MacRumors

Apple's stock is now down 20% since its all-time high set in mid-September, with investors concerned about the company's prospects for the future amid a management shakeup and questions about where the company's next major revenue growth driver will come from. Samsung's rise to prominence in mobile device markets is also weighing on Apple as the iPhone's market share growth has slowed or even declined in recent quarters.

The difficulties being experienced by Apple are gradually gaining higher visibility outside of the financial markets, with ABC's Nightline running a segment (via Fortune) addressing the issues. The evening news show had previously been granted access to Foxconn factories producing Apple products in response to public criticism over worker treatment at the facilities.

Apple is expected to have a monster holiday quarter on the strength of the iPhone 5, iPad mini, fourth-generation iPad, and updated iPod and Mac models nearly across the board. But with Foxconn still struggling to meet demand for production of the iPhone 5, which is Apple's primary revenue driver, there are some concerns about whether the quarter's performance will be quite as big as many are hoping for.

Apple has updated its Apple Store app [App Store] with support for Siri, and the ability to email Passbook enabled gift cards to friends via the app. However, despite being in the release notes, neither the gift card feature and Passbook support appear to be enabled yet.

What's New in Version 2.4

- Buy new gift cards and email them to friends and family right from the app. These gift cards are easily integrated with the new Passbook app (U.S. only, iOS 6 required).

- Ask Siri to help you find prices and shop for Apple products. (Siri-enabled device required.)

Asking Siri things like "How much is the MacBook Pro?" routes users directly into the Apple Store app, generally to the section they've asked about. This adds to Siri's app-related abilities; on Monday it was reported that in iOS 6.1, Siri would support movie ticket purchases via Fandango.

The Apple Store app is available via the App Store. [Direct Link]

Today, DC Comics announced that its entire lineup of comics are coming to the iBookstore. Previously, only DC's graphic novels were available on the store.

DC Entertainment, the #1 comic book publisher in the U.S., announced today its entire line of periodical comic books are now available for download from the top three e-bookstores including Kindle Store, iBookstore and NOOK Store. The precedent setting new digital availability brings bestselling DC Comics and Vertigo periodical titles, including JUSTICE LEAGUE, BATMAN, SUPERMAN, DETECTIVE COMICS, ACTION COMICS, BATGIRL, WONDER WOMAN, GREEN LANTERN, FABLES and AMERICAN VAMPIRE, among many others, to an even broader audience of digital readers.

DC will continue to deliver comics through its DC Comics and Vertigo apps, as well as the comiXology platform. The inclusion of the comics on the iBookstore is intended to make it easier for comic readers to purchase via their preferred digital outlet.

Three US carriers have announced plans to improve their coverage areas, with AT&T announcing a $14 billion new investment, T-Mobile bringing HSPA+ or 4G support to three new metropolitan areas, and Sprint announced a $480 million spectrum and customer acquisition from regional carrier U.S. Cellular.

AT&T says it is investing $14 billion to expand its wireless and wireline IP broadband networks in order to accommodate future growth in high-speed Internet connectivity.

AT&T today announced plans to invest $14 billion over the next three years to significantly expand and enhance its wireless and wireline IP broadband networks to support growing customer demand for high-speed Internet access and new mobile, app and cloud services. The investment plan – Project Velocity IP (VIP) – expands AT&T's high-potential growth platforms, helping drive continued increases in revenues from existing and new products and services, and earnings per share.

T-Mobile announced that it has brought HSPA+ service to three new metropolitan areas, expanding its 'Bring Your Own Phone' marketing effort. T-Mobile says iPhone 4S devices running on its network experience 70% faster connections than comparable devices on AT&T.

T-Mobile customers can now experience these improvements in:

Washington D.C.: Alexandria, VA; Arlington, VA; Chevy Chase, MD; Falls Church, VA; Laurel, MD; McLean, VA; and Silver Spring, MD.

Baltimore: Glen Burnie and Towson, MD

Houston: Cypress, Jersey Village, Humble, Kingwood, and The Woodlands.

T-Mobile network advancements also continue in additional cities including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York metro area, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle. Customers in parts of these metro areas are already experiencing improved coverage and iPhone “speed sightings” on T-Mobile’s 4G network.

Finally, Sprint is purchasing 585,000 Midwestern subscribers and a chunk of related spectrum from U.S. Cellular for $480 million. U.S. Cellular customers in Chicago, St. Louis, central Illinois, and other Midwestern markets are affected. Japanese carrier Softbank recently purchased a controlling interest in Sprint.

(Image via Flickr/Gary Lerude)

Apple analyst Horace Dediu has dug deep into Apple's 2012 capital expenditures and found some spending, above and beyond what Apple had previously disclosed. He discovered that Apple spent $2.3 billion more than it had forecast on "product tooling, manufacturing process equipment and infrastructure".

However, Apple didn't actually shell out cash for its increase in CapEx, but instead is booking vendor financing. Dediu believes it may have been to bail out Sharp, which was in dire financial straits earlier this year.

Circumstantial evidence points to the asset being production equipment (or even a whole plant) previously owned by Sharp. Sharp is a key supplier of screens to Apple but is also in financial distress. Sharp has also been the object of an intended investment by Foxconn [Hon Hai]. That deal fell through as Sharp’s finances deteriorated. My guess is that these attempts to shore up Sharp are directed by Apple to ensure both continuity of supply and a balanced supplier base (offsetting Samsung, another supplier.) If Sharp were to enter into some form of bankruptcy, the key plant(s) used in producing screens for Apple might be "up for grabs" by creditors and they might be taken off-line, jeopardizing Apple’s production capacity, irrespective of contractual obligations. I believe that Apple’s late and unprecedented expenditure was to secure this asset. I further believe that the financing for this deal was done through a swap of "pre-orders".

Dediu has much more on the spending and his analysis at Asymco.

Eddy Cue, Apple's head of Internet Software and Services (including Siri and Maps), has joined Ferrari's board of directors. Cue is a bit of a sports car buff and says he has owned a Ferrari for five years.

Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo said Cue's "huge experience in the dynamic, innovative world of the Internet will be of great assistance to [the company]." Di Montezemolo met Apple CEO Tim Cook earlier this year at a Stanford University event. He praised Apple, saying the two companies "are connected by the same passion, the same love for the product, maniacal attention to technology, but also to design."

I am pleased and proud to become a member of the board. I have personally dreamed of owning a Ferrari since I was 8 years old and have been lucky to be an owner for the past 5 years. I continue to be awed by the world-class design and engineering that only Ferrari can do.

Cue was recently profiled as a "master negotiator and product resuscitator" after he was given charge of Siri and Maps. The Ferrari press release was noticed by AppleInsider.

Reuters reports that Foxconn chairman Terry Gou has acknowledged that his company is struggling to keep up with demand for the iPhone 5, echoing an earlier report addressing the difficulty of assembling the phone to meet strict quality control standards.

"It's not easy to make the iPhones. We are falling short of meeting the huge demand," Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou told reporters after a business forum.

However, he declined to comment on brokerage reports saying that the group's other unit, Foxconn International Holdings (FIH), had taken on some production.

The Wall Street Journal has another report on Gou's comments, quoting him as saying that Foxconn is shipping "far fewer" iPhones than Apple has requested.

"Market demand is very strong, but we just can't really fulfill Apple's requests," Taipei-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Chairman Terry Gou told reporters on the sidelines of a local economic forum.

Mr. Gou declined to say which of the phone's design features has caused production issues and how long it will take for those issues to be solved.

Availability of the iPhone 5 remains tight some six weeks after the first round of launches, with Apple's online stores generally quoting 3-4 week shipping estimates and lines forming at some Apple retail stores on a daily basis as customers seek out available stock.

Bloomberg reports that VirnetX has been awarded a $368.2 million judgment against Apple in a 2010 patent lawsuit over virtual private networking (VPN) connectivity related to Apple's FaceTime video calling feature.

The VirnetX patents cover the use of a domain-name service to set up virtual private networks, through which a website owner can interact with customers in a secure way or an employee can work at home and get access to a company’s electronic files. VirnetX had sought $708 million in damages.

“For years Apple refused to pay fair value for the VirnetX patents,” Doug Cawley, a lawyer with McKool Smith in Dallas who represents VirnetX, said in closing arguments. “Apple says they don’t infringe. But Apple developers testified that they didn’t pay any attention to anyone’s patents when developing their system.”

The technology was developed as part of work conducted by defense company SAIC on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency, and VirnetX is a holding company created by former SAIC employees. VirnetX has indicated that it plans to seek a halt to continuing use of its technology by Apple, so it is unclear how the two parties will proceed toward a potential resolution that would keep FaceTime intact.

The Pixar Times reports (via 9to5Mac) that Pixar has recently named its main building in honor of Steve Jobs, with a Pixar employee tweeting a friend's photo showing the new name on the building.

Peering in through the windows, you can clearly see the outline of Sulley, confirming that this is the main building that Steve Jobs himself played a major role in designing. He came up with the idea that the building should be centered around a large atrium, which would lead to accidental collaboration that may not occur if everyone was stuck in their individual offices.

Jobs famously invested $10 million to purchase Pixar from Lucasfilm in 1986, with the animation studio being sold to Disney 20 years later for $7.4 billion.

Back in July, Apple revealed during developer testing of iOS 6 that it would be launching new icloud.com email addresses for users of the service, with former MobileMe members using me.com or mac.com address also receiving equivalent icloud.com addresses.

Those new icloud.com addresses have been rolling out gradually over the past several months for former MobileMe members, and Apple now appears to have completed that transition, sending out an email to former MobileMe members notifying them of the new email address option.

All new iCloud Mail accounts now come with an @icloud.com email address. As an existing user, we'd like to offer you this new address as well. We have reserved [MobileMe user name]@icloud.com for you, and you can now use this address with your iOS devices and computers by following these simple instructions.

If you prefer, you can continue to use your current email address just as you always have.

No matter which address you use, you'll continue to receive all your mail, whether it's sent to your @me.com, @mac.com, or @icloud.com address.

There has been a significant amount of discussion about Microsoft's rumored plans to bring Office to iOS devices, and The Verge now weighs in with additional details and a few screenshots from the project. According to the report, Office Mobile for iOS and Android will launch in early 2013 but will not offer anything close a true Office experience, with the editing functionality it does offer coming through an Office 365 subscription.

Office Mobile will debut in the form of free apps that allow Android and iOS users to view Microsoft Office documents on the move. Like the existing SkyDrive and OneNote apps, Office Mobile will require a Microsoft account. On first launch, a Microsoft account will provide access to the basic viewing functionality in the apps. Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents will all be supported, and edit functionality can be enabled with an Office 365 subscription.

Microsoft will allow iOS users to purchase an Office 365 subscription within the app, or let organizations distribute codes to enable Office Mobile editing for users. The apps will allow for basic editing, but we're told this won't go very far in attempting to replace regular full use of a desktop Office version.

The report indicates that Office Mobile for iOS is currently planned for launch in late February or early March, with the Android version following several months later.

SlashGear reports on an article [Google translation] from Chinese site DoNews claiming that Apple's iPad mini display partner AU Optronics has a Retina-resolution display in the pipeline for the next generation of the device, which is expected to be launched next year. There has been considerable discussion about how quickly Apple might be able to move to a Retina display in the device, and today's report suggests that Apple may not have to wait several generations to make the jump as it did with its other iOS devices.

A separate report from MENAFN claims that AU Optronics will be adopting indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) and Gate IC on array (GOA) technologies in order to reach the Retina resolution in a thin design required for the iPad mini.

It is said that ultrahigh resolution can not be developed without the technology of indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO), and the technology of Gate IC on array (GOA) is also indispensable since the next-generation iPad Mini will have an ultra-narrow frame. The technology of GOA helps save the room of IC on the rim and narrow the frame of the screen to the largest extent.

Speaking of the progress of the development of iPad Mini, AUO claimed that it had solved the problem of yield and there would be no light leak as existed before. The company would ship the products in large scale in the fourth quarter.

One major issue with both of the reports is confusion over the pixel density on these panels. Both reports claim that the Retina-level iPad mini display would carry a density of 497 pixels per inch (ppi), whereas such a display would actually have the same 326 ppi seen on the last several generations of the iPhone. MENAFN also misstates the density of the full-size iPad's display as 326 ppi, while DoNews correctly lists it as 264 ppi.

Continuing the seemingly endless patent lawsuits between Apple and Samsung, Apple today argued that Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet infringes on its patents, as well as Samsung's implementation of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system on its devices.

Apple has also said it wants to add a number of Samsung products with stylus pens to its lawsuit as well, Bloomberg reports.

Andrew Liao, an Apple attorney, told Grewal today that the Galaxy Nexus is the only phone with Jelly Bean that Apple seeks to add to the patent complaint. Liao also said Apple wants to add 17 devices that could use a stylus even though the products don’t ship with a stylus.

Victoria Maroulis, an attorney for Samsung, said the company wants to add only one product, the iPhone5, to its complaint. Maroulis said Samsung opposes the addition of "stylus products in 17 new devices" to Apple’s claims.

"By adding the stylus, Apple is going to enlarge the case significantly," she said.

The case regarding the Galaxy Note 10.1 and Samsung's implementation of Jelly Bean is scheduled for trial in 2014. Judge Lucy Koh will also consider appeals in the previously decided Samsung v. Apple case in December.

In what should not be a significant surprise, Apple is already hard at work on OS X 10.9, the next major version of its Mac operating system. Signs of OS X 10.9 showing up in web logs were publicized [Google translation] earlier today by Czech site Letem světem Applem, and 9to5Mac confirmed that some of the OS X 10.9 hits showing up on its own site were coming from Apple's corporate network.

A look at our own logs shows similar activity, although there has not been a noticeable uptick in hits over the past several months. Rather, we have been seeing a number of spikes in activity since at least mid-August, consistent with limited internal testing during the working week. Similar patterns were previously seen for OS X 10.8 in 2011 and OS X 10.7 in 2009/2010.

It is trivial to fake such identification strings, meaning that at least some of the data should be considered untrustworthy. But hits identified as coming from Apple's own networks carry a much greater likelihood of being legitimate, and so it seems fairly clear that Apple is indeed using systems running OS X 10.9 to browse the Internet.

A release date for OS X 10.9 is currently unknown, but Apple has stated that is moving toward a more rapid development cycle on OS X, with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion's July 2012 launch coming almost exactly one year after the debut of OS X 10.7 Lion. Assuming a similar timeline for OS X 10.9, Apple may begin releasing developer previews in early 2013 ahead of a public launch in the middle of the year.

Just as Apple's iPad mini joins the market of smaller tablets with displays of 7-8 inches, The Verge reports that Microsoft is preparing to launch its own 7-inch tablet. Interestingly, rather than simply being a smaller version of its just-launched 10-inch Surface tablet, the forthcoming "Xbox Surface" tablet will be a gaming-focused device running a scaled down version of Windows.

Alleged specs for the device leaked back in June, and The Verge now says that the leak was indeed accurate at the time, although the company's plans have continued to evolve.

The Xbox Surface will likely include a custom ARM processor and high-bandwidth RAM designed specifically for gaming tasks. We're told these specifications could be altered to accommodate an unannounced Intel SoC and that the Xbox Surface is being developed independent of specific hardware architecture. Microsoft's Xbox Surface won't run a full version of Windows, rather this 7-inch tablet will run a custom Windows kernel. Messaging and other tablet functions may be supported, but the focus is on gaming.

Microsoft is said to be operating in strict secrecy on the Xbox Surface project, locking down several buildings on its campus as it apparently brings teams on to develop games and other software for the device. Microsoft is said to also be planning for production of the device to take place at the same dedicated facilities being used for the larger Surface rather than using traditional contract assembly companies like Pegatron or Foxconn.

Following last Friday's launch of the fourth-generation iPad, Apple has apparently already come close to meeting demand for the new device. As noticed by 9to5Mac, Apple is now listing all Wi-Fi models of the new iPad as "in stock" in the company's U.S. online store.

The immediate availability appears to extend to a number of Apple's online stores around the world, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. Shipping estimates remain at 3-5 business days in most of Apple's other online stores for countries where the device has launched, but it is not unusual for changes in Apple's shipping estimates to roll out to different regions on slightly different schedules.

The iPad mini remains in short supply, with Apple continuing to quote shipping estimates of two weeks for new orders of Wi-Fi models. Cellular-capable models appear to remain on track, with Apple quoting "Mid November" in the United States and "Late November" in other countries.

Reuters reports that regulators with the European Union are preparing to approve an offer from Apple and four book publishers to settle an antitrust action related to e-book pricing.

Apple, Simon & Schuster, News Corp unit HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Livre, and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, the owner of German company Macmillan, made the proposal to the European Commission in September.

The move came after the EU antitrust authority opened an investigation into the companies' e-book pricing model, which critics say prevents Amazon and other retailers from undercutting Apple.

Officials in the U.S. and Europe have been taking on Apple and publishers over a shift to an agency model for pricing in which publishers set retail prices for books and distributors such as Apple and Amazon receive a set percentage of the sales price. The model, championed by Apple for the 2010 launch of the iBookstore, was intended to reduce Amazon's dominance in a market where it could purchase books at wholesale prices and sell them at a deep discount to undercut other retailers.

A key part of Apple's agency model was a "most favored nation" clause that prevented publishers from selling books to other retailers at prices lower than those offered to Apple. The clause was intended to prevent Amazon from striking deals to continue undercutting other retailers, but quickly drew criticism and the attention of regulators for potential price collusion effects.

Under concessions offered by Apple and publishers in the European case, Apple's agency model would be significantly unraveled, with Amazon and others being allowed to set their own pricing for books.