed 'Titan' - report
By Sam Oliver
Source
Friday, February 13, 2015, 03:12 pm PT (06:12 pm ET)
The smoke surrounding rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle has begun to thicken, as a new report says that Apple is indeed working on an all-electric vehicle that would take the shape of a minivan, with a huge team tasked to the project.

Apple has given the project codename "Titan," according to the Wall Street Journal. The company is said to have "several hundred" employees working in the group.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly green-lighted the project almost a year ago, and company executives have already begun to meet with potential contract manufacturers, including Canadian firm Magna Steyr. Apple iPod and iPhone designer Steve Zadesky, formerly of Ford, is said to be running the project.

The team — which has its own development facility away from the main Infinite Loop campus — could eventually swell to some 1,000 employees, and Zadesky has been given free reign to pull talent from any existing Apple group. Zadesky's group is reportedly researching "robotics, metals and materials consistent with automobile manufacturing."

The Journal's report follows hours after a similar missive from the Financial Times, which revealed a "top-secret research lab" staffed with automotive executives. Among those who have made the move is former Mercedes-Benz R&D head Johann Jungwirth, who joined Apple as a Mac systems engineering leader last fall.

Apple design chief Jony Ive is believed to have been personally recruiting automotive executives. Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed earlier that Apple has tried "very hard" to poach engineers from the electric carmaker, offering $250,000 bonuses and 60 percent pay raises.

Rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle have been around for years, but began to gather steam when Apple was revealed as the company behind a fleet of mysterious sensor-laden vans which have appeared around the U.S. in recent months. Those vans, which are almost certainly designed for data collection to augment Apple's mapping service, are unlikely to be directly related to any potential vehicle project, which is likely years away from production.
The Wall Street Journal - Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars

[CityFarmer]

The battery from the company, A123 Systems, must be really good, for Apple to poach...

Apple exploring settlement with electric car battery maker

Apple Inc is discussing a settlement in a lawsuit brought by electric car battery maker A123 Systems, which accused the iPhone maker of poaching top engineers to build a large-scale battery division.

Apple is exploring how to make an electric car and has been hiring engineers with deep expertise in automobile systems. Around June 2014 Apple began aggressively poaching A123 engineers tasked with leading some of the company's most critical projects, A123's lawsuit said.

In a court filing on Tuesday, Apple asked a Massachusetts federal judge for an extension of time to respond to the A123 lawsuit because "they are exploring potential resolution."

Representatives for Apple and A123 could not immediately be reached for comment. A123 filed the breach of contract lawsuit in February against Apple and five former A123 employees.

Trying to build an actual car would mark a dramatic shift for the maker of the iPhone and iPad. Apple often researches projects which are then discarded, but has so far mainly stuck to its core expertise in mobile and electronic devices.

A123 Systems is a pioneering industrial lithium-ion battery maker, which was backed by a $249 million U.S. government grant. It filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and has been selling off assets.

Lithium-ion is a battery technology that can be used in applications from computers to airplanes, but A123 specializes in big batteries that can be used in big machines, including cars. A123 did not say what specifically the engineers worked on.

The case in U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts is A123 Systems LLC vs. Apple Inc et al., 15-10438. REUTERS
http://www.todayonline.com/business/appl...tery-maker

[CityFarmer]

The only value I have seen, is the limited production of the Apple Watch, not the 18k gold alloy...

Here are the problems with the US$10,000 gold Apple Watch

NEW YORK — So, Apple has released a US$10,000 (S$13,858) watch. It’s one of the most expensive products Apple has ever produced and the brand’s first attempt at creating a real luxury good. Apple didn’t divulge too many details about the watch and where it will be sold, and the questions remain who’s going to buy it and why?

The big rub with the Apple Watch Edition is that the watch is technically identical to its lower priced siblings. Unlike with a traditional mechanical watch, where an increase in price is also typically accompanied by more complex mechanisms and more hand-craft, the Apple Watch Edition is simply shrouded in gold. If you set that case aside, it has the same sapphire glass display, sensors, and electronics as the US$549 Apple Watch. That’s a mark-up of eighteen times the lower price.

Some people will think the gold is beautiful; the yellow doesn’t photograph well, but looks better in person. (I personally prefer the look of the fake gold on the new Macbook.) There’s also rose gold, and both make the watch much heavier and less practical for daily wear. Compared with the aluminum Apple Watch Sport, it feels like a brick. Sure, you’re not running a marathon with the thing, a la Christy Turlington, but you don’t want your wrist to tire before the battery.

Apple is careful to point out that the 18k gold used is a proprietary alloy that’s between two and four times harder than typical gold. According to a patent filed last June, this special gold is created by impregnating a gold matrix with ceramic particles for added toughness. In the same patent, Apple also alludes to future cases made of silver and platinum, so this might not be the only Apple Watch Edition we see.

A hardened gold alloy isn’t an innovation unique to Apple. Since 2012, Swiss watchmaker Hublot has been using a proprietary alloy called Magic Gold that is also a mixture of ceramic and gold certified as 18k. However, Magic Gold scores close to 1000 on the Vickers scale, making it more than twice as hard as Apple’s gold, using a ceramic matrix to support gold particles (the opposite of Apple’s method). Apple has also taken other materials from traditional watchmaking like aniline-dyed leather and sapphire crystal, which have been used for decades.

The Apple Watch Edition will see limited production, though there’s no word yet on what exactly counts as limited. Distribution will be restricted to select retail locations, though Tim Cook was careful in today’s presentation not to limit this to Apple Store locations. There has been speculation that the Apple Watch Edition could be sold alongside tradition luxury watches in jewelry and watch boutiques, though this is yet another detail that will not be revealed until closer to the launch next month.

The has been no mention yet at all of the biggest elephant in the room: what do you do with a solid gold watch when it becomes obsolete? One would hope for some kind of trade-in or recycling program that prevents all that gold from sitting unused in a drawer, but it will likely be a while before we know of anything real. (Many US$10,000 mechanical watches actually rise in value after you purchase as the years go by.)

Ultimately this signals a small shift in Apple’s identity. Apple’s mobile devices have always been the attainable luxury products for the everyman, but these are true luxury goods much closer to a Gucci clutch than an iPad. BLOOMBERG
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/gadgets/...pple-watch

[CityFarmer]

The killing part of the Apple Watch is from lower priced siblings, those priced below $500 (equivalence of 500 Swiss Franc).

Ice age is coming for Swiss watches: Swatch co-inventor

ZURICH — Apple may soon sell as many timepieces as all of Switzerland, threatening the country’s four-century-old industry, the co-inventor of the Swatch predicted.

The Apple Watch may reach sales of 20 million to 30 million units annually in the first few years, Mr Elmar Mock said by phone today (March 10). Switzerland exported 28.6 million watches in 2014.

“Apple will succeed quickly,” said the 61-year-old, who helped create the low-price Swatch in the 1980s. “It will put a lot of pressure on the traditional watch industry and jobs in Switzerland.”

Apple is set to challenge Switzerland’s US$38 billion watch industry after the Cupertino, California-based company shook up markets such as music by driving consumers from CDs to iTunes and eroded Nokia Oyj’s dominance by redefining the mobile phone. While some Swiss brands such as Tissot, TAG Heuer and Montblanc are dipping their toes in the smartwatch market, the industry as a whole has been underestimating the threat, Mock said.

“Anything in the price range of 500 francs to 1,000 francs is really in danger,” said Mr Mock, speaking by phone from Biel, Switzerland. “I do expect an Ice Age coming toward us.”
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/gadgets/...o-inventor

[CityFarmer]

Apple To Replace AT&T In Dow Jones Industrial Average

A change is coming to the 119-year-old Dow Jones Industrial Average: before the end of March, tech behemoth Apple AAPL -1.99% will have joined its ranks, replacing telecom giant AT&T T -1.71%.

S&P Dow Jones Indices, the unit of McGraw Hill Financial that owns the blue-chip index, announced the change Friday morning, saying that the switch will happen after the close of trading on Wednesday, March 18, and will be effective at the start of trading on Thursday, March 19. This is the first rejiggering for the index since September 2013, when Goldman Sachs, Nike and Visa V -2.29% replaced Alcoa AA -1.46%, Bank of America BAC -2.35% and Hewlett Packard.
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrat...l-average/

[NTL]

The killing part of the Apple Watch is from lower priced siblings, those priced below $500 (equivalence of 500 Swiss Franc).

Ice age is coming for Swiss watches: Swatch co-inventor

ZURICH — Apple may soon sell as many timepieces as all of Switzerland, threatening the country’s four-century-old industry, the co-inventor of the Swatch predicted.

The Apple Watch may reach sales of 20 million to 30 million units annually in the first few years, Mr Elmar Mock said by phone today (March 10). Switzerland exported 28.6 million watches in 2014.

“Apple will succeed quickly,” said the 61-year-old, who helped create the low-price Swatch in the 1980s. “It will put a lot of pressure on the traditional watch industry and jobs in Switzerland.”

Apple is set to challenge Switzerland’s US$38 billion watch industry after the Cupertino, California-based company shook up markets such as music by driving consumers from CDs to iTunes and eroded Nokia Oyj’s dominance by redefining the mobile phone. While some Swiss brands such as Tissot, TAG Heuer and Montblanc are dipping their toes in the smartwatch market, the industry as a whole has been underestimating the threat, Mock said.

“Anything in the price range of 500 francs to 1,000 francs is really in danger,” said Mr Mock, speaking by phone from Biel, Switzerland. “I do expect an Ice Age coming toward us.”
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/gadgets/...o-inventor

Swiss watches were once almost killed by Japanese watches, but somehow it manage to survive and bloom. So can Apple watch really kill Swiss watch?

Furthermore, Apple watch will not be able to survive the test of time. In 5yrs, very likely it will become obsolete (both hardware and software), and need to be replaced. Swiss watches, in the other hand, can.