Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:
iPad Shipments Estimated to Hit Record: A Needham & Company analyst is forecasting that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will announce that it shipped 20 million iPads during its third fiscal quarter, Apple Insider says. The analyst has raised his estimate from a previous prediction of 13.5 million issued in April. He anticipates that iPad shipments will ultimately surpass iPhone shipments as the devices gain increased penetration in the business sector. The debut of the newest iPad in China next week will only accelerate that trend. If the analyst’s prediction pan out, it means that Apple will have doubled the 9.5 million iPads shipped during the same quarter last year.
iPhone 5 Pops Up on Chinese Website: Chinese vendors on the e-commerce website Taobao are accepting pre-orders for Apple next-generation iPhone, Reuters notes. The vendors have included mock-ups of the new iPhone complete with technical descriptions, apparently based on Internet-rumors. Apple has not released the next-generation iPhone and is notoriously secretive about new products in development. The new iPhone is expected to be revealed later this year, possibly in October. While some vendors on Taobao are requesting deposits of $160 for the newest iPhone, one vendor is demanding full payment of $1,100. The vendors told Reuters that they would purchase the next-generation iPhone in Hong Kong and deliver it to Chinese buyers after it is released.
Apple Beats PC Makers: While overall second-quarter shipments of personal computers in the U.S. declined 5.7%, Apple posted a 4.3% rise in shipments of its Mac computer line, Apple Insider says. Apple sold 1.9 million Macs during the second quarter, raising its share of the personal computer market from 10.7% during the same time last year, to 12% this year. Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ) remained the largest PC maker, even though its shipments fell 12.7%, with 25% of the U.S. market. Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) was second with 21.7%. Apple ranked third.
For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
