Iphone, Apple | featured news

Apple's China sales rose at a healthy clip in its latest quarter, but the numbers belied growing concerns as the bonanza in high-end smartphones started winding down.

Shares of Apple Inc. hit their lowest levels in a year and half on Wednesday, after a supplier hinted at a slowdown in iPhone and iPad production. The stock was down $20.37, or 4.8 percent, at $405.87. Apple's shares hit $403.67 earlier, the lowest level since Dec. 2011. The decline means Apple has _for now_ lost its position as the world's most valuable publicly traded company to Exxon Mobil Corp.

With the BlackBerry Z10 poised to make its U.S. debut later this week, it's comments from CEO Thorston Heins about the iPhone that have generated buzz. In an interview with the Australian Financial Review, Heins discussed the importance of staying on top of smartphone advancements, citing Apple as an example.

Some interesting numbers from Norwegian browser company Opera today, as their 'State of Mobile Advertising' looks at impressions and revenue in Q4 2012. Much like that great golfing analogy (driving is for show, but putting what wins you the dough), there is a distinct difference in mobile advertising income and expenditures over the two major platforms. And it points to a healthy ecosystem for developers on iOS devices.

As Apple's engineers scramble to fix the security flaws exploited by evasi0n, the latest jailbreak tool to crack the restrictions on its iPhones and iPads, the company may be more than just one move behind the community of hackers targeting its products. In fact, the jailbreakers say they have plenty more bugs in their back pockets, already waiting to jailbreak the next iPhone.

Apple has become the leading U.S. mobile-phone vendor for the first time last quarter, securing a record 34% of market share, and knocking rival Samsung off the top spot. The Cupertino, Calif., company shipped 17.7 million phones during the fourth quarter, growing 4% annually, according to a new report by research firm Strategy Analytics. For comparison; that number jumped from 12.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, when Apple captured 25% of the market.

The launch of the iPhone 5 and the declining popularity of non-smartphones have made Apple the biggest seller of phones in the U.S. for the first time, research firm Strategy Analytics said Friday.

The slump in Apple Inc's share price from its September high has badly dented the returns of hundreds of mutual funds that had maintained outsized holdings of the stock. But some went sour on the iPhone-maker just in time.

Apple Inc missed revenue expectations for the third straight quarter after sales of its flagship iPhone came in below Wall Street's targets, driving its shares down 6 percent.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Global Marketing, said in an interview to a Chinese newspaper that “cheap smart phones will not be developed in order to grab market share away”. There have been a number of analysts, especially over the past few days, and the Wall Street Journal who have speculated that Apple will come out with a lower priced iPhone in potentially a smaller format.