Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL stock news items for Thursday:
Japanese Newspaper Says iPad, iPhone Go 4G Next Year: A report originating in Nikkei Business (via 9 to 5 Mac) said Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will roll out 4G versions of its popular portable devices in 2012. NTT DoCoMo (NYSE:DCM), a leading telecom in Japan, will carry both a 4G LTE iPhone 5 and a 4G LTE iPad 3, according to the report. Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly met with DoCoMo’s president, Takashi Yamada, and vice president, Kiyoyuki Tsujimura, in mid-November to broker a deal between the companies. Rumors have swirled for months that Apple will release LTE devices — the 4G standard used by American telecoms AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) — in 2012. This would be the first iPhone carried by DoCoMo in Japan.
HP Says Apple to Take PC Lead in 2012: Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) CEO Meg Whitman is refreshingly honest for the head of an embattled technology company. When asked by French newspaper Le Figaro if she thought research group Canalys’ assessment that Apple would surpass HPQ as the world’s No. 1 PC vendor in 2012, Whitman replied with a succinct “Yes.” She then went on to say, according to Le Figaro.fr and Apple Insider, that Apple is doing a great job and HP is hoping to retake its crown from the iPad maker in 2013. Whitman explained that it takes time to make products as influential as Apple’s.
Disney CEO Makes $1M-Plus Share Buy: Disney (NYSE:DIS) CEO Bob Iger was named to Apple’s board of directors on Nov. 15, continuing the close relationship between the two companies. Mac Rumors reported Wednesday that, according to a new filing with the SEC, Iger recently purchased 2,670 Apple shares at around $375 per share, or just more than $1 million. The Disney-Apple relationship stretches back to the 1980s when former Apple CEO Steve Jobs helped Pixar Entertainment. Jobs sat on Disney’s board of directors until shortly before his death.
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.
