Wednesday Apple Rumors: A Smarter Siri on the Way?

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daily apple rumors AAPLHere are your Apple rumors and AAPL stock news items for Wednesday:

New Apple Job Posting Hints at Better Siri: Voice-operated virtual assistant Siri has proven popular since releasing alongside the iPhone 4S in October. Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) tool could stand a little improvement, though. A Wednesday report at 9 to 5 Mac said Apple is seeking new staff members to improve Siri. According to the report, Siri user interface manager Dan Keen mentioned two new openings with Apple on Twitter. Both jobs mention someone with strong programming skills to improve Siri’s user interface, meaning Siri could be getting a facelift. Additionally, the listings mention that applicants must be familiar with a number of programming languages and platforms, “especially Mac OS X,” the operating system used in Apple’s desktop PCs. This may mean that Apple’s personal assistant is making the jump from iPhone to Mac.

U.S. Cellular Says It Doesn’t Want an iPhone Unless It’s 4G: Following the iPhone’s manifest destiny-style spread to Verizon (NYSE:VZ), Sprint (NYSE:S) and Mississippi-based regional telecom C-Spire in 2011, you’d think most every mobile carrier in the U.S. would be chomping at the bit to get an iPhone of their very own. Not so, according to a report at Fierce Wireless (via TUAW). Telephone & Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) CEO Ted Carlson spoke at the UBS Global Media and Communication Conference on Monday. Carlson said TDS subsidiary U.S. Cellular (NYSE:USM) isn’t interested in carrying the iPhone at this point in time because Apple’s device doesn’t support 4G LTE networks. “The iPhone would need to be at the cutting edge of where we’re going, and then there might be an opportunity to consider it,” Carlson said. U.S. Cellular serves a particularly small network and expects 50% of its network to be converted to LTE by the end of 2012. However, it’s rumored that Apple will deliver a 4G LTE iPhone in 2012. U.S. Cellular might change its tune quickly.

Analyst Puts $500 Price Taget on AAPL: To infinity and beyond for Apple shares. According to a Wednesday report in Barron‘s, Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu “reiterated a ‘buy’ rating on shares of Apple,” placing a new price target of $500 on AAPL stock. Wu expects big sales from the company this quarter, with around 28 million iPhones sold by the end of the December quarter and 5.2 million Mac computers. However, the iPad isn’t faring as well, according to Wu’s sources. He lowered iPad sales expectations from 15 million to 13.5 million for the quarter, in part because of Amazon‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle Fire stealing away market share. Ever since Apple shares hit new heights above $400 in August, Wall Street commentators have been predicting when shares would breach $500. If Wu’s analysis is accurate, it will happen sooner rather than later.

Apple Submits New Designs for Cupertino Spaceship Campus: Apple’s new “spaceship” campus facilities came one step closer to reality this week. A report at iPhoneinCanada (via Mac Rumors) said Apple has submitted revised plans for the campus to the city of Cupertino, Calif. The revised plans for the campus show a massive array of solar panels on the building. The structure will include space for 13,000 Apple employees.

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,


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2011/12/apple-rumors-iphone-mac-siri-aapl-stock/.

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