Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL stock news items for Tuesday:
Apple Follows Major Retailers as Hottest Black Friday Store Online: ComScore analyst Andrew Lipsman released a report tracking online retailer performance on Black Friday. The four retailers that led online foot traffic on Black Friday aren’t exactly shockers. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) came in first, followed by Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and Target (NYSE:TGT). What is surprising is that Apple.com — a website selling just a few types of products rather than most every kind of consumer good — came in just behind those outlets. And it almost finished fourth! Lipsman told All Things Digital that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), just a scant few percentage points behind in total traffic, was “nipping at Target’s heels.”
Research in Motion Comes to iPhone With Security App: If you can’t beat them … start making software for them. Exhausted smartphone maker Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) — whose BlackBerry line has ceded most of its once powerful smartphone market share to Apple and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android devices — now is making apps and services for its competitors. Reuters reported Tuesday that RIM is releasing Mobile Fusion in the first quarter of 2012. Mobile Fusion is new security software for iPhones, iPads and Android devices used by businesses. Corporate IT staff will be able to remotely monitor and control these devices. For example, a stolen corporate iPhone can be remotely locked by the issuing business. The goal is for RIM to remain a prominent fixture among business clients. Mobile Fusion might represent RIM’s first step in exiting the hardware business.
Apple HDTV Goes Into Production in February, In Stores Summer ’12: The Tokyo Times (via 9 to 5 Mac) reported on Monday that Apple has contracted Sharp to manufacture displays for its rumored HDTV. Production will begin in either January or February, with the TVs shipping to retailers by the third quarter of the year. This report echoes an All Things Digital report from last Wednesday quoting Jeffries analyst Peter Misek as predicting a similar timeline for Sharp’s production of the Apple TV.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook. For more from the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
