“Four big technology fiefs — Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. —have been creeping into each other’s turf for years. In 2013, their war is set to escalate around two fronts: hardware and search,” Jessica E. Lessin, Greg Bensinger, Evelyn M. Rusli and Amir Efrati report for The Wall Street Journal.
“Apple must prove it can play defense in 2013,” the quartet reports. “Rivals from Samsung Electronics Co. to Amazon are gunning for the Cupertino, Calif., company, which has turned out category-defining devices like the iPhone and iPad for years… Defense will get Apple only so far. Look to the living room for where Apple will go on the offense. Apple CEO Tim Cook has stressed Apple’s “intense interest” in television and the company has been testing high-definition televisions and discussing possible partnerships over set-top boxes with cable companies.”
“Whether anything will be ready for prime time next year remains unclear,” the quartet reports. “As for another new area, watch search and Siri. Following Apple’s ill-fated foray into maps this year, the company is continuing to invest in its voice-activated assistant that routes users to sports scores and other on-the-go information. Earlier this year, Apple poached Amazon search executive William Stasior.”
Read more in the full article here.
I foresee more BS from analyst’s and Wall Steet in 2013.
In some ways the Pearl Harboresque Shamdung & Gaggle attacks have “awoken the slumbering giant” that is Apple (though not slumbering in the literal sense) to the real vicious threats out there and the take no prisoners approach it now has to take. In this new world nothing can be taken for granted and no rock left unturned. I believe Apple will more than step up to decimate the competition as it is already doing.
Turning over rocks is a good way to find Google, Samsung and dung beetles.
Get ready for A HUGE Apple 1/4…. Every one in my extended family bought Ape for someone and I had NOTHING to do about it…I called the US to say merry Christmas and was asked to FaceTime on a new Mac. Book…. Heard about all of the new iPhone 5’a , the plethora of iPads … It’s gonna be BIG….
Apple’s stock price has been the favorite to be manipulated by Wall Street. It can do so because it knows that Apple will not go bankrupt anytime soon. Apple’s huge cash pile is the cushion. While Wall Street has the fun and fund to play yo-yo with Apple’s stock, it is not funny to long-term investors.
Apple has come a long way to what it is today. Fifteen years ago Apple needed the capital to grow and had to depend on Wall Street to provide the fund. The number of shares it has today is 940.69 million. Compared this with Google’s 328.59 million and Amazon’s 452.96 million, Wall Street finds it more profitable to play havoc with Apple’s shares. Apple has more trouble to control its shares.
Now with a big cache of cash it has on its hands, and being a very profitable company with products that are being lusted after by many, Apple has no need for Wall Street’s money anymore. It has no borrowings from Wall Street’s banks but it does provide Wall Street with a rewarding hobby of manipulating its shares.
Apple needs to stop the wild party that is been enjoyed by Wall Street. It can do this by making its share base smaller. It needs not have to use its cash hoard to buy back its shares as it would be too expensive. One way is to consolidate its shares into two classes: share A and share B. For share A it need to comprise 60% of its present number of shares, i.e. 564.414 million and then consolidate every 2 shares into one to make it to 282.207 million. Share A’s price will double from its present price and any dividend paid will also be doubled. Share B will comprise of the remaining 40% or 376.276 million. Share B’s price will remain the same and will entitle to half the dividend of share A. The total number of shares A and shares B will now be 658.483 million. So the less number of shares Apple has on the market, the less Wall Street will manipulate it. Apple need not have to worry too much about the gyrations of its shares and can now concentrate on more important matters.
Boy, another one of these guys that is trying to make an article out of what we already know.
Why is Facebook on this list? They’re still learning how to sell lemonade!
It is strange not to see “Microsoft” mentioned in this subject. How times have REALLY changed!