Monday Apple Rumors — iPhone 4S Shatters Pre-Order Mark

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Apple RumorsHere are your daily Apple rumors and news items for Monday:

iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Nearly Double Previous Model: Consumers and investors were somewhat disappointed that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) didn’t name its new smartphone the iPhone 5. So disappointed, in fact, that Apple shares actually dipped more than 4% in late Tuesday trading after the phone was announced to the public. The stock stabilized by the next morning, and if pre-orders for the iPhone 4S are anything to go by, so have consumer expectations. Apple released a statement Monday morning announcing more than 1 million pre-order sales for the new phone within the first 24 hours of offering them, nearly doubling the iPhone pre-order sales record set by the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4, the last major update to the iPhone line, racked up just 600,000 pre-order sales ahead of its June 2010 release. Any investors worried that Apple smartphone sales’ record-breaking run would end with the iPhone 4S should take a deep breath.

New Apple TV Inbound: The latest version of the iOS operating system used in the iPhone and iPad — iOS 5 — hints that Apple is preparing another Apple TV set-top box. A report at 9 to 5 Mac said a reference to a new model can be found in the operating system’s file system. The current model has been referred to as “Apple TV 2,1” in iOS previously, but iOS 5 refers to something named the “Apple TV 3,1.” The Apple TV set-top box has been the black sheep of Apple’s consumer products since it originally debuted in 2007. While the iPad, iPhone and current lineup of MacBook laptop PCs have all had a large part in building Apple’s current $355 market cap, the Apple TV has always been what Steve Jobs called a “hobby” for the company. Apple has sold just 2 million units of the current model, which was released in September 2010. Persistent rumors have suggested that Apple is going to begin making a full HD television set that would incoporate the Apple TV device. Without a compelling set of new features like a streaming video service, though, it’s hard to imagine that Apple TV will become a major earner for Apple in the near future.

AT&T Wants 4G on the iPhone 4S, Even if It’s Just a Name: The new iPhone sports two antennas that allow the device to download data at a speed of around 14.4 megabits per second — pretty fast in the smartphone world. So fast, in fact, that it is comparable to speeds offered by the so-called 4G networks marketed by Verzion (NYSE:VZ), Sprint (NYSE:S), and AT&T (NYSE:T). Meaningless branding or not, AT&T reportedly is pushing Apple hard to tie its new phone’s speed to the telecom’s 4G network. A report at TUAW said that AT&T pressured Apple to have the iPhone 4S’ status bar read “4G” rather than “3G.” The report also said that Apple caved to these demands. It’s doubtful, however, that Apple’s own marketing will tout the iPhone 4S as a 4G device.

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2011/10/monday-apple-rumors-iphone-4s-shatters-pre-order-mark-aapl-vz-t-s/.

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