apple

Apple is readying a bond offering, its first since 1996.

The program, which The Wall Street Journal says could be finalized later today, is designed to help Apple pay for the more than $100 billion it plans to pay shareholders over the next few years.

Apple detailed initial plans for the program in a regulatory filing on Monday, and once again on Tuesday. It's a mix of notes and securities that mature beginning in 2016, and go through 2043, though Apple did not provide prices. Bloomberg suggests the total could go as high as $17 billion.

The bond sale … Read more

Judge Lucy Koh, who has presided over the Apple v. Samsung patent spat, has given a management order that a new trial will focus on recalculation of the $450.5 million award given to Apple in August.

Due to begin November 12, the new trial will decide whether the damage award was incorrectly given by the jury in the original patent dispute, according to a court filing. Koh has previously stated that the jury's damage award was incorrectly calculated in part, and only a new trial will determine the final amount to be awarded to the iPad and iPhone … Read more

Apple is already making some inroads into the vehicle market, but the company has much broader plans, according to a new report.

Apple is currently working with car makers to integrate iPhones and perhaps iPods into car consoles, 9to5Mac is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of its plans. Apple envisions a way for iPhone owners to plug their devices into cars and then use specially optimized versions of Siri and Maps for in-vehicle use.

Last year at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple announced "Eyes-Free Siri," which was designed for car makers to integrate the … Read more

The original iPhone will soon leave its current "vintage" status and become an obsolete product in Apple's eyes, according to an internal document seen by blog site 9to5 Mac.

This change is slated to happen on June 11, 2013, which means that on this date people with the original iPhone will no longer be able to get it repaired or otherwise serviced.

The change will take place for consumers in the Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America regions, and in Apple's retail stores, according to the document, but the original iPhone will remain in vintage status for … Read more

It's no secret Apple plans to show off the next major version of iOS at its annual developers conference in June, though what exactly will be different about the new software has been fuzzy.

Citing multiple people who have actually seen Apple's next iOS endeavor, 9to5Mac says Apple's making big changes in the look and feel of the software. Specifically making everything -- from app icons to interface features -- "very flat," as opposed to the bubbly and oftentimes realistic interfaces that have stayed mostly unchanged since 2007.

On top of this, the report adds … Read more

Apple's tried and true habit of releasing one iPhone a year is not lost on consumers, who typically buy the least number of the devices in the quarter just before the new model goes on sale.

But if Apple were to extend its usual turnaround time this year, it could seriously ding Apple's share in what's become a multi-horse smartphone race, says Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi.

In a note to investors on Monday, Sacconaghi said he expects the iPhone's market share among smartphones to go from about 17 percent down to 12 percent in the … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- With few other outlets, inmates review prisons on Yelp.

- SF cops going undercover to stop stolen iPhone sales.

- Smoking near Apple computers voids warranty.… Read more

If you've never been to a wedding that ended in a punch-up, you really haven't lived.

There's always something so bracing in seeing people devolve to their true, animal state, drunk and flailing their fists.

Someone at Microsoft clearly has recent experience with such a thing, as the company Monday released a new ad that describes the constant spat between fanpersons of Apple and Samsung as a battle between two tribes of the insane.

We are at a wedding. Everything seems fine, until someone with a very large Galaxy phone gets in the way of someone with … Read more

With all of the 10 hottest years on record having come since 1998, it's hard to deny that things are getting hotter. And as the temperature rises, so too does society's power usage.

With that in mind, Nest, the maker of the Learning Thermostat, has just issued its latest software update aimed at increasing people's comfort, while at the same time reducing their energy bills.

Last week, the company unveiled Nest Energy Services, a set of initiatives available to customers of certain utility companies that has a similar goal. But the new software update works for anyone … Read more