While this news may appear to be crazy for some however, the company’s entry into smartphones may give you hint at why Apple branded electric car isn’t that crazy after all. Much before the launch of the original iPhone in 2007 Apple actually entered into the phone market by forming a partnership with Motorola to bring iTunes to Motorola ROKR E1 in the year 2005. During the iPhone launch when Steve Jobs called Jony Ive to demo iPhone’s feature, the design chief was seen using a Motorola phone at that time. After the launch of iPhone and its success, Motorola slowly seeped into the forgotten lanes. The rest is history.

According to a new report published by WSJ, Apple may be working on an electric car. Just like the phones Apple isn’t entirely new to automobiles. The company has a long history of working with automobile manufacturers to integrate iPod and more recently they launched CarPlay and partnered with over a dozen automobile manufactures to integrate CarPlay. If the report turns out to be true then what we saw with iTunes and phones in year 2005, could very soon be repeated as CarPlay leads Apple into actually manufacturing an electric car.

The publications’ sources suggest that Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, approved the project codenamed “Titan” last year. It is worth remembering that during the trail between Samsung and Apple, Phil Schiller’s testimony in court confirmed that at the time when the company was thinking about what should be the next product Apple didn’t rule out cars as being an option.

“We were searching for what to do after iPod that would make sense. If we can make the iPod, what else can we do?” Apple employees tossed around ideas like making a camera, a car, and other “crazy stuff,” Schiller said.

Apple’s senior executives Jony Ive, Phil Schiller and Eddy Cue and are known to be car lovers. Jony Ive owns Aston Martin Vanquish, White Bentley Brooklands, and Land Rover LR3 to name a few. Eddy Cue joined Ferrari board of directors in 2012. Phill Schiller’s twitter bio mentions cars as one of his many interests.

The report goes on to mention that Apple met up with contract manufacturers for high-end cars including the Magna Steyr unit of Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc.

Recent hires by Apple may also suggest that the company is serious about the automobile industry. Marc Newson is a friend of Jony Ive and played a role in designing the Apple Watch. Mr. Newson was also involved in creating a concept car for Ford Motor Co. Apple has also hired Johann Jungwirth, former president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz Research and Development.

According to WSJ, product design Vice President Steve Zadesky is leading the secret project. Mr. Zadesky, former Ford engineer, played a key role in leading the team at Apple to create the iPod and iPhone.

There have been rumours about talks between Tesla, the electric car manufacturer, and Apple. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk during a press conference said that the company could be worth $700 billion in a decade. For comparison, Apple recently became the first ever U.S. company to cross $700 billion in market capitalisation.

While it is certainly possible that Apple could be simply researching on advanced battery and studying different car components to better understand how they can incorporate CarPlay and enhance it. However, given the recent hires and a good track record of WSJ in learning about Apple’s plan ahead of their announcement, an electric car from Apple could be coming very soon.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) will announce its Q4 FY13 earnings on October 28 during a conference call at 2:00 p.m. PT. AAPL CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer will discuss the results during the live earnings call.

The company set an all new record this year with the iPhone sales. Apple Inc. sold 9 million devices (iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c) during the launch weekend. Even though Apple did not release individual sales figures many reports published online have suggested that iPhone 5s sales were greater than the iPhone 5c.

Apple witnessed high demand for the iPhone 5s and because of the low yield rates of the fingerprint sensor the shipping date for many customers was pushed to October. The company is still struggling to meet the demand as the online store still mentions shipping in October as opposed to within 24 hours for the iPhone 5c.

iOS 7 has been a huge success for Apple has more than 200 million devices were upgraded to the latest operating system during the first week. Even iTunes Radio saw massive adoption with over 11 million unique listeners. The launch of the new streaming music service could have resulted in boost for the iTunes Match service as with the subscription iTunes Radio goes ad free.

Apple will be questioned about the rumored Apple television set and iWatch and the company as usual is unlikely to provide any update related to future products.

The shares of AAPL have improved in the recent past however it hasn’t recovered to the all time high of $700. At the time of writing the shares are trading at $490.97 and the company’s market capital is valued at $445.8 billion.

Fortune bases the ranking on nine key categories: Innovation, People management, Use of corporate assets, Social responsibility, Quality of management, Financial soundness, Long-term investment, Quality of products/services and Global competitiveness.

These come from a large poll from executives, analysts and directors in the field. It is not surprising that Apple scored #1 on all of the fields, and it is also not surprising that Google is trailing the Cupertino, California company at #2.

Apple has had a rough time lately with its stock price in a free fall and the widely publicized failure of its Maps feature. However, it remains a financial juggernaut, posting $13 billion in net income last quarter, making it the most profitable company in the world during that period. The company has its fanatical customer base, and it still refuses to compete on price, making the iconic iPhone and iPad products that are still widely seen as prestige devices. Competition may be stiff, but so far it remains behind: In Q4 2012, the iPhone 5 was the world’s best selling smartphone, followed in second place by the iPhone 4S.

Apple has been consistent over the past few years, making sure to set records with its quarterly earnings each year. The company has had issues with its stock lately, with analysts, consumers, and shareholders concerned about the future of the company. However, recent rumors have suggested that Apple is working on a number of projects, including a redesign of the iPad, a new iPhone, an Apple television set, and even a Apple smart watch.

Apple has not seen many changes, particularly in its product lines, since late CEO Steve Jobs stepped down and handed the reins over to current CEO Tim Cook. However, Cook has shown promise and assures that Apple is heading in the right direction. Fortune’s #1 ranking as ‘Most Admired Company’ is most definitely a good start in that direction.

{Via MacRumors}

For the past several months, intense rumors have surrounded the likelihood that Apple was looking to introduce a television set. However, over the past several weeks and days, reports are suggesting that Apple is negotiating with cable companies in order to introduce a new set top box with the capability of streaming live television. The new box will reportedly feature an interface similar to the iPad, likely a cross with OS X as well as social networking integration and DVR-like capabilities.

While this wouldn’t necessarily be Apple “television”, it would give users live channels and likely the ability to hook up the box to almost any projector or screen. It can perhaps even hook up to Apple’s own Cinema Display. In a report from The Wall Street Journal, Jessica E. Vascellaro And Shalini Ramachandran report on Apple’s new venture:

This could just be another in the long history of periodic feeling outs that Apple and Hollywood seem to feel compelled to engage in — a tug at the thread Apple CEO Tim Cook still feels is there.

According to the report, Apple is meeting with numerous cable operators to provide service for the device and is also approaching entertainment companies with a rough outline of the device’s features in order to draw them in. At this point, it is unclear what exactly Apple is planning, as they have also been reported to be testing television prototypes. Under the supervision of Steve Jobs, the company was looking to revolutionize the TV industry and create a more expansive version of it for the market.

Apple would likely achieve this in a very similar manner to the company’s introduction of iMessage to target carriers, albeit on a much larger and more risky scale. Although the current Apple TV sells quite well on the market, the Cupertino company has yet to introduce a device that can shake up the standard and make it much better than what the Apple TV is now, a set of apps that stream music, photos, and television shows. A set top box capable of streaming live television may be exactly that,

Would you buy a new set top box? Do you think this is better than an actual television set? Let us know in the comments below.

{via iMore — Image Credit: Wired}

Apple Inc. (AAPL) has long been selling movies and television shows on its iTunes Store. Now, according to a Reuters report, the company is reportedly planning to bring EPIX movie streaming to the Apple TV, and likely the new rumored Apple television set. AAPL has been rumored to be in talks at this point, with no specific dates as to when the service will be available, if it ever does happen.

One of the sources told Reuters that any discussions would apply to its set-top box and also to upcoming devices that stream content. Apple is widely expected to unveil a full-fledged TV product later this year or in early 2013 to drive its next phase of growth and potentially revolutionize the industry.

Sources for the Reuters report suggest that negotiations between Apple and EPIX are still developing and that no deal should be expected in the near future. Bringing EPIX content to Apple TV and future Apple devices would allow the Cupertino company to develop and sell exclusive content, not available on a number of other devices.

Apple may also be waiting out a contract between EPIX and Netflix, which doesn’t end until later this September. Once this contract has ended, Apple will likely go ahead and secure a deal with EPIX.

{via MacRumors}

The jailbreak community has always tried and been successful in giving users more options to customize their iOS device. Even as Apple tries its best to plug the security holes and bugs to get rid of ‘jailbreak’ the community continues to find new bugs and release updated tools to make jailbreaking possible.

The latest hack being developed by iOS developers Steven Troughton-Smith and TheMudKip is for second gen Apple TV that enables you to run iPhone / iPad apps at full screen on your HDTV. In order to achieve this the developers used a coded a custom Springboard for a jailbroken Apple TV.

Second gen Apple TV includes Apple’s A4 chip which is also used in fourth gen iPhone and iPod touch. A video posted on YouTube by the developers shows that iOS apps run quite well on the Apple TV. This is just a proof of concept as the hack appears to be still under development and not available for the public as yet.

Apple has been rumored to be developing Apple television and various rumors and reports in the past have suggested that the company could introduce apps specifically for its television and even expand iTunes store content to offer users more reasons to buy Apple’s television.

In Steve Jobs’ biography it was first time revealed that Apple was indeed researching a simple interface for the television and that Jobs had finally figured the way to build a TV with “simplest user interface you could imagine,”.

{via MacRumors}

Since late last year, rumors about Apple looking to release a television set of their own to compete with other market leaders such as Sony and Vizio have been swirling on the web. On Monday, a report from Smarthouse suggested that Apple is already developing an Apple TV, its rumored television set in three different sizes ranging from 32 to 55 inches with the “newest chip”, the A6 which may also be released with the iPad 3.

Sources at a major Japanese company who are involved in manufacturing the TV believe that the 55″ model will compete with new Smart TVs from Samsung and LG that will have new processors built in while offering a combination of OLED display, as well as new Super HD TV technology from LG.

SmartHouse does not have a proven track record about Apple rumors, but the latest rumors regarding screen sizes are backed by a number of previous reports. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster also supported these claims, suggesting that Apple will be looking to include multiple screen sizes in its Apple TV. Apple may altogether be looking to synchronize the Apple TV (set-top box) and offer one integrated television set.

This would mean that Apple’s set-top box would disappear and the television would automatically come with a number of Apple features, including iTunes, its own App Store, AirPlay for music, videos, and game play, iCloud and other features currently available to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Apple’s television could be a big hit in the market, as we are just beginning to see a number of “smart” TV sets sporting WiFi integration and web applications. Apple may be all set to revolutionize the television industry as they have done with portable music players, phones, and tablet computers.

{via MacRumors}